Family-Based Immigration Backlogs: 5 Things to Know

This paper calls attention to the nearly 4 million people who are currently stuck in immigration backlogs, some going back 20 years or more. While their petitions to immigrate have been approved, annual numerical limits in various family preference categories, as well as processing delays, have barred them from immigrating. Per-country caps have made the problems worse for countries with large populations. For example, first preference immigrants (unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens) from Mexico have to wait 22 years for legal admission to the U.S. The authors make a number of recommendations to resolve these problems. Passing legislation to recapture green cards that were authorized but never issued in past years would be a significant step forward. Congress should also act to eliminate per-country caps, which restrict access to green cards based on country of origin. Finally, Congress should increase immigration levels, which were put in place over 30 years ago, to reflect the needs of the current economy.

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