If your case feels stuck, the data now backs you up. The number of applications and petitions pending at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reached 11.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, and the average time needed to clear that backlog nearly doubled to 18.6 months, according to analysis published August 5 by the American Immigration Council.
The Backlog Numbers
Between the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and the first quarter of fiscal 2026, pending cases rose from 9.7 million to 11.3 million, an increase of more than 1.6 million cases or 16.5 percent, the Council found using USCIS data.
What makes that increase unusual is that fewer people were filing. USCIS received 33.6 percent fewer applications than a year earlier and completed 40.8 percent fewer cases. It was the eleventh consecutive quarter in which the agency completed fewer applications than it received. Put simply, USCIS finished 86 applications for every 100 that came in.
Work permits absorbed much of the damage. The pending caseload for Form I-765, the employment authorization application, grew by 446,650 cases, or 38 percent. Among applicants with a pending adjustment of status case, pending I-765s nearly tripled, from 154,469 to 461,884, while completions fell from 170,256 to 86,756.
The Wait Got Much Longer
Across all USCIS forms, average backlog clearance time rose from 9.4 months in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 to 18.6 months in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Measured by calendar year, the average went from 8.9 months in 2024 to 14.4 months in 2025, a 61.8 percent increase.
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Some categories were hit far harder. Adjustment of status applications filed by asylees saw backlog clearance time rise more than eightfold, from 7.7 months to 70.6 months. For refugees filing Form I-485, USCIS completed roughly 14 applications for every 100 received.
Denials Climbed Across the Board
The overall denial rate rose from 8.9 percent to 12.2 percent. Employment-based categories moved the most. Denial rates across all EB-1 petitions rose from 13.9 percent to 30.1 percent. For EB-1A extraordinary ability petitions, denials went from 25.3 percent to 52.5 percent, meaning more than half were refused. EB-2 National Interest Waiver denials rose from 37.3 percent to 57.4 percent.
Parole categories saw the sharpest swings. Humanitarian parole denials climbed from 52.9 percent to 88.7 percent. Parole in place denials rose from 18.4 percent to 45.8 percent, and advance parole denials from 29.9 percent to 46.7 percent.
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Who Is Affected
Essentially everyone with a pending case, but the pressure is uneven. Work permit renewals, asylee and refugee green card applications, and high-skilled employment petitions are absorbing the worst of both the delay and the denial trend.
What This Means for You
File employment authorization renewals at the earliest date regulations allow. Do not plan your job, your lease or your driver’s license renewal around an automatic extension that may or may not cover the full gap.
Treat your initial filing as your only filing. USCIS updated its policy effective August 5, 2026 to allow officers to deny applications outright when required initial evidence is missing, without first issuing a Request for Evidence. In an environment where denial rates are rising and second chances are shrinking, a complete, well-documented submission is the single highest-leverage thing you control.
If you are pursuing EB-1A or a National Interest Waiver, understand that the practical evidentiary bar has moved. Many petitions that would have been approved two years ago are being refused now. Consider whether a parallel path is worth pursuing.
If your case is past posted processing times, submit a case inquiry through the USCIS website and, if that fails, contact the CIS Ombudsman.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.
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