USCIS processed 10 million cases in 2023: US immigration data.

New data shows progress in improving the quality of customer service. The agency completed 10 million immigration cases in fiscal year 2023. USCIS released fiscal year-end 2023 data that illustrates the agency's progress toward achieving its strategic priorities. USCIS staff have reduced backlogs and improved customer service. The service completed a record number of cases in 2023.

Reduce backlog of applications

In FY 2023, USCIS received 10.9 million applications and completed more than 10 million pending cases, both highs in agency history. At the same time, Citizenship and Immigration Services reduced the total number of outstanding applications by 15%

In fiscal year 2023, the department administered the Oath of Allegiance to more than 878,500 new U.S. citizens, including 12,000 military personnel.
The average processing time for naturalization applications decreased from 10.5 months to 6.1 months by the end of the fiscal year. This allowed USCIS to achieve a long-standing goal of significantly reducing wait times for most people seeking U.S. citizenship.

Improving customer experience

USCIS has implemented several new technology solutions that significantly improve the quality of service.

With the new self-service tool for online biometric appointment transfers, customers took advantage of this feature 33,000 times in fiscal year 2023. The new address change tool has enabled more than 430,000 address changes to be requested online until December 2023. The tool is expected to reduce the number of telephone inquiries to the USCIS Contact Center by 31%, or approximately 1.5 million inquiries per year.

Issuance of immigrant visas for workers

In FY 2023, USCIS and the State Department helped meet the needs of American employers by issuing more than 192,000 immigrant employment visas. This is far higher than the pre-pandemic number.

Citizenship and Immigration Services supported U.S. employers and non-U.S. citizens in FY 2023 by increasing the maximum validity period for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to five years to adjust applicants' status

Carrying out a humanitarian mission

At a time when the world is experiencing the largest displacement of people since World War II, USCIS is continuing its humanitarian mission and protecting vulnerable populations, the agency said.

The service interviewed more than 100,000 refugee claimants - more than double the number in the previous financial year. As a result of the interviews, over 60,000 refugees were accepted and resettled. As of the end of fiscal year 2023, USCIS has completed more than 52,000 asylum cases.

Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted a record 146,000 checks to determine whether migrants' fear of returning home to their country is justified.

What's next

In fiscal year 2024, the agency will continue to build on this progress while monitoring and addressing remaining processing backlogs, the Service said.

The agency also proposed new rules to modernize and improve the efficiency and integrity of the H-1B program for specialty workers. USCIS will work to maintain naturalization processing times and utilize all available employment visas, the service said.

USCIS will introduce new online filing tools to improve the customer experience, including adding corporate accounts, launching online filing of H-1B Form I-129 petitions and petitions for non-immigrant workers, and creating an additional electronic intake channel to submit the form in PDF format