U.S. Green Card Job Sponsorship Wait Times Hit Record 3.4 Years, Cato Institute Warns

A new report from the Cato Institute in Washington has revealed that employment-based green card applications are facing unprecedented processing delays, with the average wait time reaching 1,256 days—about 3.4 years—by the end of Q2 2025, compared to 705 days (1.9 years) in 2016.

The report warns that this record-long timeline is a major obstacle to the United States’ ability to attract global talent, making it more difficult for both employees and companies to secure permanent residency. It also worsens the backlog of cases at immigration authorities at a time when the U.S. immigration system is undergoing major changes under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Even those paying the $2,805 “premium processing” fee are waiting an average of nearly two years to navigate the bureaucratic complexities. This period is in addition to other delays, such as country- and category-based visa caps and several months of pre-application procedures.

According to the institute, the employment-based green card process involves six main stages—all of which have lengthened since 2016:

1. Document gathering to prove eligibility.

2. Prevailing wage determination by the Department of Labor.

3. Recruitment efforts to try hiring U.S. workers first.

4. Labor certification approval after proving no qualified U.S. candidates are available.

5. Employer petition to the Department of Homeland Security to verify the worker’s eligibility and the employer’s ability to pay.

6. Adjustment of status to permanent residency, requiring background checks, medical exams, and job offer verification.

Most employers are forced to first issue temporary work visas (such as H-1B) to their employees before completing the green card process, which further prolongs the overall timeline.

Data from Boundless Immigration, based on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) figures, shows that case completions dropped by 18% year-over-year in Q2 of the federal fiscal year (January 1 to March 31), totaling 2.7 million cases. Meanwhile, the number of pending cases surged to 11.3 million—the highest in more than a decade.

The Cato report warns:“America will lose the global talent race when other countries grant permanent residency in weeks or months, while our process takes years. It’s time for a fundamental overhaul of the legal immigration system and the elimination of unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.”