The U.S. immigration system crossed a sobering threshold in 2025. By the second quarter of the fiscal year, pending applications at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached more than 11.3 million.
It’s the largest inventory ever recorded, touching almost every category the agency handles: work permits, family petitions, green cards, employment-based visas, and naturalization.
That figure isn’t just an abstract metric. Behind it are people waiting to work, families waiting to reunite, and employers waiting for key hires to start. It’s a number that shows the daily consequences of an overloaded system, where even small slowdowns can ripple across jobs, travel, and lives already in limbo.
Here’s a detailed look at how that number came to be, what it represents, and how both applicants and employers can plan their next steps in a slow-moving year.
Key Points
- USCIS hit a record 11.3 million pending cases in 2025, the highest ever recorded.
- Major slowdowns stem from rising application volumes, staffing strain, and policy shifts.
- Key bottlenecks include work permits, green cards, and employment-based petitions.
- Applicants and employers are advised to plan ahead, track medians, and use premium processing when possible.
What the 11.3 Million Means
USCIS tracks two core measurements that reveal the size of its case load:
- Pending: All cases that have been received and data-entered but not yet completed.
- Net Backlog: Only those pending cases that have already exceeded the agency’s processing-time goals.
Both matter. The pending count shows the total work in the pipeline. The net backlog isolates the share that’s already late by USCIS’s own standards.
By the second quarter of fiscal 2025, the pending total hit 11.3 million, as per Newseek.
Analysts who reviewed the same official datasets noted an additional frontlog of over 34,000 cases that hadn’t even been opened or entered into the system by the end of the quarter. That detail hints at a strain at the very first step: intake.
USCIS Backlog Indicators, FY2025
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:
| Indicator | What It Shows | Why It Matters |
| 11.3 million pending (FY2025 Q2) | Highest USCIS workload on record | Suggests systemic congestion and longer waits |
| 34,000+ frontlog | Unopened or unprocessed filings | Reflects pressure even before adjudication begins |
| Historical processing-time data | Median months by form type | Highlights where waits remain persistently long |
| “All Forms” and “Net Backlog” workbooks | Official USCIS datasets | Key for tracking receipts, completions, and pending totals |
USCIS posts all these spreadsheets publicly each quarter. For anyone dealing with immigration paperwork: families, attorneys, HR teams, they’re the most transparent window into where things stand.
How USCIS Reached the 2025 High
The 2025 surge didn’t appear overnight. It built up through a mix of rising application volumes, slower completions, and operational strain that pushed an already stretched system past its limits.
1. Receipts Outpaced Completions Early in the Year
After a period of modest improvement in 2023 and 2024, new case receipts again began to exceed completions in early 2025. Once that imbalance takes hold, the backlog grows almost automatically.
The USCIS “All Forms” workbook shows this in numbers. When completions lag receipts for consecutive quarters, pending counts balloon. That pattern reappeared in the FY2025 Q2 report and persisted into Q3.
2. Persistent Processing-Time Pressure
Even with efforts to streamline operations, many form categories still carry long wait times.
The agency’s public processing-time dashboard confirms that several major forms, including work authorization and adjustment of status, continue to require multiple months to process.
Those long baselines amplify any surge in receipts. When a form already takes eight months and new filings flood in, it takes much longer for adjudications to catch up.
3. Signs of Operational Strain
That frontlog of 34,000 unprocessed filings might sound small compared to the total, but it’s an early signal of stress. Intake delays can cause cascading slowdowns through every stage that follows: data entry, security checks, scheduling, and review.
Small mistakes, including incomplete or improperly translated attachments, can trigger further review. Tools like Rapid Translate reduce those risks by providing accurate, USCIS-ready translations.
4. A Broader Policy Environment in Flux
USCIS’s mission extends beyond paperwork. The agency manages humanitarian programs, temporary protections, and employment categories that constantly evolve with federal policy.
Shifts in priorities, funding constraints, and humanitarian caseloads can all tilt the balance between receipts and completions.
Where the Delays Are Most Visible
Some categories have become bottlenecks more than others. Below is a plain-English overview of several high-volume forms that account for a major share of pending cases.
Work Authorization (Form I-765)
The work permit is the heartbeat of employability for many immigrants and asylum applicants.
After progress in 2023 and 2024, filings grew again in early 2025, and completions dipped. The result: longer waits and anxiety for both workers and employers.
Employers feel the pinch when start dates slide or renewals don’t arrive in time to keep workers active.
Employment Petitions (Forms I-129 and I-140)
Employers filing for H-1B, L-1, and similar visa categories rely heavily on I-129 and I-140 petitions. Q2 data revealed slower adjudication even within categories eligible for premium processing.
Premium service still helps, but only within USCIS’s control. It can’t shorten waits for consular appointments or external clearances. Employers must factor in those dependencies when planning overseas hires.
Adjustment of Status (Form I-485)
Form I-485 is the green card adjustment filed by applicants already in the U.S. It often travels with related forms like I-765 (work authorization) and I-131 (advance parole).
By 2025, pending adjustment cases still represented a huge portion of USCIS’s total workload.
Each quarter’s “All Forms” workbook shows tens of thousands of adjustments waiting across family-based and employment-based categories.
Naturalization (Form N-400)
After significant improvement in 2023, naturalization processing steadied but didn’t fully normalize.
Applicants continue to experience field-office variations, with some waiting under six months and others more than a year.
If you’re timing citizenship to vote or travel, always check your local field office’s current band rather than relying on national medians.
Humanitarian Programs
Applications for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), asylum-related benefits, and other humanitarian relief also feed into the backlog.
Even though immigration courts (under EOIR) operate separately, the courts’ 3.4-million-case backlog indirectly influences USCIS workloads by sustaining humanitarian filings that require repeated updates or renewals.
Immigration-Court Backlog: A Parallel Pressure
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As of late summer 2025, the immigration-court system managed more than 3.4 million active cases. While it’s a distinct process, its gravity affects the rest of the immigration landscape.
Humanitarian applicants often interact with both systems. When court cases stall, related USCIS filings, such as work authorization or TPS renewals, stay active longer.
The two systems don’t share queues, but their rhythms overlap enough that one’s delays often echo in the other.
Signs of Past Progress and Why It Reversed
USCIS actually made measurable progress before 2025. In 2023 and early 2024, the agency reported cutting down its backlog and launching cycle-time goals for major form types. Operational improvements, digital intake expansions, and additional staffing helped.
But the 2025 data show how fragile that balance can be. When filings rise again or staffing lags, pending totals climb fast. Receipts spiked, completions slipped, and within months the gains of the prior year were overtaken.
The takeaway is volatility. A fee-funded agency like USCIS lives on workload cycles and appropriations timing, so even moderate shifts can tip the equation.
What the 2025 Data Reveal About Wait Times
The USCIS historical processing-time portal provides form-by-form medians through mid-2025.
Many categories continue to show ranges of several months to over a year. The “80 percent of cases completed within” statistic often paints an even longer horizon.
For anyone filing now, the smart move is to base expectations on those medians and add buffer time. Don’t make job, travel, or housing decisions based solely on a receipt notice date.
Practical Steps for Applicants and Employers
When the system slows down, planning becomes essential. Applicants and employers can still move forward by using the right data, timing filings carefully, and staying alert to the latest USCIS updates.
1. Audit Your Form Type and Service Center
Each quarterly “All Forms” workbook allows filtering by form type. Compare receipts and completions over the last two or three quarters.
If completions lag receipts consistently, pending totals will rise. That data can guide timelines and contingency planning.
2. Track Processing-Time Medians
Use the national medians as planning anchors, not guarantees. If Form I-765 shows a median of eight months, assume some cases will take longer. Build that window into hiring or relocation schedules.
3. Use Premium Processing Where Eligible
Some employment petitions qualify for premium processing, which guarantees initial adjudication within a set period.
It can be worth the fee for time-sensitive hires. Still, remember it doesn’t shorten the consular or background stages outside USCIS.
4. Bundle Related Filings
For family or adjustment cases, concurrent filing (for example, I-485 with I-765 and I-131) can minimize gaps in work and travel authorization. Always verify eligibility on the official USCIS website before filing.
5. Monitor Both USCIS and EOIR Trends
If your case touches humanitarian programs or asylum, follow updates from both USCIS and the immigration courts. Broader system backlogs influence timing, even if indirectly.
What Policymakers Are Exploring
Several proposals have circulated among analysts and advocacy groups to help USCIS regain control of its queue. Common ideas include:
- Stable multi-year funding: Reduces volatility from fee fluctuations and temporary hiring freezes.
- Expanded online filing and digital adjudication: Cuts down on mail-room bottlenecks and scanning delays.
- Simplified requests for evidence (RFEs): Streamlines adjudication where clear patterns exist.
- Surge staffing and training: Allows flexible redeployment when certain form categories spike.
- Better coordination with consular services: Ensures downstream steps don’t erase gains in processing speed.
The agency itself reported in 2024 that improved operations had shortened several timelines.
The challenge for 2025 and beyond is holding on to those gains through consistent funding and staffing stability.
Summary
Every number in that 11.3 million represents a story on hold. It’s a work permit waiting for renewal, a family hoping for reunion, an employee stuck between jobs. The backlog may be massive, but it isn’t static. It moves. Slowly, unevenly, but forward.
By staying informed, filing accurately, and checking real-time data instead of rumors, applicants and employers can protect their plans and respond faster when their cases finally move. The goal now isn’t just waiting, but waiting smart.
