Kentucky H-1B Green Card (PERM) Sponsorship 2026
Employers with a worksite in Kentucky filed 6,549 PERM (ETA-9089) labor certifications in DOL disclosure data (FY2007–2026) — 0.4% of all US PERM filings, ranking Kentucky #33 nationally. PERM is the green-card process, a separate DOL filing from H-1B LCA data.
PERM Case Outcomes — Kentucky
| Outcome | Filings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Certified | 5,685 | 86.8% |
| Denied | 527 | 8.0% |
| Withdrawn | 337 | 5.1% |
Counts across FY2007–2026. Remaining filings are cases in other or pending statuses.
Top PERM Worksite Cities in Kentucky
| City | PERM Filings | Certified | Median Wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville | 3,142 | 2,767 | $76K |
| Lexington | 753 | 674 | $73K |
| Bowling Green | 245 | 217 | $55K |
| Erlanger | 200 | 177 | $131K |
| Frankfort | 150 | 137 | $71K |
| Florence | 137 | 116 | $90K |
| Richmond | 97 | 88 | $39K |
| Burlington | 72 | 71 | $22K |
| Pikeville | 70 | 64 | $293K |
| Murray | 70 | 46 | $54K |
| Hazard | 64 | 54 | $76K |
| Covington | 64 | 55 | $104K |
Ranked by total PERM filing volume. Linked cities have a full city-level breakdown.
PERM vs. H-1B — What's the Difference?
PERM (ETA-9089) is the labor certification an employer must obtain from the Department of Labor before filing an employment-based green card petition (I-140). It's the first formal step toward permanent residence.
An H-1B Labor Condition Application (LCA) is a different filing for temporary work authorization. A company can file heavily in one and rarely in the other, so Kentucky's PERM volume here is not a restatement of its H-1B volume — check both separately.
Related Data
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PERM filing data aggregated from DOL PERM disclosure files (FY2007–2026), filtered to filings with a reported Kentucky worksite. Median wage computed across certified filings with usable annual-wage data between $10K and $5M. National share and rank computed across all 51 US states and DC.