Processing intelligence · I-485

The system stalls.

21 months of official USCIS data on the green card through adjustment of status: approval speed, the backlog that keeps growing, and the wait times that broke.

21
official monthly reports
Sep 23 → Jun 26
period analyzed
Scroll
Alert · June 2026

The backlog reached 1.59 million in June 2026 — +258K since the FY2026 Q1 close, with no sign of a brake.

Approvals rebounded to 34,872 in June (+25% vs May), but remain 51% below the peak. Receipts fell from 82K to 63K. The Cuban Adjustment eased to 21.5 months — a second month of relief.

The dashboard · today
Total backlog
0
▲ +66% since Sep 2023
Approvals / month
0
▼ −51% vs Jul 2025 peak
Pending >6 months
0%
▲ was 61% in Sep 2023
Net gap / month
+22K
cases added to the backlog
Chapter 01 · The backlog

The line only grew.

From 957 thousand cases in September 2023 to more than 1.59 million in June 2026. In 21 months, the line never stopped growing.

Cumulative backlog Jun 26 · 1.59M
Sep 23Jul 25Jun 26
Drag your finger across the curve to see each month
Chapter 02 · The story in 3 acts

Deficit, rebound, collapse.

Sep 2023 – Jun 2024
Structural deficit

~54K approvals against ~75K received. The backlog grows 5–7K net per month. The system slips into chronic deficit.

Jul 2024 – Jul 2025
Active recovery

All-time peak of 71,254 approvals in July 2025. The backlog stabilizes. Family and Employment drop to lows of 8–9 months.

Aug 2025 – present
Speed collapse

The PM-602-0192 (Dec 2025) pause freezes everything. The backlog tops 1.59M in June. Speed collapses to 28K in May and barely rebounds to 35K. The Cuban Adjustment hit a record 29.8 months in April.

Chapter 03 · The speed

The engine shut off.

Approvals hit an all-time peak in July 2025 — and have since been cut in half.

Jul 2025 peak
71,254
Drop to today
−51%
Jul 25 peak
71,254
Jun 26
34,872
Sep 23Jul 25Jun 26
Cuban Adjustment · deep dive

From 4.8 to 29.8 months in 2.7 years.

+0%
of deterioration in the
wait time
Cuban cases pending
355,371
95% have been waiting more than 6 months — that's 336,679 people on hold.
Approvals in June 2026
89
They were 13,464 in September 2024 — a 99.3% drop. The last six measured months add up to 197 approvals, against 355,371 cases in line.
The jump from 12.9 to 27.8 months was not gradual — it was a break tied to the PM-602-0192 pause. The category that was once the fastest in the system is today among the most broken. In June it eased to 21.5 months — a second month of relief, but still ~4.5× its historical base of 4.8.
Months of waitingApprovals / month Jun 26 · 21.5 mo · 89 appr.
6,870
6,975
9,514
6,920
13,464
7,269
8,663
10,034
10,984
8,065
5,662
3,376
1,647
2,265
2,111
15
18
25
23
27
89
30mo
15K
20mo
10K
10mo
5K
10.1 · Nov 24
27.8 · Jan 26
Sep 23Nov 25Jun 26
Drag to move through the 21 months
Chapter 04 · By category

Two systems, one line.

Family and Employment stay healthy (10–11 months). Asylum, Refugee and Cuban remain well above (21–30). Tap a category to follow its line.

36mo24mo12mo
Sep 23Nov 25Jun 26
The healthy
Employment at 10.0 mo. Family at 11.4 mo, predictable.
The broken
Asylum 29.3 mo, Refugee 29.1 mo (Feb's 87.6 was a reporting anomaly), Cuban 21.5 mo.
Chapter 05 · Where it's heading

The backlog already crossed 1.5M ahead of schedule.

We projected it for August. It happened in April. In June, 63K came in and 35K were approved: +22K net in a single month. Receipts dropped, the line did not.

✓
June 2026 — Backlog at 1.59M
1,588,100 cases; crossed 1.5M in April, four months ahead of projection.
→
July 2026 — 1.6M imminent
11,900 cases to go: at the current pace of +22K net per month it crosses in the next report.
→
Cuban Adjustment — brushed the 30-month barrier
Hit 29.8 mo in April; eased to 23.2 in May and 21.5 in June, but still ~4.5× its base.
★
The only improvement scenario
Sustain 65–70K approvals/month — the July 2025 level. June reached 35K: half.
Method and source

Official monthly USCIS data for Form I-485, September 2023 to June 2026 (21 reports). Monthly Cuban Adjustment approvals come from the same series of reports to Congress. The approval rate is calculated on decided cases. Processing times in average months per adjustment category. The 87.6-month Refugee spike (Feb 2026) was a reporting anomaly, later corrected. All figures come directly from the reports; none were estimated.

Inmigreatinmigreat· I-485 Special Report For informational use · Not legal advice