Checking the Status of PERM certification process

The below listed are few ways to check the status of your Case:

1. The official website recommended: USDOL iCERT website, link attached  https://lcr-pjr.doleta.gov/index.cfm?event=ehLCJRExternal.dspLCRLanding. This is the official website, and by providing the PERM case number in the search option and the  Certified cases it will show up. Please Note: The website will show up only if the case is been Certified. and there are some days when the website goes to System Maintenance where nothing would be updated and even take few weeks. So patience!
2. Unofficial 3rd party website Permchecker collects information from the above website and shows the statistics and status in theirs. https://www.permchecker.com. One of the coolest part on this website is to subscribe on their website and the website will provide an alert when your case number is certified… very much recommended to guys who don’t want to know the status of PERM on daily basis and have plenty of time for their PERM to be approved.
3. Unofficial 3rd party website DOLStatus - http://dolstats.com/ Initially I thought this was an official website for USDOL, but when I saw the data not getting updated on their websites for few months, I came to know about it and uses the iCERT data for the website.
4. From your Immigration attorneys or Company HR. Having your Attorney on good terms and politely pushing them to call the DOL to know the status, would easier in case the DOL is processing the Case numbers way beyond yours. But in most cases the attorneys are charged by the hour, so each time you call, they may charge you for it and it would be better for the Company HR to request them for status.

Per my understanding in a normal scenario, the status of any case are -

• Final Review: Case numbers ready for processing, after the initial check whether all the necessary documents are received by DOL. The case number will go to the normal processing Analysis Review.
• Analysis Review: Currently processing PERM applications.
• Audit Review: any further details or information is required from the employer or the applicants during the Analysis.
• Certified: PERM Case is reviewed and approved by the DOL
• Denied: the DOL denies the Case for various reason and the reason will be shared with Attorney and applicant

The iCert website shows up the Case number only after the completion of the Analysis review/Audit Review and is Certified(Approved). Please note there is no way we can know whether the particular Case number is in Analysis Review or Audit Review or Denied. If the case number are in Audit Review or Certified, the immigration Attorney will be receiving an email immediately or by the end of the day. If the case number is Denied, the denial notification will be sent to an attorney by normal post – mail.

There is another way to know whether the case is in Audit for some impatient guys like me using the Internal IDs which I’ll talk about in another post.

Processing Time

The normal processing time for any cases for Analysis Review would be around 120 to 150 Days. There are chances the PERM Cases are just approved after a long processing time just to check our patience 👐 or after the requested information is provided(Audit Review) to get it approved. The requested information may be some miNute details where we don’t need to do anything, maybe they need some company information from the attorney. So the case moving to Audit is a normal scenario and nothing to worry about.

DOL doesn't follow any particular order, somedays during the start of the month I see they process the cases based on company alphabetic order and after few days it goes through random selection. Not sure what factors they go through in each case. There may be chances where the applicants above your case number or below are been approved and your case might be processing. 

Or there may be chances where your colleagues from the same company with the same designation are approved and not yours. Believe me, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing we can do is patiently wait.

But in cases where we don’t have any status still after the application was filed more than 3 months prior to the month mentioned in the processing dates in the Icert website, we may contact their Helpdesk for a status on the application at plc.atlanta@dol.gov.

Go to Current Processing time ->  PERM Processing time

https://icert.doleta.gov/index.cfm?event=ehGeneral.dspLogin

Annual Report Performance Data and Disclosure data.

The USDOL also provides the Quarterly report of all the PERM cases number which are currently processing. This report is very useful for knowing the list of Case number applied per month, the case numbers in Certified or Denied, or in Audit.

Maybe if you are not sure about your Case number or when it was applied(Filed date), you can look at this spreadsheet. You can filter by your company name or the Attorney firm who applied your PERM application

https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm