While President Trump has kept the spotlight on illegal immigration, legal immigration has also been disrupted—through policy changes and bureaucratic slowdowns. At the same time, delayed data releases have obscured how federal agencies are currently operating, limiting public insight. Below, I analyze the most recent data available, current as of March 31st, 2026.
Contents
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Subset of processing data for January 2026
- All forms processing data for July through September 2025
- Median processing times through February 28, 2026
- Consular wait times as of March 27, 2026
- IV and NIV monthly visa issuances for September 2025
- PERM Processing Times as of March 12, 2026
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- International student records through March 2026
National Travel and Tourism Office
- Trends in overseas visitors through February 2026
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) oversees the administration of legal immigration by adjudicating applications and petitions for benefits such as work authorization, citizenship, and legal permanent residence (green card status).
Comprehensive processing data for all USCIS forms is only available through September 2025, but a smaller dataset provides updated details through January 2026.
Key takeaways from the January 2026 USCIS processing data:
- In January 2026, USCIS completed only 56 green card applications on behalf of refugees and only 19 on behalf of Cuban Adjustment Act beneficiaries. USCIS reported similar numbers in December 2025 (27 and 55 respectively), but in the 12 months prior to that, USCIS had been completing an average of 2,878 and 5,334 applications per month for refugee and Cuban Adjustment Act beneficiaries respectively.
- Among the reported form types, USCIS received less than half the number of filings in January 2026 compared to January 2025. Despite sharp increases in the number of cases that have been pending for more than six months, USCIS completed nearly 59 percent fewer cases than in January 2025.
- Despite the sharp increase in naturalization filings in October 2025, USCIS completed just 37,832 applications for naturalization in January 2026, a 54 percent decrease compared to the same time in 2025.
For all USCIS forms, processing data is only currently available through fiscal year 2025, with the latest data available for July through September 2025.
Key takeaways from the FY2025 Q4 USCIS data:
- FY2025 ended with a staggering 11.65 million cases pending at USCIS, a 23 percent increase over the end of FY2024.
- USCIS completed just 2.5 million cases in Q4, a 22% decrease compared to FY2024 Q4.
- The net backlog (backlogged cases within the government’s control) rose by over 800,000 cases between Q3 and Q4, ending the fiscal year with 6.28 million backlogged cases.
- The frontlog (unopened cases received by USCIS) more than tripled since the end of Q3, rising from approximately 60,000 at the end of Q3 to nearly 250,000 at the end of the fiscal year.
- Consistent with latest trends, the active DACA population dropped by 9,630 individuals between Q3 and Q4.
- The processing time for an application for employment authorization based on a pending asylum application more than doubled between FY2024 Q4 and FY2025 Q4.
Real-time USCIS processing data isn’t easily accessible in aggregate, but annual median processing times still offer valuable insight into broader trends.
Key takeaways from the median processing times:
- At the end of FY2025, the median processing time for Form I-90, the application for a replacement green card, was reported to be 4.1 months. For FY2026, the median processing time for the I-90 is reported to be 9.2 months, as of February 28, 2026.
- At the end of FY2025, the median processing time for waivers of exclusionary grounds was 21.9 months. For FY2026, it is reported to be 35.4 months, as of February 28, 2026.
Department of State
The Department of State (DOS) issues visas to foreign nationals abroad, leveraging interviews and other vetting tools to protect the integrity and security of legal immigration.
Key takeaways from consular wait times:
- Consular wait times have fluctuated sharply in recent months as new vetting procedures—such as social media reviews and duplicative interview requirements—have taken effect. While some posts have managed to lower wait times in spite of these changes, other locations have seen steep increases in estimated wait times.
Notes regarding data consistencies: Between January 2025 and April 2025, the Department of State consular wait time data changed formats. Data that was once reported in days is now published only in rounded months. For consistency, January 2025 figures have been converted into approximate months to allow comparison. Additionally, in September 2025, the Department of State began labeling any value less than 0.5 as “<0.5,” rather than providing the specific value or rounding down. For consistency, these values were rounded down to zero for the above calculations.
Key takeaways from the consular visa issuance statistics
- U.S. consulates issued 11% fewer nonimmigrant visas in September 2025 than in September 2024.
- Compared to September 2024, consulates issued 64 percent fewer K-1 visas for fiancés of U.S. citizens in September 2025.
- U.S. consulates issued 18 percent fewer F-1 student visas and 25 percent fewer H-1B specialty occupation visas in September 2025 compared to September 2024.
- U.S. consulates issued 21% fewer immigrant visas in September 2025 than in September 2024.
Department of Labor
The Department of Labor (DOL) oversees multiple labor certification and prevailing wage processes that were designed to protect American workers and uphold minimum standards for the employment of foreign nationals sponsored on employment visas.
Key takeaways from the PERM processing times
- Despite a period of stagnant growth, and even one decrease, PERM processing times have now surpassed 500 days, reaching a high of 512 days as of February 9, 2026.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Beyond leading the interior enforcement efforts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also administers SEVIS, (the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System used by international students and cultural exchange visitors).
Key takeaways from the SEVIS records
- Latest data continues to reflect year-over-year declines in active SEVIS records.
- As of March 2026, there were 46,406 fewer active international student records overall and 34,963 fewer STEM-enrolled international student records.
National Travel and Tourism Office
The National Travel and Tourism Office, part of the International Trade Administration, tracks data on international travel to and from the United States.
Key takeaways from the overseas visitor numbers
- Over 870,000 fewer overseas visitors came to the U.S. in2025 compared to 2024.
- July 2025 and August 2025 both recorded over 100,000 fewer visitors than last year.
- March 2025 recorded the sharpest year-over-year drop of over 300,000 fewer visitors.
- February 2025 marked the first month with a year-over-year decrease in overseas visitors since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- February 2026 marked a modest increase over February 2025, but it still reported nearly 38,000 fewer visitors than February 2024.
- The International Trade Administration that publishes this data says that every 40 international visits supports 1 U.S. job. At that rate, the U.S. could have missed out on nearly 22,000 American jobs in 2025 as a result of tourism declines.
ARCHIVE: Previous updates to the “Legal immigration in numbers” series are available for download here.
