US Approves Over 76,000 Work Permits for DACA Recipients in 2026, Releases Figures

• The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 76,053 Employment Authorisation Documents for DACA recipients between April and June 2026
• Renewal applications accounted for the vast majority of approvals, with no new initial DACA work permits granted during the quarter
• Despite the high approval volume, a pending caseload of over 231,000 DACA work permit applications remained unresolved at the end of June 2026

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 76,053 Employment Authorisation Documents (EADs) for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in the second quarter of 2026, covering the period from 1 April to 30 June.

The figures come from official quarterly data published by the USCIS Chief Data and Analytics Office, drawn from the agency's CLAIMS3 and ELIS systems and queried in July 2026 under reference PAER0021798. All approvals fall under the DACA eligibility category, known as C33.

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Of the 76,053 approvals recorded, 76,032 were renewals and just 21 were replacements. Notably, zero new initial DACA work permit applications received approval during the quarter, even though 81,026 initial applications were received. This suggests USCIS directed its adjudication resources primarily towards clearing the backlog of renewal requests rather than processing first-time applicants.

Denials remained relatively modest. A total of 482 applications were rejected during the quarter, 478 renewals and 4 replacements, translating to a denial rate of roughly 0.6% of all decisions made in that period.

Massive backlog still weighs on USCIS

Despite processing tens of thousands of approvals, USCIS ended June 2026 with 231,872 DACA work permit cases still pending. That total comprises 101,875 initial applications, 125,167 renewal cases, and 4,830 replacement requests awaiting a decision.

To put this in perspective, for every single application approved during the quarter, approximately three others remained in the queue, highlighting the considerable processing burden the agency continues to carry in this category alone.

When measured against the broader EAD landscape, DACA approvals represented a significant share of overall output. Across all eligibility categories combined, USCIS received 572,947 applications, approved 366,079, and denied 67,022, carrying a total pending caseload of 2,110,712 during the same three-month window. DACA approvals accounted for roughly 20.8% of all EAD approvals issued in the second quarter of 2026.

Source: YEN.com.gh