FLAG processing times, October 2026: reading the PERM and PWD queues

The Department of Labor publishes its queues every month. Read as a date rather than an average, they tell an employer how far ahead the next PERM cohort has to start, and whether a stalled case is late or simply in line.

The figures

On the FLAG processing-times page, the PERM table dated 5 October 2026 shows analyst review and audit review both working on applications filed in December 2025, and reconsideration requests to the certifying officer from May 2026. The average time to process PERM applications decided in August 2026 was 336 calendar days.

The prevailing wage table, dated 30 September 2026, shows PERM wage requests from June 2026 under review, for both OEWS and non-OEWS cases. PERM redeterminations and center director reviews were on July 2026 filings. The same table lists remaining PERM wage requests by receipt month: 3,532 from June, 15,959 from July, 14,980 from August and 14,519 from September 2026.

What the numbers mean for planning

Add the stages together. A wage determination about three to four months behind, a recruitment period, the mandatory waiting period, then analyst review running close to a year. For an employee approaching the H-1B six-year limit, the 365-day AC21 mark is measured from the PERM or I-140 filing date, as explained in extensions past the sixth year. The buffer has to be set against these figures, not against last year's.

The wage queue also has a regulatory dimension now. A determination still pending when DOL's proposed wage rule takes effect would be priced at the new levels, as discussed in the proposed wage rule. The PWD article explains why that stage is invisible to most trackers.

Late or in line?

OFLC notes that if an application was filed more than three months before the month posted, the employer may contact its PERM help desk for status. That threshold is a useful first test: a case inside it is in line; a case well outside it is a candidate for escalation and, eventually, for the analysis in PERM delays at the Department of Labor.

Courts weigh queue order heavily under the fourth TRAC factor. Moving one PERM forward moves another back, so the strong case is the one that has fallen out of sequence. The factor-by-factor treatment is on Mandamus.com's TRAC factors page and, for employers, in the TRAC factors applied to employment-based delay. Labor-certification litigation itself is covered on PERM mandamus.

A monthly routine

• Screenshot both tables on the day they update, early each month. There is no archive of past figures.
• Compare each pending case's filing month with the month posted for its stage.
• Flag anything more than three months behind the posted month and open a help-desk inquiry.

The regulation that structures the process is 20 C.F.R. § 656.17.

Questions

Is 336 days a processing time for my case?

It is an average for applications decided in August 2026. The posted filing month for each stage is the better guide for a specific case.

When can an employer ask DOL about a PERM case?

OFLC invites status inquiries where the application was filed more than three months before the month posted for its stage.

How often are the figures updated?

FLAG states that PWD and PERM figures are updated at the end of the first work week of each month.

General information, not legal advice. Rules and processing practice change; verify against the agency's own published figures and take advice on your own facts.