USCIS faces a massive backlog of 11.6 million immigration cases, leaving green card applicants and others in limbo as processing times become unpredictable.
DENVER — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services backlog has more than tripled over the past decade, from 3.5 million pending cases in 2016 to 11.6 million in 2025.
The backlog left green card applicants, temporary protected status holders, and immigrant workers facing unpredictable wait times that attorneys and academics say are jeopardizing the legal status of people who followed the law.
The American Immigration Council released an interactive dashboard compiling USCIS
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