Sponsors (3)
The bill offers an optional, fee-funded expedited lane that can speed hiring and finance program improvements, but it raises costs for small employers, risks creating unequal access, reduces some transparency, and could degrade standard processing if revenues fall short.
Small employers and immigrant workers can get permanent labor certification decisions in 30 days if the employer pays a $1,200 premium, speeding hires and reducing vacancy time for jobs that rely on foreign labor.
Federal adjudication capacity, staffing, systems, and fraud-detection can be improved because the collected premium fees (with annual CPI indexing) provide a stable funding stream to support faster, more accurate processing over time.
Small employers face an added $1,200 cost per application to obtain expedited processing, increasing hiring costs and disproportionately burdening resource-constrained businesses.
Wealthier employers who can pay the premium gain faster access to certifications, creating unequal access to a faster 'paid lane' and disadvantaging employers and applicants who cannot pay.
If premium fee revenues fall short or are mismanaged, ordinary (non-premium) processing could slow or degrade, harming immigrants and employers who rely on standard adjudication timelines.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates an optional $1,200 fee‑funded premium processing lane requiring DOL PERM adjudication within 30 days and establishes a dedicated fee account.
Official title: To establish and collect fees for an optional program to expedite the processing of forms required to obtain a permanent labor certification, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 6, 2026 by Glenn Grothman · Last progress August 6, 2026
Creates an optional, fee-funded premium processing program at the Department of Labor for permanent labor certification (PERM) applications that requires adjudication within 30 calendar days (or 15 days after an employer response if the initial deadline passed). Sets a starting premium fee of $1,200 (indexed to CPI‑U beginning FY2028), establishes a dedicated fee account to cover program costs, and limits certain procedural requirements to speed implementation while protecting standard processing times.