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US green card statistics: who became a permanent resident in fiscal year 2024

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) reports 1,364,090 new lawful permanent residents in fiscal year 2024: 49.3% immediate relatives of US citizens, 13.8% family preference, 12.5% employment-based, 13.1% refugee adjustments and 3.7% diversity visa. These are counts of people who received green cards, not approval rates or waiting times.

"How many green cards are issued each year?" has a precise answer for a past year and no answer for the future. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) publishes an annual flow report counting the people who became lawful permanent residents (LPRs) during a fiscal year. The most recent report on the OHSS site, as at 10 October 2026, is "U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents: 2024", covering fiscal year 2024 (the US fiscal year starts on 1 October). OHSS says its data come from US Citizenship and Immigration Services and cites "March 2025 Office of Homeland Security Statistics system of record data".

This page reports the numbers as OHSS gives them, adds a little arithmetic where marked, and explains what the figures can and cannot tell you. It is a reference page. It is not a forecast, and a count of green cards granted is not a guide to anyone's chances or timeline. Each case turns on its own facts, and for a case-specific question the person to ask is a licensed attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative.

Where a statistic touches a legal rule, such as who counts as an immediate relative or how the annual limits work, the page links the primary source in the regulations or the statute so the category names mean something.

The headline: 1,364,090 new permanent residents in FY2024

OHSS's summary: "Almost 1.4 million people became LPRs in 2024." Specifically, "The United States granted LPR status to 1,364,090 aliens in 2024. This was 16% more than the 1,172,910 new LPRs in 2023 and 34% more than the 1,018,350 new LPRs in 2022."

Over a longer span, OHSS says "The United States granted LPR status to just under 10.5 million aliens in the past decade (2015-2024)." In that decade: - 54% adjusted status within the United States and 46% gained LPR status on arrival; - 64% were family-sponsored, 16% employment-based, and 16% refugees or asylees; - immediate relatives of US citizens "consistently made up the largest subcategory at 47% of total LPRs for the entire 10-year period."

The report also describes the pandemic dip: LPR admissions fell for three consecutive years before the pandemic, reached "a 17-year low in 2020", and "have increased each year since then." It explains that the low numbers in 2020 and 2021 "came from fewer family-sponsored immigrants. Many family-sponsored preference visas were unused during the pandemic due to embassy closures. Immigration law reallocates any unused family-sponsored preference visas in a fiscal year to the employment-based preference limits in the following fiscal year."

"New arrivals" and "adjustments of status" are two ways of becoming an LPR, which the legal pages on adjustment versus consular processing describe. In FY2024, OHSS counts 782,800 adjustments of status (57.4% of the total) and 581,290 new arrivals (42.6%). It notes adjustments "rose to a high not seen since 2006", a 29% increase from 2023.

By broad class of admission

OHSS's Table 2a breaks the FY2024 total into classes. The counts and shares for FY2024 are: - Immediate relatives of US citizens: 672,240 (49.3%). - Family-sponsored preferences: 188,190 (13.8%). - Employment-based preferences: 171,120 (12.5%). - Refugee adjustments: 178,200 (13.1%). - Asylee adjustments: 41,650 (3.1%). - Diversity Visa program: 49,890 (3.7%). - Other categories ("Primarily consists of those admitted or adjusted under special legislation"): 62,800 (4.6%).

The same table gives earlier years for comparison. In FY2022, immediate relatives were 428,270 (42.1%), employment-based preferences were 270,280 (26.5%) and refugee adjustments were 29,420 (2.9%). In FY2023, the figures were 551,590 (47.0%), 196,760 (16.8%) and 59,030 (5.0%). OHSS footnotes that refugee adjustments include "aliens adjusted under the Cuban Adjustment Act (P.L. 89-732 of 1966)."

Arithmetic: immediate relatives plus family-sponsored preferences is 860,430, which is 63.1% of the total. OHSS's own text gives "860,000 new LPRs (63%)".

How to read the swings: employment-based green cards fell from 270,280 to 171,120 between FY2022 and FY2024, while refugee adjustments rose from 29,420 to 178,200. The report states what it observed; it does not offer a single cause for each change, and neither does this page.

Immediate relatives: spouses, parents and children of citizens

"Immediate relative" is a legal category, not a statistical one. 8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i) defines it: "the term 'immediate relatives' means the children, spouses, and parents of a citizen of the United States, except that, in the case of parents, such citizens shall be at least 21 years of age." USCIS explains the consequence: "Immigrant visas for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are unlimited, so they are always available."

OHSS's Table 2b breaks FY2024 immediate relatives down: - Spouses: 343,000 (25.1% of all new LPRs), up from 238,630 in FY2022 and 276,080 in FY2023. - Parents: 252,570 (18.5%), up from 132,510 and 208,350. - Children, including adoptees: 76,680 (5.6%), up from 57,130 and 67,150.

The percentages are "each category's share of total annual LPRs", not shares of immediate relatives. OHSS adds that "The majority of immediate relative immigrants become LPRs as adjustments (60% in 2024)." By comparison it reports that "Most family-sponsored preference immigrants become LPRs as new arrivals (95% in 2024)" and that "The majority of employment-based preference immigrants become LPRs through adjustment of status (69% in 2024)."

For the process behind the spouse number, see the page on the marriage green card. The statistics do not say how long any case took or how many were refused.

Family preferences and employment preferences

Family-sponsored preference green cards are the categories with annual numerical limits. The statute's allocation is in 8 U.S.C. 1153(a), and USCIS summarizes the totals: "family-sponsored preference visas are limited to 226,000 visas per year, and employment-based preference visas are limited to 140,000 visas per year", with the note that "By statute, these annual visa limits may be exceeded when certain immigrant visas from the previous fiscal year's allocation were not fully used." The queue and the Visa Bulletin are explained on their own page.

OHSS's Table 2c, the FY2024 family-preference LPRs (188,190 in total): - unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens: 22,140 (1.6% of all new LPRs); - spouses, children and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents: 87,430 (6.4%); - married sons and daughters of US citizens: 22,000 (1.6%); - siblings of US citizens: 56,620 (4.2%).

Table 2d, the FY2024 employment-based LPRs (171,120 in total): - priority workers: 46,990 (3.4%); - professionals with advanced degrees or aliens of exceptional ability: 46,580 (3.4%); - skilled workers, professionals and other workers: 48,550 (3.6%); - special immigrants: 14,460 (1.1%); - investors: 14,540 (1.1%).

The report's counts of green cards granted in a fiscal year are not the same thing as the statutory limits, because a fiscal year's grants reflect numbers carried over, adjustments filed earlier and other rules. Comparing 171,120 with 140,000, for example, shows the carryover provisions at work, not an error in either figure.

Refugees, asylees, diversity visas and other routes

The smaller classes in FY2024: - Refugee adjustments: 178,200 (13.1%), "more than triple from the previous year's 59,000 new LPRs in 2023." - Asylee adjustments: 41,650 (3.1%), after 40,330 in FY2023 and 53,660 in FY2022. - Diversity visa: 49,890 (3.7%), down from 67,350 (5.7%) in FY2023 and 43,230 in FY2022. OHSS says "Most diversity visa immigrants become LPRs as new arrivals (97% in 2024)." - Certain Iraqis and Afghans employed by the US Government and their spouses and children: 43,560 (3.2%), up from 26,740 (2.3%) in FY2023 and 11,970 (1.2%) in FY2022. OHSS attributes part of the FY2024 increase to a law signed on 23 March 2024 for Afghan Special Immigrant Visas, which "amended the Afghan SIV program by adding an additional 12,000 visas and extending the program through December 31, 2025." - Victims of crimes and their spouses and children: 12,990 (1.0%); victims of human trafficking: 570 (0.0%). - Cancellation of removal: 4,120 subject to the annual limit and 210 under the NACARA exception. - Children born abroad to alien residents: 710 (0.1%).

For the legal rules on some of these, see the pages on the U visa, the T visa, VAWA and cancellation of removal. The counts show how many people reached permanent residence in FY2024 by each route; they do not show how many applied.

Region and country of birth

OHSS's Table 3a, new LPRs by region of birth in FY2024: - North America: 588,780 (43.2%); - Asia: 452,100 (33.1%); - Africa: 121,360 (8.9%); - South America: 120,730 (8.9%); - Europe: 73,660 (5.4%); - Oceania: 5,030 (0.4%); - Unknown: 2,430 (0.2%).

The report says "Together, Asia and North America have accounted for at least 70% of new LPRs each year since 2015."

Table 3b, the leading countries of birth in FY2024: - Mexico: 202,600 (14.9%); - Cuba: 184,040 (13.5%), up from 36,640 in FY2022 and 81,600 in FY2023; - China (People's Republic): 71,470 (5.2%); - Dominican Republic: 69,630 (5.1%); - India: 66,800 (4.9%), down from 127,010 in FY2022; - Afghanistan: 50,310 (3.7%).

Country of birth is not always the country to which a preference visa number is charged, and a person's nationality can differ from their country of birth. The statistics are about birth. The per-country limit in 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2) is about "natives of any single foreign state". OHSS adds that among the top ten countries, "Cuban-born LPRs had the lowest proportion gaining LPR status as new arrivals (13%), while Vietnam-born LPRs had the highest proportion (82%)."

What these numbers do not tell you

A table of green cards granted is easy to over-read. Things the OHSS report does not tell you, and this page therefore does not claim: - Approval or denial rates. The report counts people who became LPRs. It does not count applications, refusals or withdrawals. - Processing times or backlogs. The report is about outcomes in a fiscal year. Waiting times are published separately by USCIS and the Department of State. - Your chances. An aggregate across 1.36 million people tells you nothing about any one case. Two people with the same visa category can face completely different questions about entry, status history and admissibility. - The future. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 are not in this report. Rules changed in 2025 and 2026 (fees, public charge, travel restrictions), and nothing in FY2024 data predicts their effect. - Which route to use. The counts show how many people used each class, not which class suits anyone.

If you need current rules rather than past counts, the regulations and the USCIS pages are the primary source, and a licensed attorney or accredited representative can say how they apply to a particular case. The OHSS annual flow report page, linked in the sources, will show whether a newer report has been published.

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Questions people ask

How many green cards are issued each year?

In fiscal year 2024, OHSS reports 1,364,090 people became lawful permanent residents, up from 1,172,910 in 2023 and 1,018,350 in 2022. Over 2015 to 2024 the total was just under 10.5 million.

What share of green cards go to spouses of US citizens?

OHSS's FY2024 table shows 343,000 spouses of US citizens became permanent residents, 25.1% of all new LPRs. Immediate relatives overall (spouses, parents and children of citizens) were 672,240, or 49.3%.

How many employment-based green cards are granted?

OHSS counts 171,120 employment-based preference LPRs in FY2024 (12.5% of the total), down from 196,760 in FY2023 and 270,280 in FY2022. USCIS describes the annual employment-based limit as 140,000, which may be exceeded when certain numbers from the previous year were unused.

Which countries receive the most green cards?

By country of birth in FY2024: Mexico 202,600, Cuba 184,040, China 71,470, the Dominican Republic 69,630, India 66,800 and Afghanistan 50,310 (OHSS Table 3b).

Do these statistics show approval rates?

No. They count people who became permanent residents in the fiscal year. They do not count applications, refusals or processing times.

Is there data for fiscal year 2025?

The most recent OHSS annual flow report on its site, as at 10 October 2026, covers 2024. Check the OHSS annual flow report page for newer editions.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-10.

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