My employer says my green card starts with PERM. What is that, and why does it take so long?
PERM is a labor certification: before sponsoring most EB-2 and EB-3 green cards, the employer must run a required recruitment process establishing that no qualified U.S. worker is available for the role, then file with the Department of Labor and wait in queue. That combination — recruitment on a fixed schedule, then an agency queue — is what makes it commonly take many months to over a year. It is the first of several steps, and the petition and the green card application each follow it.
Did this answer your question?
Related questions
Both are employer-sponsored categories reached through labor certification, and they differ in the education and experience the position itself requires — which in turn changes how long the wait runs for a given country of birth. Which category applies is determined by the job's actual requirements rather than by preference, so it is settled when the role is defined, not later.
AI-generated · Not attorney-reviewed