AI steps in to help immigration lawyers combat historic backlog that is leaving families in limbo

New AI company aims to ease the strain on immigration attorneys and help families through the worst backlog in U.S. history.

MIAMI, FL, UNITED STATES, February 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The U.S. immigration system is facing an unprecedented backlog of pending cases, with more than 11.3 million applications in the pipeline as of mid-2025, and families, workers and visa applicants waiting months or years for decisions on legal status, according to government data and publicly reported federal statistics.

These are affirmative applications, such as petitions for work authorization, family-based residency and other legal status filed under U.S. law, not defensive filings tied to removal proceedings. Each pending case represents a person waiting to reunite with family, to work legally or to make long-planned life changes in the United States.

The growing backlog reflects not only a surge in applications but also a mismatch between demand and available legal resources. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported more than 11.3 million pending immigration cases as of mid-2025, a record high for the agency. That backlog includes visa applications, green card petitions and work authorizations that have not yet been completed, contributing to processing times that have lengthened across almost every form type.

At the same time, the pool of lawyers dedicated to immigration work remains comparatively small given the volume of applications. This imbalance has led to industrywide burnout. Multiple studies of legal professionals show that lawyers working in this field experience stress and emotional fatigue at rates well above the general population, and many have considered leaving the profession because of stress and workload pressures.

In this climate, immigration lawyers are turning to technology to reduce the hours spent on routine tasks like exhibit labeling, case research and drafting. Industry research shows that AI tools can significantly reduce time spent on repetitive legal tasks, freeing up hours that lawyers can devote to higher-value work and client interaction.

Tools like DraftyAI, an artificial intelligence-powered case preparation platform, can streamline tasks that traditionally consume hours of lawyer and staff time, said Nadine Navarro, CEO of DraftyAI.

According to the DraftyAI website, the platform helps attorneys quickly generate immigration briefs, waiver letters, expert letters and RFE responses, work that typically consumes dozens of hours each week for a law firm.

However, as the industry incorporates more advanced tools, experts caution that the technology is meant to augment, not replace, the essential role of human attorneys. “AI cannot do all the functions of a lawyer. Consumers rely on lawyers to provide their knowledge, apply their experience, use their judgment to make informed decisions and communicate throughout that problem-solving process,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

“For families waiting on paperwork, the difference between a petition prepared in days rather than weeks can mean earlier job authorization, faster reunification with loved ones or fewer months of uncertainty,” said Nadine Navarro, chief executive officer of DraftyAI. “In a system strained by record backlogs and shifting policies, even small gains in efficiency can ripple outward, affecting real people whose lives remain on hold.”

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