WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — The U.S. immigration system is facing its worst backlog in history, with more than 11.3 million pending cases recorded by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as of March 31, 2025. This record-breaking number, revealed in USCIS’s second-quarter report for fiscal year 2025, highlights growing concerns about slower immigration services under the new Trump administration.
The backlog increase comes just weeks before USCIS lost thousands of employees in early May, raising new fears about longer wait times for immigrants and applicants. Between January 1 and March 31, 2025, USCIS completed 2.7 million cases—a drop of 18% compared to the same quarter last year and down 12% from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, pending cases surged by 1.6 million, pushing the total to a record 11.3 million. The last time USCIS saw a backlog this large was more than a decade ago.
The agency also reported a “frontlog” of over 34,000 applications. These are cases that USCIS received but has not yet opened or issued receipts for. This is the first time since early 2024 that the agency has recorded this kind of front-end delay.
Processing times have worsened for several major immigration forms. Form I-90, used to replace permanent resident cards or green cards, saw a dramatic increase in wait times. Median processing time jumped from just 0.8 months in the first quarter to more than 8 months by March—a 938% spike.
Form I-765, the application for employment authorization, also faced serious slowdowns. The number of pending I-765 applications—including new, renewal, and replacement requests—reached more than 2 million. That’s nearly double the 1.2 million cases pending just one quarter earlier. Initial applications alone rose by 87%.
For Form I-129, which covers employment-based temporary visas like H-1B and L-1, median wait times went up 25% since the last quarter and 80% compared to the same period last year. Still, the net backlog of I-129s dropped by nearly 75%—a rare improvement in the otherwise grim report.
USCIS linked many of the delays to the suspension of Streamline Case Processing (SCP), an automated tool that helped handle cases without manual review. The agency paused the system for further vetting, but has not said when—or if—it will resume. Without SCP, more cases require officer review, adding to the workload at a time when USCIS has fewer staff.
There was some progress for Form I-131, used to apply for travel documents like advance parole. Since the start of fiscal 2025, the number of pending I-131 applications has dropped by nearly 60,000. But as of March 31, more than 260,000 cases were still waiting, with a median processing time of 5.8 months.
The backlog for other employment authorization categories stood at 775,000 cases. Of these, 531,000 were for parole-based work permits under category C11. Many of these were reopened for possible revocation under the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) parole program. By contrast, there was no reported backlog for categories C08 (asylum seekers) and C09 (adjustment of status applicants).
Immigration attorney Charles Kuck of Atlanta-based Kuck Baxter Immigration warned that these delays are no accident.
“The Trump administration has told USCIS to slow down processing of cases,” Kuck said. “Predictably, the system has quickly developed massive backlogs.”
Kuck added that the crisis was “100 percent predictable,” citing staff cuts, volunteer transfers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and increased scrutiny of applications.
“These are all policy choices,” he said. “By the end of 2028, we will pine for the days of a functioning legal immigration system.”
Millions of immigrants now face longer wait times for work permits, green card replacements, and travel documents. The sharp drop in completed cases signals a slower, more burdensome system. With the Trump administration aiming to crack down on immigration, experts warn the situation could worsen.
