DOJ PERM Crackdown 2026: EB-3 Sponsors Face $1.2M+ Penalties After OpenAI Settlement

The Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) reached a $1.2 million settlement with OpenAI and Statsig on August 3, 2026, over allegations that both companies required PERM-related job applicants to submit paper applications by mail while allowing electronic applications for all other positions. The settlement also establishes a $2 million back-pay fund for affected U.S. workers who were discouraged from applying. This action is part of the DOJ Civil Rights Division's 'Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative,' relaunched in 2025, which has produced an accelerating wave of enforcement actions across the technology sector. Prior settlements include Facebook ($4.75M penalty plus up to $9.5M in back pay, 2021), Apple ($6.75M penalty plus an $18.25M back-pay fund, 2023), and active litigation against Cloudera after a complaint filed in April 2026 — where a dedicated PERM intake inbox silently rejected external messages, leaving applicants unaware their submissions never arrived. The core legal risk for EB-3 sponsors stems from two overlapping obligations: 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(1)(B), which prohibits citizenship-based discrimination in hiring, and the DOL's PERM regulation at 20 C.F.R. § 656.10(c), which requires that PERM recruitment mirror how the employer normally recruits for comparable non-PERM roles. Crucially, IER does not require proof of explicit discriminatory intent — a separate, harder, or functionally broken application path for PERM roles is itself treated as evidence of intent to discourage U.S. worker applicants. For employers sponsoring foreign nationals for EB-3 green cards, this is now an active, well-resourced enforcement priority. Companies should immediately audit their PERM recruitment workflows for any deviation from standard hiring procedures — including dedicated email inboxes, legacy portals, paper-only submission requirements, or narrower advertising channels. The escalating penalty trajectory (from $1.2M for limited violations to $6.75M for broader non-compliance) makes early self-correction and proactive cooperation with IER the most effective risk management strategy.