USCIS ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 with more than 611,000 family-based adjustment-of-status applications pending, while quarterly approvals fell substantially from the previous quarter.
The USCIS Form I-485 data shows 611,067 family-based I-485 applications pending as of June 30, 2026. That is up from 579,684 at the end of FY2026 Q2. In one quarter, the reported pending inventory increased by more than 31,000 cases, or approximately 5.4 percent.
At the same time, USCIS reported 54,678 family-based I-485 approvals during Q3, down from 71,514 approvals in Q2. That is a quarter-to-quarter decline of approximately 23.5 percent.
USCIS received 95,175 new family-based I-485 applications
USCIS received 95,175 family-based adjustment applications during Q3, compared with 127,189 in Q2, a reduction of approximately 25 percent.
USCIS completed 66,918 reported family-based cases through approvals and denials during the quarter, including 54,678 approvals and 12,240 denials. Approvals therefore represented approximately 81.7 percent of reported approval and denial decisions. As with the other quarterly metrics, that percentage should not be interpreted as an individual applicant’s probability of approval.
The pending inventory kept climbing
The lower number of new filings was not enough to prevent the pending inventory from rising. The family-based adjustment inventory stood at 543,486 at the end of FY2025 Q4, 536,170 after FY2026 Q1, 579,684 after Q2 and 611,067 after Q3. The Q3 total is the highest of those four quarter-end figures.
What family-based applicants should know
Form I-485 is used by eligible applicants in the United States to seek lawful permanent resident status through adjustment of status. Family-based rules differ depending on the underlying relationship and immigration category.
A national pending total cannot tell an individual applicant how long a specific case will take. Field office, underlying category, visa availability, evidence, background checks and other case-specific issues can matter.
Still, the national numbers provide a clear snapshot of USCIS workload, and the latest snapshot shows a family-based adjustment inventory that crossed 611,000 pending applications by June 30, 2026.
