Annually, millions of people seek to immigrate to the U.S. in pursuit of financial opportunities, freedom, safety and a chance at a fresh start. Between 2020 and 2025, an excess of 11 million immigrants arrived in the U.S., with a record three million arriving in 2023, which serves as the highest annual total recorded. Mexico remains the prominent origin country for immigrants, followed by India, China, the Philippines and several Latin American countries.

Throughout history, numerous immigrants viewed the U.S. as a place for stability and opportunity, but recently, the immigration process has grown increasingly complex. Foreigners who desire the “American Dream” need to navigate through the lengthy system, which involves paperwork, background checks and interviews. As the number of applications continues to rise, the U.S. immigration system faces an increasing backlog, as each step in the process creates bottlenecks that delay decisions, overwhelm agencies and leave applicants waiting for months to years after they first applied, heavily impacting families, workers and asylum seekers worldwide. 

Reasons for Immigration

Individuals choose to immigrate to the U.S. for a variety of reasons. Numerous feel drawn by the idea of the “American Dream,” with surveys showing that around 75% of immigrants cite long-term job opportunities or financial stability as a top push factor, and 68% report a desire for improved opportunities for their children. Others immigrate to fill labor shortages, pursue further education or reunite with family, with 42% arriving for work, 32% for school and 23% for familial reasons. A significant number also seek asylum and move to flee violence, political persecution and humanitarian crises happening in their home country. 

Immigration patterns have shifted over recent years. While Asia and Africa used to represent a majority of newcomers to the U.S., data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that around 52% of U.S immigrants now arrive from Latin America, with 27% from Asia, 10% from Europe and smaller shares from Africa and other regions around the world. Between 2021 and 2023, 20% of newly arrived immigrants came from South America, up from 13% between 2015 and 2019, while in South and East Asia, the percentage of new arrivals declined from 29% to 24% over the same period. These shifts in demographics reflect economic stability, political unrest and climate pressures in Latin America as well as ongoing conflicts and uncertainty in Europe. 

The combination of rising demand, shifting demographics and delays in the system highlights the importance of understanding the immigration process. For those seeking to enter the U.S., the process begins with filing a petition and continues through several different regulated stages. Applicants navigate through the process differently depending on the type of visa they seek. Family-based visas allow U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor relatives, while the government grants employment-based visas to individuals with job offers in specialized fields. Student visas provide entry for educational purposes, and visitor visas allow for temporary travel for business or leisure.

 Other categories like refugee or asylum visas serve to assist individuals fleeing violence, persecution or humanitarian crises. An increasing number of individuals apply across these categories simultaneously, with the volume of applications entering the system growing significantly, with 11.3 million cases pending as of early 2026. This directly contributes to case backlogs as agencies struggle to keep a quick pace with the high demand. 

Numerous individuals fleeing humanitarian crises rely on the U.S. immigration system to seek safety and protection. For these applications, the process grows complex because the U.S. requires them to provide evidence of persecution or danger in their home country while navigating identical steps required for other types of visas. Immigrants from Central America, specifically from the Northern Triangle region, an excess of two million individuals fled over the past decade due to severe violence and economic desperation, yet the government still required each individual to bring all their needed papers and wait through the process as any other immigrant. From petition filing to interviews, medical examinations and biometric verification, the system attempts to carefully evaluate each case. Still, the combination of high demand and procedural backlog frequently delays relief to those in urgent need of immigration, showing both the crucial role and challenges of the U.S. immigration process in responding to global crises. 

The process of immigration 

The government structured the U.S. immigration system to ensure that all entrants meet the legal, security and health requirements of the country. While the process varies depending on the type of visa, a majority of applicants follow a series of essential steps: filing a petition, processing through the National Visa Center (NVC), biometric verification, medical examination and a final interview. Each of these steps verifies the eligibility of the immigrant and works to maintain the integrity of U.S. Immigration. While these steps prove necessary, each stage also builds opportunities for delay, which leads to the formation of bottlenecks that contribute to the seemingly never-ending issue.

A majority of immigration cases begin with the submission of a petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Family-based petitions come from a U.S. citizen or permanent resident sponsoring relatives, while employment-based petitions typically come from U.S. employers. The system requires applicants to submit forms such as the I-130 or I-140, along with supporting evidence like birth certificates, job contracts and financial records. 

This stage creates one of the first major sources of backlog. The complexity and volume of paperwork contribute heavily to delays. Immigration officials review each document carefully, which takes time when thousands of applicants apply at the same time. The USCIS receives millions of petitions annually, commonly exceeding its processing capacity, which causes applications to pend for long periods before review. Errors or missing documentation, currently 45% of the reason for visa backlog, can also cause further delay and force around 35% of applicants to re-submit materials and re-enter the queue, increasing the number of unresolved cases and overall slowing the system. 

After approval, cases progress to the NVC for document collection and review. Applicants submit financial records, civil documents and application forms before advancing to the next stage. Heavy caseloads and derailed document review in the NVC strain the processing capacity and lead to further case accumulation. Visa limits and country caps also prevent numerous applicants from moving forward immediately, leaving completed cases waiting in lengthy queues and delaying the process as a whole. 

Applicants also complete a biometric screening and a medical examination to confirm their identity and whether they meet U.S. health requirements. These steps ensure security and public safety, but commonly face delays due to limited appointment availability and restricted access to approved providers. The final step involves an interview with a U.S. official to confirm the applicant’s eligibility. Despite completing and passing prior requirements, numerous applicants face long waits due to limited interview availability and the high demand for accessors. This stage creates the highest amount of bottlenecks as delayed interviews prevent final decisions and keep cases in the system for extended periods. 

Reasons for backlog

Several factors drive the backlog in the U.S. immigration system, other than the lengthy process. One major issue involves a shortage of immigration judges and processing staff. Courts around the U.S. handle millions of pending cases each year, but the number of judges specific for immigration remains limited. This imbalance forces applicants to wait months or even years for decisions, and as new cases continue to join the process, the gap between incoming applicants and completed cases grows. In Georgia, the Atlanta immigration court system handles one of the busiest schedules in the Southeast region of the U.S., with thousands of asylum and family-based cases pending around the clock. Local communities experience delays in family reunification and employment opportunities due to the slow case processing, which reflects how national backlogs result in state-level impacts. 

For students and teachers at NC, these delays create real impacts on daily life and learning. Numerous students struggle with family members working through the immigration process as NC welcomes a total minority enrollment of approximately 72%, which can create stress, uncertainty and difficulty focusing in school. Teachers may need to provide extra support or assistance for students dealing with these problems, as delays in legal status for parents can affect family income and stability, which can limit students’ access to school activities, resources or housing. Immigration backlogs overall directly affect the well-being and academic experience of people within a local school community. 

“The journey to becoming an immigrant was a challenging process before receiving my green card. My parents took an alternate route to residency as they applied for a temporary lottery that occurred within Kenya. Being considered for the lottery process took its own time for the officials to evaluate our application. When we won our green card, the costs and flight to the U.S. left us as newcomers with little to our name. Despite the arduousness, my family persevered for the sake of my and my sister’s futures,” senior Darwin Kamau said. 

Policy changes create additional challenges. For example, the “Zero Tolerance” policy created in 2017 led to widespread family separations at the border and required agencies to stop current cases and re-evaluate thousands of pending asylum and family-based cases. Similarly, changes to the public charge rule in 2019, 2022 and 2025 forced the USCIS to review applications differently, which slowed approvals for applicants who relied on public assistance documentation. These interruptions prevent applications from moving forward quickly, create confusion for both applicants and officials and contribute to the accumulation of unresolved cases by commonly adding months or years to the overall backlog. 

The COVID-19 pandemic further intensified delays. Temporary office closures, reduced staff and paused interviews created an increasing backlog of pending cases. By mid-2025, the USCIS faced higher than 11.3 million pending applications, the highest backlog in agency history, which shows how pandemic slowdowns still heavily affect the process today. Although processing has resumed, agencies continue to work through these unresolved applications while managing new submissions.

“We’ve seen massive slowdowns in both defensive (removal/deportation) cases and affirmative cases with USCIS since the COVID pandemic. Many court hearings were cancelled and not rescheduled, and the Department of State also cancelled immigrant visa interviews abroad because of health risk issues. The state of emergency was much slower to be lifted in these government agencies as compared to private business/industries, and we still haven’t seen pre-pandemic processing times in many types of cases despite being several years past the crisis. The government is overall responsible for managing its workload in a timely and efficient way, and they have failed to do so. While there are certainly factors outside of government control (ie, a pandemic), many of these issues are a direct result of inefficient and outdated policies and major shifts in the political climate,” U.S. immigration attorney Heather Todd said.

Potential solutions for the backlog 

Addressing and adjusting the immigration backlog requires both improvements in structure and policy adjustments. Expanding technology could help simplify document submission, reduce errors and enable faster communication between applicants and agencies, which can improve early-stage efficiency to prevent delays and resubmissions. Increasing the number of immigration judges and staff would allow agencies to process a higher number of cases in a shorter amount of time, which reduces wait periods, clears the existing backlogs and prevents new delays as applications continue to rise.

Prioritizing specific cases, such as family reunification, urgent humanitarian needs or employment-based petitions, could lessen the impact of delays on vulnerable groups and help agencies manage caseloads in an effective manner. Higher access to legal assistance also serves as a practical solution for applications with professional guidance, as it can help applicants submit accurate documentation, reduce errors and speed up the processes. These measures together could improve efficiency, reduce wait times and respond to the growing demand of immigration. 

The U.S. immigration system provides opportunity and safety for millions, yet growing demand, complex processes and a continuous backlog lead to long delays. Each stage of the process adds potential bottlenecks and policy changes, staffing shortages and events like COVID-19 further the backlog. Expanding technology, increasing immigration staff, prioritizing urgent cases and offering legal support could reduce delays and overall improve efficiency. Without these changes, backlogs will continue to grow, prolonging the separation of families, limiting opportunities and leaving millions waiting for protection and a chance at the “American Dream.”