Miranda & Maldonado, P.C.

06/17/2026

July 2026 Visa Bulletin: The Essential Takeaways
The State Department has released the July 2026 Visa Bulletin. For the upcoming month, USCIS will honor the Final Action Dates chart for all employment-based applications.
As we approach the final quarter of the fiscal year, we are seeing high volatility—including major retrogression for some and significant forward movement for others.
Here are the key shifts at a glance:
EB-1 (Priority Workers)
* **India:** Retrogresses by 2 months to October 15, 2022 (due to heavy visa usage).
* **China:** Advances by 2 months to June 1, 2023.
* **All other countries:** Remain CURRENT.
EB-2 (Advanced Degrees/Exceptional Ability)
* **India:** Remains completely UNAVAILABLE for the rest of the fiscal year.
* **China:** Holds steady at September 1, 2021.
* **All other countries:** Remain CURRENT.
EB-3 (Professionals & Skilled Workers)
* **China:** Jumps forward by nearly 5 months to December 22, 2021.
* **India:** Advances slightly by two weeks to January 1, 2014.
* **All other countries:** Advance by 2 months to August 1, 2024 *(except Philippines, holding at August 1, 2023)*.
EB-5 (Investors)
* **India Unreserved:** Remains UNAVAILABLE.
* **China Unreserved:** Advances over 2 months to December 1, 2016.
* **Set-Aside Categories (Rural, High Unemployment, Infrastructure):** Remain CURRENT worldwide.

06/03/2026

The USCIS Backlog Has Tripled. What Does the Data Tell Us?

The phrase "the U.S. immigration system is broken" gets used a lot, but a new interactive dashboard from the American Immigration Council puts hard numbers to the breakdown.

For the first time, nearly a decade of USCIS data (over 20,000 data points across 190+ application types) has been compiled into one comprehensive view. The insights reveal a system under immense strain, shaped heavily by shifting administrative policies and pandemic-era bottlenecks.

Key Takeaways from the Data:

The Backlog Explosion: The USCIS backlog has more than tripled over the last decade, skyrocketing from 3.5 million cases in FY2016 to a staggering 11.6 million cases by the end of FY2025.

Clearance Times Are Lengthening: At recent processing capacities, it would take an estimated 13.8 months just to clear the existing backlog.
Spikes in Specific Forms: Temporary Protected Status (TPS) applications saw a massive 150% surge in pending cases recently, while pending green card-related employment authorizations (EADs) more than doubled.
Rising Denial Rates: Overall denial rates remain elevated at 11.1%, with certain categories seeing sharp increases. For instance, EAD applications for those adjusting status saw denial rates jump from 5.1% to 13.6%.

Why This Matters

Behind every data point is an applicant, a family, or an employer trying to navigate a sluggish and increasingly unpredictable system. Prolonged processing times don't just increase hardships for applicants—they force duplicate filings, drain agency resources, and disrupt talent pipelines for U.S. businesses.
Data transparency is the first step toward meaningful reform. This new tool is an invaluable resource for policymakers, employers, and immigration advocates trying to understand the operational realities of legal immigration today.
Read the full analysis and explore the trends here: American Immigration Council Blog

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/uscis-backlogs-processing-trends-dashboard/

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05/22/2026

USCIS: Most green card applicants must apply while outside US.

The newly released USCIS policy memorandum (PM-602-0199) reinforces that Adjustment of Status is an extraordinary form of relief granted strictly as a matter of administrative grace rather than an automatic right.

This critical update signals significantly increased scrutiny for permanent residency applicants within the U.S., explicitly directing officers to evaluate the totality of an applicant's circumstances and heavily weigh past immigration violations, unauthorized employment, and failures to depart as adverse discretionary factors. Because the memo emphasizes that the default path to immigration is intended to be regular consular processing from abroad, applicants must now successfully demonstrate that their cases warrant a favorable exercise of discretion, which may require a showing of unusual or outstanding equities to offset any negative history.

This shift carries major implications for holders of single-intent temporary visas—such as F-1 students, TN professionals, J-1 exchange visitors, B2 visitors—whose categories require them to maintain a strict expectation of departing the U.S.. While the guidance explicitly protects dual-intent categories like H-1B and L-1 visas by noting that adjusting status is not inherently inconsistent with maintaining those statuses, it notes that simply holding lawful status is not enough on its own to guarantee approval.

For single-intent visa holders, filing for adjustment of status directly contravenes Congressional expectations to depart, meaning that any subsequent compliance gaps, unauthorized employment, or immediate filings after entry will be scrutinized heavily as adverse factors that could trigger a discretionary denial unless overcome by robust positive equities.
Miranda & Maldonado, P.C.