The US Green Card Programme grants lawful permanent residence through family, employment, humanitarian and diversity routes, and it issued 1,320,080 green cards in fiscal year 2025 under annual limits of 226,000 family-preference, 140,000 employment-based and 50,000 diversity visas. The rules tightened fast in 2026: USCIS issued its May 21 memo calling in-country adjustment of status an extraordinary relief, and on October 8 the Labor Department suspended eight firms, including Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe, from the PERM labor certification program.
US Green Card Programme 2026 – Introduction
The US Green Card Programme gives foreign nationals the right to live and work in America for good. Most people reach it through a US citizen relative or a US employer. A smaller group arrives as refugees, asylees or lottery winners. The system runs on annual limits, per-country caps and long queues, so the date a petition was filed often matters more than the merits of the applicant.
2026 has been the most turbulent year in the programme’s modern history. Processing has slowed, vetting has expanded, and Washington has aimed its sharpest actions at employment-based green cards. The Labor Department is rewriting the PERM labor market test for the first time in more than two decades, and it has now frozen filings by some of the biggest IT employers in the country. This report covers eligibility, the application process, PERM rules, backlogs and the IT companies in the spotlight, one data table at a time.
Interesting Facts About the US Green Card Programme 2026
GREEN CARDS ISSUED IN FY2025 BY SELECTED CATEGORY (each █ = 10,000)
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Family-sponsored preferences ████████████████████ 196,740
Employment-based preferences ████████████████ 159,070
Refugees adjusting ████████████ 116,470
Asylees adjusting ██████ 60,390
Diversity Visa lottery █████ 52,470
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| Interesting Fact | 2026 Data |
|---|---|
| Green cards issued, FY2025 | 1,320,080 |
| Green cards issued, FY2024 | 1,356,760 |
| Year-over-year change | Down 36,680, or 2.7% |
| Employment-based green cards, FY2025 | 159,070 |
| Family-sponsored preference green cards, FY2025 | 196,740 |
| Diversity Visa green cards, FY2025 | 52,470 |
| Annual statutory limits | 226,000 family, 140,000 employment, 50,000 diversity |
| Per-country limit | 7% of family and employment numbers |
Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics, lawful permanent resident reports for FY2024 and FY2025; National Immigration Forum, 2026.
The first four rows show the size of the system. DHS counted 1,320,080 new green card holders in FY2025, down 2.7% from 1,356,760 in FY2024. Employment-based categories delivered 159,070 green cards, and family-sponsored preferences delivered 196,740. Employment-based green cards ran above the 140,000 base limit because unused family numbers roll over, while family preferences stayed below their 226,000 limit.
The last four rows show where the pressure builds. The Diversity Visa lottery produced 52,470 green cards against a 50,000 annual allotment. The 7% per-country limit caps how many family and employment green cards any one nation can receive, which creates the backlogs for India and China. Under the surface, the mix shifted: Cuban recipients fell from 178,130 in FY2024 to 84,820 in FY2025, and refugee-based green cards dropped by more than one-third.
US Green Card Eligibility 2026 | Who Qualifies Through Family, Employment and Diversity Routes?
GREEN CARDS BY CATEGORY IN FY2024 (each █ = 25,000)
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Immediate relatives of citizens ███████████████████████████ 669,160
Family-sponsored preferences ███████ 184,670
Employment-based preferences ███████ 170,980
Diversity Visa lottery ██ 49,580
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| Eligibility Route | Annual Limit | FY2024 Green Cards |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate relatives of US citizens | No numerical cap | 669,160 |
| Family-sponsored preferences | 226,000 | 184,670 |
| Employment-based preferences | 140,000 plus unused family numbers | 170,980 |
| Diversity Visa lottery | 50,000 | 49,580 |
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of Department of Homeland Security data; National Immigration Forum; DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics, FY2022 report.
Eligibility starts with the route. Spouses, parents and unmarried children under 21 of US citizens face no numerical cap, and they received 669,160 green cards in FY2024, the largest group by far. Family preference categories, which cover adult children and siblings of citizens and some relatives of permanent residents, are capped at 226,000 and issued 184,670. Those applicants often wait years because demand outruns supply.
Workers qualify through five employment-based preferences, and the 140,000 limit grows when family numbers go unused. Employers sponsor most applicants, and many need a PERM labor certification first. FY2024 delivered 170,980 employment-based green cards. The Diversity Visa lottery serves countries with low immigration to the US and delivered 49,580 green cards against its 50,000 allotment. Each route has its own rules.
Green Card Backlogs and Visa Bulletin 2026 | October EB-2 and EB-3 Cut-Off Dates
EB-2 FINAL ACTION CUT-OFF YEAR, OCTOBER 2026 (each █ = 1 year after 2010)
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India ███ November 1, 2013
China ███████████ October 1, 2021
Rest of World ███████████████ January 1, 2025
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| Category (Final Action) | India | China | Rest of World |
|---|---|---|---|
| EB-1 | February 1, 2023 | July 1, 2023 | Current |
| EB-2 | November 1, 2013 | October 1, 2021 | January 1, 2025 |
| EB-3 professionals | January 1, 2014 | January 8, 2022 | May 15, 2024 |
| EB-2 Dates for Filing | January 15, 2015 | January 1, 2023 | March 15, 2026 |
Source: US Department of State Visa Bulletin for October 2026, as reported by Fragomen, Murthy Law Firm and Ogletree Deakins.
The October 2026 Visa Bulletin opened fiscal year 2027 with mixed news. EB-2 India returned with a Final Action Date of November 1, 2013 after being unavailable from July through September, when the FY2026 per-country limit ran out. Reopened is not current: an Indian applicant with a 2014 priority date still waits. India EB-3 held at January 1, 2014, and India EB-1 moved to February 1, 2023.
China advanced, but Rest of World retreated. EB-2 for the Rest of World retrogressed from current to January 1, 2025, and EB-3 for professionals retrogressed to May 15, 2024. China’s EB-2 cut-off moved a month to October 1, 2021. The Dates for Filing chart controls when applicants may file Form I-485, while the Final Action chart controls when USCIS can approve. That split explains why a person can file and still wait for years.
US Green Card Application Process 2026 | Adjustment of Status, Consular Processing and Fees
SHARE OF GREEN CARDS ISSUED THROUGH ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS, FY2024 (each █ = 5%)
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Employment-based preferences ██████████████ 69%
Immediate relatives ████████████ 60%
All green cards ████████████ 58%
Family-sponsored preferences █ 6%
Diversity Visa lottery ▏ 3%
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| Process Metric | 2026 Data |
|---|---|
| Green cards through adjustment of status, FY2024 | 782,770 of 1,356,760 (58%) |
| Employment-based adjustments, FY2024 | 118,480 of 170,980 (69%) |
| USCIS adjustment memo | May 21, 2026, calls adjustment an extraordinary relief |
| Form I-485 fee | $1,440 |
| Form I-140 fee plus Asylum Program Fee | $715 plus $600 ($300 for small employers) |
| I-140 premium processing, from March 1, 2026 | $2,965 |
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of Department of Homeland Security data; US Citizenship and Immigration Services fee schedule; Greenberg Traurig and Fragomen guidance, 2026.
Applicants choose between two doors. Adjustment of status lets a person already in the US apply to USCIS, while consular processing sends the case to a US consulate abroad. Adjustment is the main route: 782,770 of 1,356,760 FY2024 green cards, or 58%, went through it, including 69% of employment-based ones. Only 6% of family-preference green cards used adjustment, since most of those applicants wait overseas.
The May 21, 2026 memo changed the mood. USCIS told officers that adjustment is a matter of discretion and administrative grace and should be treated as an extraordinary relief. The memo creates no new law and does not ban filing, and USCIS has said it can apply to pending and future cases. Costs stack up too. An I-485 costs $1,440, an I-140 costs $715 with a $600 Asylum Program Fee for most employers, and I-140 premium processing now costs $2,965.
PERM Rules 2026 | Labor Market Test, Prevailing Wage and the Proposed Overhaul
PREVAILING WAGE LEVELS, CURRENT VS PROPOSED PERCENTILE
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Level I Current ████▎ 17th Proposed ██████▌ 34th
Level II Current ████████▌ 34th Proposed ███████████ 52nd
Level III Current ████████████▌ 50th Proposed ███████████████▌ 70th
Level IV Current ████████████████▌ 67th Proposed ████████████████████ 88th
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| PERM Rule | 2026 Requirement |
|---|---|
| First step | Prevailing wage determination on Form ETA-9141 |
| Filing method | Electronic, through the FLAG system, since June 1, 2023 |
| Recruitment window | At least 30 days and no more than 180 days before filing |
| State job order | At least 30 consecutive days |
| Notice of filing | At least 10 business days |
| Certification validity | 180 days |
| Proposed wage rule | Levels move from the 17th-67th to the 34th-88th percentile (March 27, 2026) |
| Proposed PERM overhaul | Sent to White House review on September 14, 2026 |
Source: US Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification; Federal Register notice ETA-2026-0001; Fragomen, September 2026.
PERM exists to test whether qualified US workers want the job. The employer first requests a prevailing wage from the Labor Department. Recruitment follows: a state job order for at least 30 days, a notice of filing for at least 10 business days, and other steps, all inside a window that opens 180 days and closes 30 days before filing. Once certified, the approval stays valid for 180 days, which is the time the employer has to file the I-140.
Two rule changes are in motion. The March 2026 proposal would lift the four wage levels from the 17th-67th percentile to the 34th-88th, a shift covered in detail in our H-1B visa minimum wage statistics report. Then on September 14, 2026 the Labor Department sent a proposed rule to the White House that would overhaul the labor market test itself. PERM recruitment standards have not changed since 2004, and the proposal text is not public yet.
PERM Processing Time 2026 | Labor Department Analyst Review Days by Month
AVERAGE PERM ANALYST REVIEW TIME IN 2026 (each █ = 25 days)
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February 2026 ████████████████████ 503 days
March 2026 ████████████████████ 501 days
June 2026 ████████████████ 403 days
July 2026 ███████████████ 372 days
August 2026 █████████████ 336 days
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| Processing Metric | 2026 Data |
|---|---|
| Analyst review average, August determinations | 336 days |
| Analyst review average, July determinations | 372 days |
| Analyst review average, June determinations | 403 days |
| Audit review average, June determinations | 290 days |
| Analyst queue, as of August 31 | Filings from November 2025 |
| Prevailing wage queue for PERM, as of August 31 | Requests from May 2026 |
| Premium processing for PERM | Not available |
Source: US Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification FLAG processing times, as reported by Reddy Neumann Brown, Manifest Law and Waylit, September 2026.
PERM review times are falling. The Labor Department’s average for analyst review dropped from 503 days in February to 336 days for August determinations, a cut of about one-third in six months. The analyst queue now works on filings from November 2025, and prevailing wage requests from May 2026. Audited cases average a separate figure, 290 days for June determinations, and the Labor Department did not publish an audit average in its September update.
Faster review does not mean a fast green card. PERM has no premium processing, and the employer still needs a prevailing wage and recruitment before filing, so the full labor certification stage runs well beyond 336 days. After certification, USCIS must approve an I-140 and an I-485, and the US green card statistics report tracks how those later queues are moving. Add the visa bulletin wait for India and China, and the total timeline stretches into many long years.
H-1B to Green Card Pipeline 2026 | Cap, Lottery, Fee and Approval Statistics
H-1B APPROVALS IN FY2024 (each █ = 10,000)
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Renewal approvals ██████████████████████████ 258,196
New approvals ██████████████ 141,207
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| H-1B Pipeline Metric | 2026 Data |
|---|---|
| Annual H-1B cap | 65,000 regular plus 20,000 advanced-degree = 85,000 |
| FY2027 cap reached | July 31, 2026 |
| Wage-weighted lottery effective | February 27, 2026 |
| $100,000 fee status | Vacated June 8, 2026; stay denied July 24, 2026 |
| H-1B approvals, FY2024 | About 400,000, of which 65% were renewals |
| Born in India, FY2023 | 73% of approvals |
| Computer-related occupations, FY2023 | 65% of approved workers |
Source: US Citizenship and Immigration Services; Pew Research Center analysis of DHS and USCIS data; US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 2026.
Most employment-based green card applicants start on an H-1B, so the cap decides who enters the pipeline. USCIS confirmed on July 31, 2026 that it had received enough petitions for the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 advanced-degree cap for fiscal year 2027. The first lottery weighted by wage level ran this year, under a rule effective February 27, 2026. Higher wage levels get more entries, so the system now favors better-paid jobs.
The fee fight adds uncertainty. A federal court in Massachusetts vacated the $100,000 fee on June 8, 2026, and on July 24 the First Circuit refused to pause that ruling, so USCIS says it is barred from collecting it while the appeal continues. The pipeline leans on India and on computer jobs: 73% of FY2023 approvals went to workers born in India, and 65% went to computer-related occupations. Roughly 400,000 approvals in FY2024 included 258,196 renewals, which shows how many workers already sit inside the US waiting for green card dates.
IT Companies and Green Cards 2026 | PERM Suspensions Hit Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Microsoft and More
NEW H-1B PETITIONS APPROVED FOR INITIAL EMPLOYMENT, FY2025 (each █ = 250)
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Amazon ███████████████████ 4,644
Top 7 Indian IT firms combined ██████████████████ 4,573
Meta Platforms ██████ 1,555
Microsoft █████ 1,394
Google ████ 1,050
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| IT Company Metric | 2026 Data |
|---|---|
| September 8, 2026 | Labor Department suspended PERM filings by Cognizant and Cloudera |
| October 8, 2026 | Suspended 8 firms: Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft, Adobe |
| Effect | No new applications accepted and no pending ones processed |
| Labor Secretary’s figures | Almost 3 million workers requested since 2009; 230,000+ H-1B approvals; 100,000+ PERM certifications |
| Cognizant H-1B approvals | 3,510 in FY2026 through June 30, against 9,413 in 2020 |
| Top 7 Indian IT firms, FY2025 | 4,573 initial approvals, down 70% from FY2015 |
Source: US Department of Labor announcements; Reuters and PTI reporting; US Citizenship and Immigration Services H-1B Employer Data Hub; National Foundation for American Policy, October 2026.
The suspensions are the biggest PERM enforcement action on record. On October 8, 2026, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, with Vice President JD Vance beside him, suspended 8 companies and said the department would not accept new or process pending PERM applications involving them. Cognizant and Cloudera had been suspended a month earlier, on September 8. Sonderling said the named firms have requested almost 3 million foreign workers since 2009. Vance alleged that Microsoft filed 3,682 PERM applications in 2025 after laying off 6,000 American workers.
Allegations are not findings. The Labor Department has not publicly detailed its specific claims against Cognizant, and neither Cognizant nor Cloudera has faced criminal charges. The actions land on workers who depend on those employers, and our H-1B workers in the US report shows how heavily the programme leans on a few sponsors. Amazon led FY2025 with 4,644 new approvals, while the top 7 Indian IT firms combined reached 4,573, down 70% from FY2015.
US Green Card Programme FAQs 2026
What is the US Green Card Programme?
It is the system that grants lawful permanent residence in the United States. Family, employment, refugee, asylum and Diversity Visa routes feed it, and DHS counted 1,320,080 new green card holders in fiscal year 2025.
How many green cards does the US issue each year?
DHS reported 1,320,080 in FY2025 and 1,356,760 in FY2024. Annual statutory limits are 226,000 for family preferences, 140,000 for employment and 50,000 for the lottery.
Who is eligible for a US green card?
Close relatives of US citizens and permanent residents, workers with a sponsoring employer or exceptional ability, refugees, asylees and Diversity Visa winners can qualify. Each route has its own limits and waiting times.
What is PERM labor certification?
PERM is the Labor Department process employers use to show no qualified US worker is available for a job. Most EB-2 and EB-3 green cards require it before the employer files an I-140.
How long does PERM take in 2026?
The Labor Department’s analyst review averaged 336 days for August 2026 determinations, down from 372 in July and 403 in June. Prevailing wage and recruitment add months before filing.
Which IT companies were suspended from PERM?
On October 8, 2026, the Labor Department suspended Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe. Cognizant and Cloudera had been suspended on September 8.
What does the PERM suspension mean for workers?
The Labor Department said it will not accept new or process pending PERM applications involving the suspended companies. Workers who depend on those employers may face delays until the suspension ends.
Can I still adjust status in the US in 2026?
Yes. The May 21, 2026 USCIS memo does not ban filing, but it tells officers to treat adjustment as an extraordinary relief, so applicants face more scrutiny.
How much does a green card application cost in 2026?
Form I-485 costs $1,440. Employers pay $715 for Form I-140 plus a $600 Asylum Program Fee, and I-140 premium processing costs $2,965.
What is the EB-2 India cut-off date in October 2026?
The Final Action Date is November 1, 2013, after the category was unavailable from July through September. The Date for Filing is January 15, 2015.
Did EB-2 for the Rest of World retrogress?
Yes. The EB-2 Final Action Date moved from current to January 1, 2025 in the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, and EB-3 professionals moved to May 15, 2024.
How long is a certified PERM valid?
A certified PERM stays valid for 180 days, and the employer must file the I-140 within that window.
How many H-1B visas are available each year?
The annual cap is 65,000 regular visas plus 20,000 for US advanced-degree holders, a total of 85,000. USCIS reached the FY2027 cap on July 31, 2026.
Is the $100,000 H-1B fee being charged?
No, not right now. A federal court vacated it on June 8, 2026, the First Circuit denied a stay on July 24, and USCIS says it is barred from collecting the payment while the appeal continues.
Which countries get the most green cards?
Mexico remained the largest country of origin for new green card holders in FY2025. India and China face the longest employment-based waits because of the 7% per-country limit.
What is the per-country limit on green cards?
No single country can receive more than 7% of the annual family-preference and employment-based green cards. The limit creates long waits for applicants born in India and China.
What is the difference between Dates for Filing and Final Action Dates?
The Dates for Filing chart decides when an applicant may file Form I-485. The Final Action Dates chart decides when USCIS can approve the case or a consulate can issue the visa.
Is there a cap on green cards for spouses of US citizens?
No. Immediate relatives of US citizens, including spouses, parents and unmarried children under 21, face no numerical cap. They received 669,160 green cards in FY2024.
What share of green cards go through adjustment of status?
In FY2024, 58% of new green cards, or 782,770 of 1,356,760, were issued through adjustment of status inside the United States. For employment-based green cards the share was 69%.
Why did EB-2 India become unavailable in 2026?
The FY2026 per-country limit was reached, so EB-2 India had no Final Action Date from July through September. The category reopened in October 2026 at November 1, 2013.
Will PERM rules change?
Yes. The Labor Department sent a proposed rule to White House review on September 14, 2026. It would modernize the labor market test for the first time since 2004, and the text is not public yet.
Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.