On 15 September 2026 the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) confirmed that its long-awaited proposal entitled “Modernizing the Labor Market Test and Improving Protections for U.S. Workers in the PERM Immigrant Visa Program” was received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) the previous evening, the final step before publication in the Federal Register. Although the draft text remains embargoed, the agency’s abstract signals sweeping changes to recruitment advertising, lay-off notification rules and record-retention obligations that underpin employer applications for permanent labour certification (PERM)—a prerequisite for most EB-2 and EB-3 green-card cases. DOL’s own briefing materials suggest it may require electronic posting on a national jobs portal, extend the mandatory recruitment period and impose wage-level adjustments to align with prevailing-wage reforms proposed earlier this year. Corporate mobility managers widely view the PERM process as the principal bottleneck in long-term U.S. assignments; forms are still PDF-based and recruitment steps hark back to 2004 regulations. If DOL’s rule mirrors recent H-2B reforms, employers could face higher advertising costs, new attestations on remote-work availability and steeper audit exposure for third-party placements. Once OIRA completes review—typically within 90 days—DOL must publish the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and open a 60-day public-comment window. Companies relying on foreign STEM talent caught in multi-year quota backlogs should prepare impact assessments, cost models and comment strategies now, as final rules could take effect in 2027. In the interim, expect PERM processing to slow as analysts prepare for the rule’s implementation. Envoy Global has already urged employers to file time-sensitive cases quickly to be “grand-fathered” under current standards.
Source: Envoy Global
