New Delhi. The backlog of US citizenship applications has remained substantial, with 742,138 naturalization cases pending at the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, according to the latest performance data released by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The figures cover applications received, approved, denied and pending between April and June 2026.
USCIS received a total of 145,872 applications for naturalization during the quarter. Of these, 57,697 were approved and 12,842 were denied. The agency completed 70,539 cases through approvals and denials, meaning it decided roughly 48 cases for every 100 new applications received during the three-month period.
Naturalization is the process through which eligible lawful permanent residents can obtain US citizenship after meeting requirements established under US law, including provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
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General applications make up bulk of backlog
The largest share of the workload came from general naturalization applications. USCIS received 140,179 such applications during the April-June quarter, approved 54,974 and denied 12,591. A total of 67,565 cases were completed, while 727,371 remained pending at the end of June.
The median processing time for general N-400 applications was 9.5 months. The figures indicate that the number of applications entering the system continues to be significant compared with the number of cases being completed.
For the fiscal year through June 30, USCIS had received 523,605 general naturalization applications. During the same period, 279,685 were approved and 45,482 were denied, taking total completions to 325,167. The pending inventory remained at 727,371 cases at the quarter’s end.
Military naturalization has shorter processing time
Applications linked to military naturalization represented a much smaller portion of the overall workload. USCIS received 5,693 military naturalization applications during the quarter, approved 2,723 and denied 251. A total of 2,974 cases were completed, while 14,767 remained pending.
Military naturalization cases had a median processing time of 2.6 months, significantly shorter than the 9.5-month median recorded for general naturalization applications.
Houston, Dallas and Chicago among largest backlogs
The pending workload was concentrated in several major USCIS field offices. Houston had the largest pending caseload during the quarter, with 31,057 applications. Dallas followed with 28,662, while Chicago had 23,623 pending cases. San Jose recorded 20,899 pending applications and San Antonio had 18,999.
Dallas received the highest number of applications among the offices listed, with 6,167 receipts during the quarter. Houston followed with 5,545 and Chicago with 5,077.
Houston also recorded the highest number of approvals, with 4,441 cases approved. Dallas approved 3,089 and Brooklyn approved 2,526 during the quarter.
Denial rates vary sharply by field office
The data also shows significant differences in denial numbers across field offices. Brooklyn recorded the highest number of denials, at 733. Queens and New York each recorded 706 denials, followed by Newark with 578 and Houston with 437.
Among offices with at least 500 decided cases, Queens denied 706 of 1,533 decided applications, representing about 46.1% of decisions. Newark recorded a denial rate of about 34.6%.
At the other end of the range, Greer in South Carolina denied 34 of 608 decided cases, or about 5.6%, while Norfolk denied 37 of 580, or roughly 6.4%.
Other citizenship-related applications
USCIS also processed several other forms linked to citizenship during the quarter. These included N-336, used for hearings on naturalization decisions; N-565, for replacement naturalization or citizenship documents; N-600, for certificates of citizenship; and N-648, which relates to medical certification for disability exceptions.
The N-565 category recorded 8,524 applications and 7,976 approvals, while N-600 received 12,660 applications and recorded 9,199 approvals. The data shows that USCIS continues to handle substantial workloads across different stages of the citizenship process, in addition to the core N-400 naturalization applications.
Overall, the latest figures show that general naturalization remains the largest citizenship-related workload, with more than 727,000 N-400 applications still pending at the end of June. While USCIS completed tens of thousands of cases during the quarter, the volume of pending applications remained significantly higher than the number of new cases resolved during the period.
About the author — Suvedita Nath is a science student with a growing interest in cybercrime and digital safety. She writes on online activity, cyber threats, and technology-driven risks. Her work focuses on clarity, accuracy, and public awareness.
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