Department of Labor information:
DOL Latest News
The Department of Labor (DOL) provided critical updates on PERM Labor Certification and Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) processing timelines, illustrating the ongoing administrative backlogs impacting the early stages of the EB-3 green card pipeline.
As of April 2026, the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) achieved a stable processing rhythm, actively issuing PWDs for both OEWS-based and non-OEWS wage requests filed in January 2026, bringing the average turnaround time for a prevailing wage to roughly three months. However, standard PERM applications continued to face heavy administrative delays, taking an average of 16 to 17 months to adjudicate. The DOL reported that analyst reviews were focused on PERM cases filed in November 2024 to January 2025, while cases selected for audit reviews were hovering around filings from June 2025.
🔗 DOL Newsroom
Title Tag: April 2026 Immigration Bulletin: BDV Approvals, May Visa Bulletin, & DOL Timelines
Meta Description: Track the April 2026 EB-3 Unskilled milestones. Includes BDV approvals, an analysis of the May Visa Bulletin Final Action Dates chart, and the latest DOL PERM processing times.
April 2026
April 2026 BDV Immigration Update
As spring got underway, April brought a wave of momentum and long-awaited relief for employment-based immigration applicants. The release of the April Visa Bulletin delivered a major breakthrough for the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, giving many applicants a clear path forward after months of waiting. At BDV, the operations team maintained a rapid and steady processing pace to capitalize on these newly opened filing windows, ensuring that clients' applications were prepared and submitted without delay
BDV Approvals (April 2026):
-
Green Card approvals
-
Labor Certification (PERM) approvals
-
I-140 approvals
USCIS Visa Bulletin
The May 2026 Visa Bulletin was released, and USCIS announced a significant structural pivot: after months of allowing earlier filings, USCIS will honor the Final Action Dates chart (Chart A) for employment-based adjustment of status applications in May 2026. Because Chart A is being enforced, the actual filing dates hold steady at a plateau compared to the prior month's open window, meaning applicants must have a priority date earlier than the listed final action cutoffs to file their I-485
May Visa Bulletin
Final action dates: 01FEB22 ( 3 month movement)
Dates for filing: 1AUG22 (no movement)
USCIS will be using Final Action Dates to determine who can file I-485 in May (priority date before 1FEB22) = which in practice means 6 month retrogression for those people that are eligible in April.
Many people on the EB3 side will be extremely busy in the next 2 weeks in order to file as many I-485s as possible!!!