US Denies 35,767 Work Permit Applications from Green Card Applicants in One Quarter

• The US Citizenship and Immigration Services denied thousands of work permit applications from Green Card hopefuls between April and June 2026
• The denial rate for work permits jumped sharply to 44%, up from around 25% in the preceding two fiscal quarters
• US citizenship application denials also climbed, with hundreds of thousands of cases still pending and processing times stretching beyond six months

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The United States is making it significantly harder for foreign nationals to work while awaiting Green Card decisions, with new data revealing a dramatic rise in rejections across multiple immigration categories.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) turned down 35,767 work permit applications from Green Card applicants in the third quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, covering April through June 2026.

The denial rate for these applications climbed to roughly 44%, a steep increase from approximately 25% recorded during the first half of the fiscal year, which ran from October 2025 to March 2026.

Work Permit Applications Face Mounting Hurdles

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The applications in question are filed through Form I-765, which allows eligible foreign nationals to obtain an Employment Authorisation Document while their permanent residency cases are under review.

As of the quarter, 671,362 such applications remained pending under the adjustment of status category, with a median processing time of 6.4 months.

The strain was not limited to work permits. Form I-129, covering temporary foreign worker petitions including those for H-1B visas, recorded 39,560 denials against 143,748 approvals, reflecting a denial rate of around 22%.

Family-based petitions filed through Form I-130 saw 16,661 denials, accounting for about 17% of decisions during the period.

Employment-based immigrant worker petitions through Form I-140 carried a 16% denial rate, while Green Card applications filed via Form I-485 remained comparatively stable at 7%.

Citizenship Applications Also Feeling the Pressure

The tightening environment extended to naturalisation. USCIS received 140,179 citizenship applications through Form N-400 during the quarter, approving 54,974 and denying 12,591, pushing the denial rate to approximately 19%. That figure compares unfavourably with the 13% rate seen across the prior two quarters.

Pending naturalisation applications totalled 727,371, with a median processing time of 9.5 months.

These figures arrive alongside a broader overhaul of US immigration policy. Stricter financial assessments are now applied to some Green Card applicants, with USCIS weighing income, assets, health status, and the likelihood of dependence on public assistance when reviewing eligibility.

Beginning October 16, 2026, the agency is also set to increase fees for asylum applications, employment authorisation, and Temporary Protected Status as part of annual inflation adjustments.

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Source: YEN.com.gh