Following enactment of Tuesday’s continuing-resolution budget, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced early Wednesday, February 4, that “all Department of Labor agencies have resumed full operations.” The notice appears atop multiple ETA webpages, confirming that the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG), PERM, LCA and prevailing-wage determination modules are live again after a four-day outage.
During the shutdown, employers could not submit new LCAs—an essential prerequisite for H-1B filings—or file PERM applications and wage requests. Immigration attorneys estimate that more than 10,000 time-sensitive actions were queued, including LCAs tied to workers whose status expires in March and PERM cases approaching the 180-day recruitment validity limit.
To help employers and mobility managers stay ahead of such disruptions, VisaHQ offers an online platform that tracks agency-status changes in real time, streamlines document collection, and provides deadline reminders for U.S. work-visa filings. You can explore these tools at https://www.visahq.com/united-states/
![Labor Department Systems Come Back Online After Shutdown, Restoring PERM, LCA and Prevailing-Wage Filings]()
DOL officials have indicated that filings will be processed in the order received but warned of slower response times as staff work through accumulated backlogs. They encouraged employers to avoid duplicate submissions and to use the “Help Desk” ticketing system instead of phone calls for urgent inquiries.
For global-mobility teams, the reopening means H-1B season preparations—already complicated by USCIS’s new $215 registration fee and weighted lottery—can move forward. Companies should prioritise LCAs for cap-subject candidates and time-critical extensions, monitor the FLAG dashboard for system slowness, and budget extra lead-time in project timelines.
If DHS funding is not extended beyond February 13, a second shutdown could again stall LCA adjudications. Employers are therefore advised to submit essential filings within the next ten days and develop alternative staffing plans where visa start-dates cannot be guaranteed.
During the shutdown, employers could not submit new LCAs—an essential prerequisite for H-1B filings—or file PERM applications and wage requests. Immigration attorneys estimate that more than 10,000 time-sensitive actions were queued, including LCAs tied to workers whose status expires in March and PERM cases approaching the 180-day recruitment validity limit.
To help employers and mobility managers stay ahead of such disruptions, VisaHQ offers an online platform that tracks agency-status changes in real time, streamlines document collection, and provides deadline reminders for U.S. work-visa filings. You can explore these tools at https://www.visahq.com/united-states/
DOL officials have indicated that filings will be processed in the order received but warned of slower response times as staff work through accumulated backlogs. They encouraged employers to avoid duplicate submissions and to use the “Help Desk” ticketing system instead of phone calls for urgent inquiries.
For global-mobility teams, the reopening means H-1B season preparations—already complicated by USCIS’s new $215 registration fee and weighted lottery—can move forward. Companies should prioritise LCAs for cap-subject candidates and time-critical extensions, monitor the FLAG dashboard for system slowness, and budget extra lead-time in project timelines.
If DHS funding is not extended beyond February 13, a second shutdown could again stall LCA adjudications. Employers are therefore advised to submit essential filings within the next ten days and develop alternative staffing plans where visa start-dates cannot be guaranteed.
