2 days ago
US Green Card processing delay at all-time high, may force out talent: Report
Immigrant workers applying for employer-sponsored Green Cards in the US are now facing the longest processing times ever recorded, according to a report by the Cato Washington DC-based libertarian think tank released findings from its study on the current wait times immigrant workers encounter when applying for Green 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 reported, citing the think tank's
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is grappling with an unprecedented backlog of immigration cases, reaching a record 11.3 million pending applications, according to another Newsweek report published in think tank warned that the increasing challenges faced by applicants in obtaining Green Cards could weaken the US' ability to attract skilled workers from around the FEE ALSO FAILING TO SPEED UP GREEN CARD DELAYS: REPORTAccording to the Cato Institute's report, even applicants who pay a "premium processing fee" wait almost two years on average before making it out of the "government's regulatory morass" – a confusing and complicated set of rules and paperwork which makes it hard for people and businesses to get things done quickly and wait times come on top of the time applicants already spend trying to get a cap slot, which depends on the limits the government sets for each country and category. Applicants also have to go through several months of paperwork before they can even file their Cato Institute outlined six key stages involved in the process of obtaining an employer-sponsored Green Cards in the United States, each of which has seen increased processing times since six stages are as follows: gathering eligibility documents, determining a fair wage, recruiting US workers, obtaining labour certification, filing an employer petition, and finally submitting the green card application, which includes background and medical checks. Each step adds to the overall to the Cato report, the prolonged delays effectively force many workers to rely on H-1B or other temporary visas before they can even apply for a Green Card."America will lose the global talent competition when other countries grant Green Cards in a matter of a few weeks or months, not years," the Cato Institute said in its report cited in Newsweek."The US government needs to significantly simplify its legal immigration process and remove excessive, outdated requirements," the think tank US offers a Green Card, which lets people live there permanently. There are a few ways to get one, like having a family in the US, a job offer, or winning the lottery.- Ends
