Green Card Applications Suffer Major Blow

Newsweek

2 days ago

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Employer-sponsored green card applications are facing historic delays, according to a new report from the Cato Institute.
On Monday, the libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., published the results of its investigation into the processing times that immigrant workers now face when applying for green cards. It found that the average length had risen to 1,256 days, or 3.4 years, at the end of the second quarter of 2025—compared to 705 days (1.9 years) in 2016.
Newsweek has contacted U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Average processing times have now reached an all-time high, according to Cato's analysis. The think tank added that the general difficulty applicants have in securing green cards threatens to undermine the competitiveness of the U.S. in attracting global talent.
These drawn-out timelines create difficulties for both employees and employers, and they add to a mounting backlog for authorities at a time when the U.S.'s immigration architecture is already being significantly reshaped by the policies of President Donald Trump's administration.
What To Know
According to the Cato Institute's report, even applicants who pay a $2,805 "premium processing fee" wait almost two years on average before making it out of the "government's regulatory morass."
These wait times are in addition to the time applicants must wait to secure a cap slot—based on the numerical limits the government sets on green cards by country and category—as well as the months of prefiling that must be done before applications can begin.
A woman clutches a U.S. flag as she prepares to take the oath of citizenship in commemoration of Independence Day during a naturalization ceremony in San Antonio on July 3.
A woman clutches a U.S. flag as she prepares to take the oath of citizenship in commemoration of Independence Day during a naturalization ceremony in San Antonio on July 3.
Eric Gay/AP Photo
The Cato Institute broke the process for employer-sponsored applications into six stages, all of which have risen since 2016:
The prefiling stage: Employers and applicants gather documentation proving eligibility.
Employers and applicants gather documentation proving eligibility. Prevailing wage determination: The Department of Labor evaluates the job to estimate a wage.
The Department of Labor evaluates the job to estimate a wage. U.S. worker recruitment: Employers must also strive to recruit U.S. workers.
Employers must also strive to recruit U.S. workers. Labor certification: Employers apply for a labor certification after proving no sufficiently qualified Americans responded to the job postings.
Employers apply for a labor certification after proving no sufficiently qualified Americans responded to the job postings. Employer petition: Employers file a petition with the Department of Homeland Security, which checks the worker's eligibility and the employer's ability to pay them.
Employers file a petition with the Department of Homeland Security, which checks the worker's eligibility and the employer's ability to pay them. Green card application: The employer requests status adjustment to permanent residence, requiring background and medical checks and a confirmation of the job offer.
This protracted and complex process, according to the think tank, means employers are all but required to grant temporary work visas (such as the H-1B) to their employees before securing a green card, further drawing out these waiting times.
According to a separate report from the immigration services company Boundless Immigration, citing data from USCIS, case completions across the board have fallen this year. In the second quarter of the federal fiscal year, which runs from January 1 to March 31, these dropped 18 percent year over year to 2.7 million. Meanwhile, the backlog of pending cases at USCIS grew to 11.3 million, the highest in over a decade.
What People Are Saying
The Cato Institute wrote in its report: "America will lose the global talent competition when other countries grant green cards in a matter of a few weeks or months, not years. It is time for the U.S. government to radically streamline its legal immigration system and eliminate unnecessary, burdensome procedures."