This year, the U.S. Department of Justice turned its attention to how employers recruit for PERM. Two technology companies settled with the government after their PERM recruitment was found to discourage U.S. workers from applying. One of them, Cloudera, must withdraw its pending PERM applications and cannot file new ones for two years. These investigations target employers, but employees often feel the impact first. When a company comes under investigation, all of its PERM applications may be put on hold, and in serious cases withdrawn, even though the employees themselves had nothing to do with the issue. If you are pursuing an employer-sponsored green card, now is a good time to do two things: confirm exactly where your case stands, and consider whether you need a backup path that does not depend on your employer.
What Is PERM Recruitment Scrutiny, and Why Isn’t DOL Compliance Enough?
PERM is the first step for most EB-2 and EB-3 green cards. The employer must advertise the position and show that no qualified U.S. worker is available before it can obtain a labor certification for a foreign employee. Traditionally, whether PERM was done correctly was judged mainly against Department of Labor (DOL) rules.
The DOJ’s anti-discrimination section asks a different question: did the employer design its recruitment in a way that made it harder for U.S. workers to apply? DOL rules do not require PERM positions to be posted on the company’s website, and they do not dictate how resumes must be received. But if a company normally lets candidates apply online for every other job, while PERM positions require mailed resumes, go to a dedicated email address, or do not appear on the website at all, the DOJ may view that as a deliberate effort to reduce U.S. applicants. In other words, passing DOL review does not protect an employer from DOJ enforcement.
Timeline: From Renewed Enforcement to Cloudera’s Two-Year Ban
The DOJ launched an initiative to protect U.S. workers in 2017. Facebook and Apple reached settlements worth tens of millions of dollars over PERM recruitment in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The initiative was relaunched in January 2025, and 2026 brought two cases focused specifically on PERM recruitment.
On April 28, 2026, the DOJ filed a complaint against Cloudera. According to the complaint, at least seven of the company’s PERM positions were not posted on its careers site, and the advertisements directed applicants to email resumes to a dedicated address that was configured to reject outside messages. For roughly nine months, no external applications came through. On May 12, DOL suspended processing of all of Cloudera’s pending PERM applications.
On August 3, OpenAI and its subsidiary Statsig entered a three-year settlement with the DOJ. The DOJ found that the companies required applicants for certain PERM positions to apply by mail, while other positions accepted online applications, placing an unnecessary burden on applicants. The companies agreed to pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and establish a $2 million back-pay fund. Notably, the mail channel in this case actually worked, yet the DOJ still treated it as a barrier.
On October 16, the DOJ and DOL announced a settlement with Cloudera. Cloudera must withdraw the affected pending PERM applications and, for two years after the withdrawals are complete, may not file new PERM applications or place PERM recruitment advertisements. It must also pay $600,000 in civil penalties, establish a $1.4 million back-pay fund, and submit to a third-party audit. Both companies deny any wrongdoing.
What Does This Mean for Employers and HR?
Both cases ended in settlements, not court rulings, and neither creates binding precedent. Still, the government’s approach is clear: if PERM positions are posted, received, or handled differently from regular positions, that difference may be treated as discouraging U.S. workers, even when the employer has a business reason for it.
The consequences go beyond fines. DOL has said it will continue to use its suspension authority in qualifying cases, which allows it to pause all of an employer’s pending PERM applications during an investigation, initially for up to 180 days and possibly longer. Cloudera’s experience shows that a single recruitment lapse can halt a company’s entire green card sponsorship program for two years. AILA members report that other investigations involving PERM recruitment are currently underway.
For companies sponsoring employees for green cards, the safer approach is to run PERM positions through the same process as comparable regular positions: post them on the same careers site, accept applications online in the same way, route every resume into the same system, and record a specific, job-related reason for each U.S. applicant who is rejected. Before and during the advertising period, it is wise to test the application links and email addresses from outside the company’s network. If several well-paid positions receive no applications at all, the employer should look into the cause promptly and document how it was handled.
What Does This Mean for Employees Preparing for or Already in PERM?
If your PERM is still in recruitment or pending with DOL, you are at the most exposed stage. If your employer comes under investigation, your application may be suspended along with the rest. If it is ultimately withdrawn, you have no priority date to keep, because your I-140 has not yet been approved. And if your employer is barred from filing PERM for a period of time, you cannot restart the process with that company. Ask HR or the company’s immigration attorney about the current status and expected timing of your case, so you can plan ahead.
If your I-140 has already been approved, you are in a much stronger position. In general, once an I-140 is approved, you can usually keep your priority date and carry it to a new employer, even if your employer later withdraws the petition, unless the approval is revoked for fraud, willful misrepresentation, invalidation of the labor certification, or material error. Keep in mind that if the labor certification itself is invalidated, the I-140 approved on that basis may also be revoked, depending on the facts of the case. Keep your I-140 approval notice in a safe place.
If you are approaching or have passed six years in H-1B status, your status also needs attention. Many H1B workers rely on a PERM or I-140 filed at least one year earlier to extend beyond six years. If that PERM is withdrawn or stalls, the basis for one-year extensions may be lost. Calculate your remaining time early and plan accordingly.
What Are Employees’ Plan B Options If the Employer’s PERM Is Blocked?
Restart PERM with a new employer. A new employer can file a new PERM for you. If you already have an approved I-140, you can usually keep your original priority date; if not, your priority date will be based on the new PERM filing date. Before changing jobs, make sure an H-1B transfer is in place so your work authorization is not interrupted.
Self-petition through NIW or EB-1A. The National Interest Waiver (NIW) and EB-1A extraordinary ability categories do not require PERM, are not affected by an employer’s compliance problems, and can be pursued alongside an employer-sponsored case. They are worth considering if you have a record of achievement in academia, research, or your industry.
Maintain status through O-1 or L-1. If your H-1B time is running short, the O-1 visa for individuals with extraordinary ability has no six-year cap and suits employees with strong professional records. If your employer has a related company abroad and you worked there continuously for at least one year within the past three years, L-1 may also be an option. These visas address your status in the U.S.; your green card strategy still needs to be planned separately.
Conclusion
Employees have little control over how their employer recruits for PERM, but they can stay on top of their own case and their fallback options. Every case differs in stage, remaining status time, and background. The earlier you confirm where you stand and evaluate other paths, the better positioned you will be to protect both your priority date and your status in the United States.
The LYD Law immigration team can help employees assess whether they can keep their priority date, maintain H-1B status, or pursue NIW, EB-1A, or O-1 if their employer’s PERM is stalled. We can also help employers review their PERM recruitment channels and recordkeeping for potential risks. If you are concerned about how these developments may affect your green card case, we welcome you to contact us for a plan tailored to your situation.
