EB-3 Immigration FAQ

The Department of Justice has significantly ramped up PERM compliance enforcement in 2026, focusing on audits that examine the integrity of the employer's recruitment process, advertising documentation, and prevailing wage compliance. This is not a new program, but the intensity and frequency of enforcement actions have increased, making compliance gaps more likely to be caught and penalized than in prior years.

A denied or invalidated PERM filing is a serious setback — it can reset your priority date and add years to your overall green card timeline, since PERM approval is the mandatory first step before filing an I-140 petition. In the worst cases, if DOJ finds the employer engaged in sham recruitment, the employer may be debarred from sponsoring future workers, which could end your sponsorship entirely.

The DOJ is specifically targeting 'sham recruitment' — situations where job postings include overly specific or unusual requirements that appear designed to qualify only the foreign worker being sponsored rather than reflect genuine business needs. Poorly documented recruitment efforts and prevailing wage non-compliance are also major triggers for audits and denials.

Employers should conduct internal compliance reviews before filing and ensure all recruitment records are preserved for at least five years, as DOJ audits can reach back to prior filings. Job descriptions must accurately reflect actual business requirements, not be tailored to a specific candidate. Working with experienced immigration counsel during the recruitment phase is strongly recommended, especially given the current enforcement climate.

You or your employer's attorney can track the status of a pending ETA Form 9089 through the DOL's Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system at flag.dol.gov. After logging in, the current status of the submitted application is visible. Note that only the employer or their authorized representative of record can access the case details.

The FLAG system displays status labels such as 'Received' (application accepted into the queue), 'In Process' (under active review), and 'Analyst Review' (assigned to a DOL analyst, which may indicate closer scrutiny or pre-audit review). Detailed interim updates are not typically provided between status changes, so long gaps between updates are normal.

Standard PERM processing has historically ranged from several months to over a year depending on DOL workload. Cases selected for audit take considerably longer — audits require the employer to submit additional documentation and the review process can add many more months. If your case has been pending an unusually long time with no status change, your employer or attorney can contact the DOL's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), though direct inquiries are generally reserved for exceptional circumstances.