The work permit (EAD) is the largest form at USCIS. A quarter century of data reveals who gets to work in the U.S., on what legal basis — and how every policy shift leaves its mark.
The I-765 doesn't grant status. It grants the right to work.
Nearly everyone with a pending case or temporary protection — asylum, TPS, DACA, students on OPT, green card applicants — needs an EAD to work legally. That's why I-765 volume is a real-time sensor of how many people are living in temporary or pending status.
The stable band that broke.
For nearly twenty years, work permits ran in a stable band: 2 to 2.6 million per year.
Then, in 2023 applications jumped +50%, and again +36% in 2024 — reaching 4.78 million, more than double the norm and an all-time record.
Renewals, or new people?
The most important clue in the dataset. The surge came almost entirely from initial applications — from 1.3M to 3.47M — while renewals stayed flat. It's new people entering the system, not existing holders renewing.
Every category is a story.
Pending asylum is the engine behind the surge; parolees grew 14×; DACA is frozen and declining; TPS is erratic by country designation; OPT is the stable baseline.
Five groups, four out of every five permits.
The peak has passed. The system is cooling.
Applications dropped from 1.54M (FY2025 Q2) to 591K (FY2026 Q1). The backlog peaked at 2.1M and drained to 1.62M as approvals outpaced decelerating intake.
Seven things we learned.
The I-765 is a population sensor.
Its stable band of ~2–2.5M/year for 22 years doubled to 4.78M in FY2024 — a real demographic shift, not an administrative one.
The surge came from initial filings, not renewals.
Initial applications went from 1.3M to 3.47M while renewals stayed flat: new people entering the system.
Two categories drove it: asylum and parole.
Pending asylum (550K → 1.65M) and parolees (<100K → 800K). The asylum and humanitarian parole stories of FY2023–24, in data.
Approval is bimodal: 96–98% vs 86–87%.
Near-automatic for already-granted statuses; lower for the massive pending-case categories (asylum, adjustment).
DACA is a frozen population in decline.
From 480K to 267K — renewals only since litigation froze new grants. The mirror image of the asylum wave.
TPS is erratic — driven by country designations.
Every spike (302K, then 7,704, then 268K) is a policy event: when a country gets designated or redesignated.
The system is already cooling down.
Receipts dropped to 591K (FY2026 Q1) and the backlog drained from 2.1M to 1.62M. After two record years, the pipeline is normalizing.
About the I-765
What is the work permit (I-765) approval rate?
How many work permit applications are filed?
How many I-765 work permits are pending?
Who applies for the most work permits?
Annual data (FY2003–FY2024) for long-term trends; quarterly data (FY2025–FY2026) for the pending backlog and recent dynamics. Aggregates reconcile exactly (category→TOTAL; INITIAL+RENEWAL+REPLACEMENT→TOTAL). Eligibility codes consolidated across spelling variants (OCR artifacts). Approval rate = approved ÷ (approved + denied). Receipts are application counts, not unique individuals (renewals repeat). All figures computed programmatically; none estimated.
75 categories · 24 years
inmigreat© 2026 · I-765 Report · Work Permits
Official USCIS data · This report does not constitute legal advice