Why is USCIS taking so long to adjudicate your case?

Bakken Law has focused solely on immigration and naturalization law since its establishment in 1996. During this entire time, USCIS processing times for immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions and applications have fluctuated wildly. Now, though, the delays and unpredictable processing times are a result of additional factors beyond the usual issues of chronic underfunding, massive backlogs, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Increased Requests for Evidence (RFEs), mandatory interviews that were previously waived, and heightened scrutiny of petitions all add time to individual cases.

Recent policy changes have added significant new layers of delay. In early December 2025, among other actions, USCIS paused benefit requests for individuals from countries listed in the June 2025 travel ban and initiated re-review of already-approved benefits for nationals of those countries who entered the U.S. on or after January 20, 2021. Separately, on December 4, 2025, USCIS reduced the maximum validity period for certain Employment Authorization Documents from five years to just 18 months for initial and renewal EADs, a change that will substantially increase the volume of renewal filings over time. On January 1, 2026, USCIS further expanded the adjudication hold by pausing all benefit requests filed by or on behalf of nationals of countries added to the travel ban under Presidential Proclamation 10998 and expanded the re-review trigger to include any approval issued on or after January 20, 2021. Common petition and application types such as Form I-129, Form I-140, Form I-539, Form I-485, and Form I-765 (covering H-1Bs, TNs, L-1s, O-1s, among others, as well as green card applications, changes of status, and employment authorization) are affected with cases allowed to proceed only up to, but not including, final adjudication. The practical effect of these overlapping holds and re-review mandates is that even applications that are otherwise fully approvable, including those where an in-person interview has been completed, may sit unresolved for many months with no clear timeline for when the holds will be lifted. In practice, these recent changes mean that cases that may have taken 6-18 months in the past may take two to three years or even longer.

America wants and needs international students

As Trump attempts to force international students out of the country if their school does not hold in-person classes, many colleges and universities are pushing back. This article breaks down the importance of international students to higher education institutions and the U.S. economy as a whole.

Juneteenth

As we celebrate Juneteenth, commemorating the date in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas officially learned of their freedom a full 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, it’s important to also remember how the egalitarian promise of Reconstruction following the Civil War was rapidly obliterated. Reconstruction failed due to organized violence and intimidation by white supremacists in the South (supported by and acquiesced in by scores of white people throughout the country), as a result of Northern politicians willing to make political deals to maintain power, and because of racist U.S. Supreme Court decisions that bolstered white supremacy at the expense of black Americans. This report prepared by the Equal Justice Initiative details the horrific violence suffered by black people in America during and after Reconstruction and helps us understand our history and the deep foundations of racism in our country and how much work we have to do .

CIS delays getting worse and denial rates increasing

“While much of the attention this year has been on illegal activity at the border, the White House has moved in calculated, but often overlooked, ways to constrict the pipeline of legal immigration.” Read Fortune’s whole article to learn more here.

CIS processing delays on the rise

For more information: https://www.aila.org/File/Related/19042400a.pdf

Extremist anti-immigrant groups want more than a wall – they want to slash all immigration, including legal immigration

Trump put so much focus on building the wall that he neglected many other areas of immigration reform, and did not push any legislation when the republicans had control of the house and senate. However, it still remains clear that the ultimate goal is to have as few immigrants in the United States as possible. Read more here.