The United States approved a historically low number of green cards in Fiscal Year 2024, per the Cato Institute. The low number of approvals is attributed to the annual per-country immigration cap which limits how many people from each country are permitted green cards each year. Only 3% of pending green card applications are expected to be approved for permanent residency. The annual immigration caps have been the same for decades.

Before these caps were put in place, approximately 98% of all green card applications were approved. In 2023, the approval rate was 3.8%. In 1996, there were 10 million green card requests. By the start of FY2025, there were 34.7 million applications still pending. Only 1.1 million green cards are expected to be given out in FY2024 per the CATO Institute.

In 2023, 22.2 million people applied for just 55,000 visas. Most people applied for green cards through the annual green card lottery. The next biggest group of applicants were sponsored by family members, followed by applicants coming from employment-based green cards. As the number of applicants continues to grow, so does the backlog of applications. Since the immigration caps were put in place, approximately 6.3 million green cards have gone unused.

The organization says granting more green cards can help the United States. New immigrants may help the slower growing U.S. population, the country’s worker shortage and more. By slowly increasing the number of visas available over a few years, the backlog can be reduced.

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