Beyond H-1B: How US Tech Firms Exploit PERM Process to Discriminate Against American Tech Workers

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The PERM labor market test allows tech companies to avoid hiring qualified Americans while issuing 100,000+ green cards per year to foreign workers

PERM stands for Program Electronic Review Management, but really it's the Permanent Labor Certification program the Department of Labor created in 2005. The idea was simple: before a company can sponsor a foreign worker for a green card, they have to test the U.S. labor market. Advertise the job at the going wage, prove no qualified American applied, and only then can they move forward with the green card.
In theory, PERM protects American workers. It lets companies fill niche or advanced roles they truly can't find Americans for, while preventing wage suppression or job displacement.

They are everyday jobs: QA engineers, systems engineers, product managers, project managers. Jobs that companies hire Americans for every day. Yet somehow, when a foreign worker (most likely already on H-1B) is the one they want to keep long-term, the company runs a "market test" and in the vast majority of cases that reach filing, concludes that no qualified American exists.

Research and apply to these jobs

So if you're qualified, apply anyway. Document everything (digital copy of newspaper ad, screenshots of SWA site job spec, email communications, lack of job posting on the company website). Report if it stinks. It's one of the few ways we can push back and maybe force the system to actually protect American workers.

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