- Requirements above the occupational norm must be justified by business necessity.
- Unsupported requirements are a top audit target and a denial risk.
- Set requirements from the real job, then document why they are needed.
In PERM, the job requirements are not a description — they are a decision with consequences. They set the wage, they shape the recruitment, and they define the risk. Requirements that exceed what the occupation normally demands are allowed, but only if the employer can show they arise from business necessity. Set them carelessly, and the case is exposed at exactly the point auditors look hardest.
The Normal Baseline
Every occupation has a normal set of requirements. Asking for those is unremarkable. The trouble begins when the job demands more — more education, more experience, an unusual combination of skills, a language. Those above-the-norm requirements can be perfectly legitimate, but they shift the burden: now the employer must explain why the business actually needs them.
Why It Is Risky Medium Risk
Unsupported requirements do two damaging things. They raise the prevailing wage, sometimes past what the employer will pay. And they invite the suspicion that the requirements were tailored to fit one specific person rather than the role — which is the core thing PERM is designed to prevent. A requirement that looks engineered for the foreign worker is a requirement that draws an audit.
"Every requirement above the norm is a promise you can explain it. Make sure the business can keep the promise."
Set Them From the Job, Then Justify
The discipline is to derive requirements from the real role and the employer's genuine needs, not from the candidate's resume — then to document the business necessity for anything above the baseline before recruitment begins. When the requirements, the wage, the recruitment, and the necessity rationale all tell one consistent story, the case is strong. When they diverge, the gap is where it fails.
Set requirements that hold up.
GentleCase keeps job requirements, wage, and the business-necessity rationale connected on the case record, so the story stays consistent through audit. Book a walkthrough.
