US advances proposed overhaul of employment-based green card sponsorship

The United States is moving towards changes to the process employers use to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residency, with proposals to revise recruitment standards, strengthen protections for US workers affected by layoffs and expand employer compliance requirements.

The Department of Labor’s proposed overhaul of the Permanent Labor Certification programme, known as PERM, has cleared review by the Office of Management and Budget, according to Nairametrics, citing an immigration advisory published by Fragomen on 26 October 2026. That step paves the way for publication of the proposal in the Federal Register; it does not make the changes final.

What the proposal would change

The proposal is titled “Modernizing the Labor Market Test and Improving Protections for U.S. Workers in the PERM Immigrant Visa Program”. It concerns the labour-market checks employers must undertake before sponsoring foreign nationals for permanent employment.

Under the existing PERM system, employers generally have to establish that no qualified and available US workers can fill the position. They must also show that employing the foreign worker would not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed US workers.

The planned changes would modernise the standards and procedures the Labor Department uses to receive and review applications. They would also update minimum requirements for recruiting US workers and strengthen protections for those affected by layoffs.

According to the regulatory description reported by the Hindustan Times, the proposal would address employer compliance with non-discriminatory recruitment and hiring requirements, as well as record retention. The department’s stated aim is to preserve access to permanent employment-based immigration for employers with genuine shortages of highly skilled workers while strengthening safeguards for US workers.

Review clearance is not final approval

The proposal reached the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on 14 September. An earlier account recorded that review as still pending on 16 September, before the October report that it had cleared.

The next stage would be publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking. The public would generally then have an opportunity to comment before the Labor Department considers a final rule. The reported review clearance therefore marks progress through the regulatory process, rather than the introduction of new sponsorship requirements.

Who could be affected

PERM is an important step for many foreign professionals whose US employers seek to sponsor them for permanent residency. Companies commonly submit applications for workers already employed through the H-1B programme.

For those workers and their sponsoring businesses, the relevant changes concern recruitment, application review and employer compliance. The evidence does not establish final requirements or an implementation date. The practical details will depend on the published proposal and any final rule that follows.