Newly released data from the American Immigration Council’s USCIS Immigration Filing Trends Dashboard reveals a continued deterioration in processing capacity at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) through the second quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. Despite a steep drop in overall petition filings, agency backlogs have reached historic highs, creating prolonged waiting periods across multiple immigration streams.
The agency’s total pending case count reached 12.1 million in FY2026 Q2—a 7.2% year-over-year increase and the highest level recorded since tracking began in FY2016. Concurrently, overall agency completions fell to 1.5 million, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of decline.
Compared to FY2024 Q2, when USCIS processed 3.3 million applications, current completion figures have dropped by more than half.
- Divergence Between Receipts and Processing: Total form receipts dropped 45.0% between FY2025 Q2 and FY2026 Q2. However, rather than reducing existing workloads, USCIS completions dropped proportionately by 44.5%.
- Backlog Clearance Timeline: The estimated time required to clear existing backlogs nearly doubled year over year, rising from 12.5 months in FY2025 Q2 to 24.1 months in FY2026 Q2.
- Significant Category Spikes:
- EADs (Form I-765) for Pending Adjustment of Status: Pending cases surged 206%, growing from 191,000 to 585,000.
- Refugee Adjustment of Status (Form I-485): Pending cases increased 190%.
- Nonimmigrant Workers (Form I-129): Pending cases rose 90% (from 63,000 to 120,000) for H-1B, L-1, and O-1 classifications, despite stable approval rates (89.6%) and flat filing volumes.
Adjudication Shifts and Approval Rate Declines
Alongside longer timelines, several employment, humanitarian, and family-based categories experienced marked drops in approval rates between FY2025 Q2 and FY2026 Q2:
- I-485 (Cuban Nationals): Previous Approval Rate: 97.2% | Current Approval Rate: 52.6% | Point Change: -44.6%
- I-485 (Refugees): Previous Approval Rate: 97.4% | Current Approval Rate: 66.1% | Point Change: -31.3%
- I-140 (EB-1 Extraordinary Ability): Previous Approval Rate: 72.7% | Current Approval Rate: 41.7% | Point Change: -31.0%
- I-131 (Parole-in-Place): Previous Approval Rate: 78.6% | Current Approval Rate: 54.5% | Point Change: -24.1%
- I-140 (EB-2 National Interest Waiver): Previous Approval Rate: 67.3% | Current Approval Rate: 48.1% | Point Change: -19.2%
Recommended Actions
Given the broader systemic slowdowns, INLG recommends proactive planning for both corporate sponsors and individual applicants:
- Submit Renewal Filings Early: Initiate work authorization (I-765) and nonimmigrant petition extensions (I-129) at the earliest permissible legal window to mitigate gaps in status or work permission.
- Leverage Premium Processing: Where available, utilize USCIS Premium Processing options for employment-based filings to secure predictable adjudication timeframes.
- Prepare for Heightened Evidentiary Scrutiny: Due to shifting approval patterns in discretionary and high-skilled categories (such as EB-1 and EB-2 NIW), petitions require rigorous initial documentation and detailed supporting evidence to minimize Requests for Evidence (RFEs).
- Monitor Visa Bulletin Metrics: Beneficiaries awaiting consular processing or final adjustment of status should continuously track priority dates and remain documentarily qualified for rapid scheduling.
INLG continues to monitor agency processing trends and stands ready to assist clients in navigating these evolving operational shifts.