Good-Faith PERM Recruitment: Why Compliance Is About More Than Placing the Required Ads
For employers navigating the PERM labor certification process, recruitment has always been an important part of demonstrating that qualified U.S. workers are not available for the position being sponsored.
But recent enforcement activity is providing employers with an important reminder:
PERM recruitment is not simply an advertising checklist. It is intended to represent a genuine, good-faith effort to test the U.S. labor market.
Recent actions by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), including a significant settlement announced in August 2026, demonstrate that government agencies may look beyond whether the required advertisements were technically placed and examine whether U.S. workers were given a meaningful opportunity to learn about, apply for and be considered for PERM-related positions.
For employers, immigration attorneys and HR teams, that makes careful recruitment planning, accurate advertising and thorough documentation more important than ever.
What Is Good-Faith Recruitment in PERM?
The PERM labor certification process administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) generally requires an employer to test the U.S. labor market before permanently sponsoring a foreign worker.
The purpose of that recruitment is to determine whether there are able, willing, qualified and available U.S. workers for the job opportunity.
For most professional occupations, the recruitment process includes several required components, including:
- A 30-day State Workforce Agency (SWA) job order;
- Two advertisements placed on different Sundays in an appropriate newspaper of general circulation in the area of intended employment; and
- Three additional recruitment steps selected from methods permitted under the PERM regulations.
Those additional recruitment methods can include job search websites, the employer’s website, job fairs, employee referral programs, campus recruiting, professional organizations, private employment firms, local or ethnic newspapers, and radio or television advertising.
The regulations also establish specific timing, content and documentation requirements for these recruitment efforts.
Meeting those requirements is essential.
But recent enforcement actions demonstrate that how an employer conducts the overall recruitment process can matter as well.
A Major Development in 2026
In August 2026, the Department of Justice announced a $3.2 million settlement with OpenAI and its subsidiary Statsig concerning allegations of discrimination against U.S. workers during PERM recruitment.
According to DOJ, OpenAI did not advertise certain PERM positions on its external careers website even though it normally used that website to advertise other positions.
DOJ also found that applicants for the PERM-related positions were required to submit paper applications by mail, while applicants for other positions could apply electronically.
The settlement requires $1.2 million in civil penalties and establishes a $2 million back-pay fund.
Perhaps more instructive for employers are the changes to recruitment procedures contained in the settlement.
Among other requirements, PERM-related positions are to be posted on external career websites, applicants must be permitted to apply electronically, and applications must be captured in applicant tracking systems in a manner that allows them to be identified and considered.
The settlement also requires a good-faith review of applicant qualifications and requires U.S. workers to be rejected only for lawful, job-related reasons.
Importantly, settlement agreements do not themselves rewrite the PERM regulations. But they can provide valuable insight into the practices regulators are examining when determining whether recruitment genuinely provides U.S. workers an opportunity to compete for available positions.
This Isn’t the First Warning
The OpenAI settlement follows other high-profile enforcement actions involving PERM recruitment.
In 2023, DOJ reached a $25 million settlement with Apple involving allegations of citizenship-status discrimination during PERM recruitment.
According to DOJ, Apple did not advertise certain PERM positions on its external jobs website even though that was its normal practice for other positions. DOJ also alleged that applicants for PERM positions were required to submit paper applications even though electronic applications were accepted for other openings.
The agreement included $6.75 million in civil penalties and an $18.25 million back-pay fund.
In May 2026, DOJ announced that the entire $18.25 million back-pay fund had been distributed to qualifying U.S. workers.
DOJ has also filed a 2026 lawsuit against Cloudera alleging that the company created a separate recruitment process for certain PERM positions that deterred U.S. workers from applying. Among the allegations was that applicants were directed to an email address that did not accept external emails.
These actions point toward a common compliance concern:
A recruitment method may exist on paper, but employers should also consider whether it actually provides applicants with a reasonable opportunity to respond.
What Does This Mean for PERM Advertising?
PERM advertising remains highly technical.
For example, the regulations require newspaper advertisements to identify the employer, direct applicants to report or submit resumes to the employer, adequately describe the vacancy and identify the geographic area of employment with enough specificity to inform prospective applicants of the job opportunity.
Professional occupations generally require advertisements on two different Sundays in the newspaper of general circulation that is appropriate to the occupation and the workers likely to apply.
The employer must also maintain documentation demonstrating that the recruitment actually occurred.
That means details matter.
The correct publication matters.
The publication dates matter.
The geographic area matters.
The wording of the advertisement matters.
The application instructions matter.
And the documentation proving that the advertisement ran matters.
A small mistake in any one of these areas can create unnecessary complications in an already lengthy immigration process.
The Application Process Deserves Attention Too
Recent enforcement actions suggest employers should look beyond the advertisement itself and examine what happens after someone sees the ad.
Consider the experience of a U.S. worker who encounters a PERM recruitment advertisement.
Can the applicant clearly determine what position is available?
Are the application instructions accurate?
Does the email address, URL or other application method actually work?
Is someone monitoring applications received through that method?
Are applicants being reviewed?
Is the process substantially different or more burdensome than the employer’s normal recruiting process?
These are increasingly important questions.
An advertisement directing applicants to an inactive email account or an unnecessarily burdensome application process can undermine the purpose of conducting recruitment in the first place.
Documentation Is Part of the Compliance Strategy
PERM is unusual compared with ordinary recruitment because employers may need to demonstrate what happened long after an advertisement ran.
Under federal regulations, employers generally must retain the application and supporting PERM documentation for five years from the date the Application for Permanent Employment Certification is filed.
For newspaper advertising, documentation may include copies of the newspaper pages containing the advertisement or proof of publication supplied by the newspaper.
Other recruitment methods have their own documentation requirements.
That makes documentation more than an administrative afterthought.
A well-organized recruitment file should make it possible to reconstruct the campaign:
What ran? Where did it run? When did it run? What did the advertisement say? And what evidence proves it?
Seven Practical Questions Employers Should Ask
As enforcement scrutiny continues, employers and their immigration counsel may want to evaluate each PERM recruitment campaign with several practical questions in mind:
- Are we using the correct recruitment sources?
Recruitment sources should satisfy the applicable PERM requirements and be appropriate for the occupation and area of intended employment.
- Is the advertising copy accurate and compliant?
Job descriptions, locations and application instructions should be carefully reviewed before placement.
- Can applicants actually apply using the method provided?
Email addresses, URLs, mailing instructions and other response methods should be tested and monitored.
- Are PERM applicants being treated consistently?
Employers should consider whether unnecessary differences between PERM recruitment and ordinary recruitment could discourage U.S. workers from applying.
- Are applications being reviewed appropriately?
Recruitment should represent an actual labor-market test rather than simply generating documentation that an advertisement was placed.
- Can every recruitment step be documented?
Employers should maintain appropriate tearsheets, proofs of publication, posting records and other evidence of recruitment.
- Could we explain this recruitment campaign several years from now?
Because PERM records may need to be retained for five years, documentation should be organized with a future audit in mind.
Where a PERM Advertising Partner Fits In
Immigration counsel ultimately guides employers on the legal requirements of the PERM process. But executing the recruitment campaign itself involves another layer of complexity.
Newspaper publication schedules vary. State Workforce Agency procedures differ from state to state. Recruitment periods must be coordinated. Online advertisements require documentation. Radio, professional journals and other recruitment sources may need to be researched and scheduled.
And after everything runs, employers and their counsel need reliable documentation.
That is where an experienced PERM recruitment advertising partner can help.
For decades, Ad Club Advertising has worked with immigration law firms, employers and HR teams nationwide to coordinate PERM recruitment advertising.
Our role is not to replace immigration counsel. It is to make the advertising and recruitment-placement side of the process easier to manage.
Ad Club can assist with:
- Sunday newspaper advertising
- State Workforce Agency job orders
- Online recruitment advertising
- Local and ethnic newspaper advertising
- Radio advertising
- Campus and other recruitment options
- Ad copy review and placement coordination
- Recruitment scheduling
- Tearsheets and proof-of-publication documentation
- Consolidated billing and campaign records
Having one team coordinate multiple recruitment sources can also help reduce the administrative burden of communicating with individual newspapers, websites, radio stations and other media vendors.
The Bigger Lesson: Good-Faith Recruitment Should Look Like Recruitment
Perhaps the simplest lesson from recent enforcement actions is this:
PERM recruitment should function like genuine recruitment.
The required advertisements need to run. The technical requirements need to be followed. But employers should also be comfortable demonstrating that qualified U.S. workers had a meaningful opportunity to discover the position, apply for it and receive appropriate consideration.
That is ultimately the purpose of the labor-market test.
With regulators paying renewed attention to PERM recruitment practices, careful planning, accurate advertising, accessible application methods and thorough documentation can help employers and immigration counsel build a recruitment record capable of standing up to scrutiny.
—
Need Help Coordinating Your Next PERM Recruitment Campaign?
Ad Club Advertising specializes in PERM recruitment advertising nationwide. We work with immigration attorneys, employers and HR teams to coordinate required recruitment media, manage placements and provide the documentation needed for the PERM file.
Contact Ad Club Advertising to request a PERM advertising quote or discuss recruitment options for your next case.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Employers should consult qualified immigration counsel regarding the legal requirements applicable to a specific PERM case.
