(UNITED STATES) The U.S. immigration system is straining under record pressure as of November 2025, with 3.7 million pending immigration court cases, an unprecedented 11.3 million-case backlog at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and a broad travel ban covering 19 countries. Attorneys, advocates, and government data point to mounting delays across nearly every category—family, employment, and humanitarian—raising fears that 2026 could be the breaking point.
Immigration courts closed a record 900,000 cases in the 2024 fiscal year, but the queue still grew as new filings outpaced case completions and policy shifts pushed more people into proceedings. Average wait times have stretched to about four years, leaving families stuck in limbo and employers unable to fill jobs. Phoenix immigration attorney Marcos Garciaacosta said,
“The courts were artificially loaded during the Trump and some other administrations, just by pumping a lot of people into the system—even though they are undocumented, they have rights, and one of them is due process, and they have the option of presenting their case to an immigration judge.”
He added,
“The other group of people that are probably making up the majority of the current backlog are … relatively recent arrivals.”
For people caught in the immigration backlog, the scale of pending immigration court cases now shapes daily decisions about work, schooling, and where to live.
USCIS figures show the agency completed only 2.7 million cases in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, an 18% drop from the same period the year before. The pending caseload surged by 1.6 million to reach 11.3 million—its highest point in at least a decade. The agency also reported a “frontlog” of more than 34,000 unopened cases for the first time since 2024, meaning applications had not even been entered into the system. Processing time spikes have rippled through core benefits. Applicants renewing permanent resident cards through Form I-90 (USCIS I-90 page) are seeing waits now averaging more than eight months—up 938% from earlier norms of three to four months. Employers filing Form I-129 (USCIS I-129 page) for temporary workers report delays up 25% over the previous quarter and 80% year-over-year. Work authorization through Form I-765 (USCIS I-765 page) is especially strained, with pending applications up 87% and the total number pending surpassing 2 million; the net backlog jumped 181% in a single quarter.
High-skilled immigration channels show heavy pressure too. The EB-1A “extraordinary ability” category has its largest backlog on record, with 16,000 pending cases and approval rates dipping to 72.7%. Family-based petitions are also swelling: Form I-751 (USCIS I-751 page) filings rose 51.8% over the previous quarter, while Form I-485 (USCIS I-485 page) family-based adjustment filings climbed 12% year-over-year. Behind the numbers are families postponing reunions, businesses reworking hiring plans, and foreign students delaying career moves as processing times lengthen and interviews become harder to secure.
The slowdown is not just volume. Officials have tightened screening and vetting, particularly in humanitarian pathways. Green card processing for refugees and asylees, halted since March 2025, remains suspended. The agency’s Simplified Case Processing pilot has been shelved, which means more manual reviews and more bottlenecks. New guidance taking effect on August 1, 2025 gave officers broader discretion to deny family-based applications and issue Notices to Appear, further swelling the court docket. As enforcement ramps up, deportations are expected to rise, with more removals executed outside the court process by Immigration and Customs Enforcement when deportation orders already exist.
The parallel pressure point is at the border and ports of entry, where a travel ban reshaped who can come and when. President Trump’s June 4, 2025 executive order imposed a travel ban on 19 countries, effective June 9, 2025. Twelve countries face a total ban—Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—while seven other countries face partial bans covering immigrant visas and several common nonimmigrant categories, including B, F, M, and J. The restrictions apply to nationals who were outside the United States without a valid visa as of the effective date. Exceptions allow entry for current visa holders, U.S. lawful permanent residents, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, refugees, Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders, and athletes participating in major events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The administration signaled that the list could grow, with internal memos warning that 36 more countries—many in Africa—could be added if they miss U.S. vetting benchmarks within 60 days.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said,
“The administration is urging countries to strengthen their passport vetting procedures, cooperate in accepting deported nationals from the United States, and take additional measures to ensure their citizens do not pose a threat to American security.”
That message underscores the travel ban’s security framing, even as its reach intersects with the immigration backlog and the expanding pool of pending immigration court cases. For families split across borders, the bans complicate decisions on travel, schooling, and medical care. Some foreign doctors slated to start U.S. hospital residencies missed their reporting dates, and immigrant business owners say they are avoiding essential trips in case rules shift while they are abroad.
Inside homes and online forums, the strain shows up in smaller but telling ways. On Reddit, applicants trade timelines and frustration. One user posted: “My case was approved in three months. Another waited over a year with no clear reason. So what’s going on?” Another shared: “I filed my NIW I-140 in early 2024. Still no update. Should I pay for premium processing or just wait it out? I’m so confused about whether it even helps.” For many workers and students, employment hinges on the timely approval of Form I-765 work permits, which now commonly take three to six months or longer, according to user reports. For researchers, doctors, and engineers pursuing self-sponsored petitions, the wait on an Form I-140 (USCIS I-140 page)—whether under EB-2 NIW or EB-1A—can stall projects and job offers.
Courtrooms are equally clogged. Judges must triage cases after years of growing dockets and shifting enforcement priorities. Attorneys say case sequencing can feel arbitrary, with some longtime residents suddenly facing hearings after years of inactivity, while newly arrived migrants receive notices that push their first appearances well into 2029. The consequences are stark. People wait years to learn whether they can remain or must depart, even as they build lives, take jobs where allowed, and enroll children in school. The pent-up caseload amplifies the stakes of every policy change—more vetting or a new filing rule can ripple across millions of files.
On the benefits side, employers filing Form I-129 petitions for H-1B specialty occupations report more requests for evidence and longer adjudications. Immigration attorney Charles Kuck said,
“Chaos is Trump. It’s his middle name. So, yeah, we’re going to see more chaos, more hate, more negative changes coming in 2026. It’s an election year.”
He warned of intensified scrutiny in the coming months: “a real focus on requests for evidence on H-1Bs to really confirm that the job is a specialty job. Now, right now, if you don’t have the exact degree the job requires, you’re probably going to be denied.” For applicants weighing whether to pay for premium processing onForm I-140or to file concurrent adjustments usingForm I-485, the shifting landscape—and the risk of denials under tightened guidance—makes planning harder. Experts say visa fees and processing times may change again before the next H-1B lottery, adding more uncertainty for employers and foreign graduates.
At USCIS, the cumulative effect of front-end intake delays and back-end interviews is visible across categories. The agency’s frontlog of more than 34,000 unopened applications reflects pressure at the earliest step—sorting, scanning, and data entry—which then cascades into biometrics scheduling and interview backlogs. As the number of pending Form I-765 applications crossed 2 million, the agency’s efforts to prioritize certain categories, like humanitarian parolees or students, squeezed processing time for others. Family-based applicants report longer queues for Form I-751 removal of conditions adjudications, a bottleneck that can force extended reliance on temporary evidence of status and complicate travel or job changes. When processing times for green card renewals through Form I-90 balloon from a few months to most of a year, routine tasks—renewing a driver’s license, clearing a background check for a new job—can suddenly derail.
The travel ban’s structure also injects new complexity. Because the rules exempt people who already held valid visas as of June 9, 2025, families with mixed status face unequal outcomes: one sibling can fly; another, who applied later, cannot. Students from partially banned countries weighing F or J visas often find no path for now, as restrictions cover key nonimmigrant categories. The State Department conducts periodic reviews—every 90 days, with broader assessments every 180 days—that can add or remove countries. Those rolling evaluations make trip planning unpredictable, especially for weddings, funerals, or academic deadlines. The State Department’s public notices and country pages remain essential for updates; applicants can check the latest entry restrictions through official State Department travel and visa guidance.
In immigration courts, defense attorneys stress that people in proceedings retain due process rights—including the right to counsel at no government expense and the right to present evidence. Garciaacosta emphasized that even those who entered without authorization should see a judge rather than be pushed out of the system. His argument reflects a broader debate about how to reduce the crush of cases without eroding legal protections, especially for asylum seekers and mixed-status families. Meanwhile, ICE has signaled more reliance on administrative removals where final orders already exist, sidestepping the need for fresh court dates and adding to the fear among long-settled communities.
For employers and universities, the mounting delay has practical costs. Job start dates slip. Research programs pause while principal investigators await Form I-140 decisions. Hospitals recruit physicians from outside the travel ban list only to discover that work permits through Form I-765 cannot be approved in time for residency start. Families juggle travel documents and the fine print of parole and advance parole, wary of being stranded abroad while the travel ban evolves. Small businesses owned by immigrants warn they are skipping trade shows or supplier visits because a denied boarding or a visa revocation could jeopardize their entire operation.
The uncertainty reaches deep into daily life. Families worry whether a delayed Form I-485 adjustment will push a child past a birthday that could end eligibility under the Child Status Protection Act. Workers who filed Form I-129 H-1B extensions time their travel to avoid getting stuck while a consulate applies the latest vetting standards. And for those in the humanitarian pipeline, the suspended processing for refugees and asylees since March 2025 means longer waits for permanent status even after years of security checks and interviews. Community groups and legal hotlines urge people to build extra time into plans and keep close track of filing receipts and biometrics notices.
Predictions for 2026 are sobering. Attorneys expect more enforcement, more requests for evidence, and higher denials in employment-based cases, especially where job descriptions and degrees do not align neatly. Observers also anticipate changes in fees and processing for the next H-1B season, adding yet another moving piece for graduates and tech firms. If the travel ban expands beyond the current 19 countries, the pool of people barred from entry will grow, increasing strain on U.S.-based families and employers already dealing with the immigration backlog. The volume of pending immigration court cases suggests that, without major new resources or policy shifts, wait times will lengthen further.
Even with record closures last year, courts cannot outpace the influx under current policies. USCIS faces its own uphill climb: a record-high pending caseload, a reintroduced frontlog of unopened files, and processing time spikes across core forms like Form I-90, Form I-129, Form I-765, Form I-751, Form I-485, and Form I-140. The travel ban’s periodic reviews mean that even those outside the 19-country list cannot rely on stability. As Kuck put it,
“Chaos is Trump. It’s his middle name.”
For now, people watching the calendar into 2026 see more questions than answers—about who can enter, how long cases will take, and whether the system can keep pace with the demands placed upon it.
This Article in a Nutshell
By November 2025, USCIS carried an unprecedented 11.3 million-case backlog and immigration courts had 3.7 million pending cases, with average waits near four years. USCIS completed 2.7 million cases in Q2 FY2025, an 18% drop from the prior year, and reported a 34,000-case frontlog. Processing times surged for I-90, I-129 and I-765; EB-1A pending cases hit 16,000. A June 2025 travel ban on 19 countries further complicates family reunification and employment. Experts warn 2026 could deepen delays without policy or resource shifts.
