How USCIS Processing Times Work

What the published time describes

USCIS describes its public processing time as the time it took to complete 80% of cases adjudicated during the preceding six-month period for the applicable form and category. A case’s processing time runs from receipt to the approval or denial decision. A request for evidence is not itself a completed adjudication.

An 80th percentile is not an average or a 20th–80th percentile range. It describes completed cases in that observation period; it does not give a pending case an 80% chance of approval by a particular date.

Source: USCIS explanation of processing-data changes (May 5, 2022).

Choose the category and location the official tool asks for

Start at USCIS processing times. Have your form number, filing category and receipt notice available. Use the location guidance in the current tool; an office shown on a notice is not always the option you should select.

For example, the official information page explains how some service-center work is grouped under Service Center Operations and how certain family- or employment-based I-485 cases showing the National Benefits Center should use the relevant local field office. Confirm the current instructions rather than deriving a location from a receipt-number prefix. See USCIS location and method guidance.

Keep historical data separate

PetitionPace’s historical dataset contains national fiscal-year median months for named filing bases from FY2016 through FY2024. FY2024 covers October 1, 2023 through January 31, 2024 only. Those observations are not current processing times.

Historical statistics can use different methods for some form types, so they should not be directly compared with today’s tool. A family-based I-485 series also cannot stand in for an asylum-based or employment-based series. Source: USCIS historical factsheet.

Use the separate inquiry answer

The public processing-time display and the inquiry tool answer different questions. Enter the received date in the official inquiry section after selecting the applicable options. Follow its answer about whether to contact USCIS or check again later.

A historic median, a generic number of months or a previously recorded inquiry date cannot establish that an inquiry will be accepted today. Recheck the official answer before acting. See case inquiry date meaning.

Record what you actually checked

Save the official check date, selected category and location, answer and any follow-up date. For I-130 and I-485, use the official query record to keep those facts with your previous contact history.

The historical series on this site has not been refreshed into a current category-and-office dataset.