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We have released a new fact sheet showing significant progress on reducing processing times across a range of different forms.
What You Need to Know
The fact sheet includes newly published data showing that, for nearly all our highest-volume forms, median processing times are significantly lower in fiscal year 2024 to date than in the previous fiscal year.
Notable median processing times include:
- Less than 30 days for employment authorization documents from asylum applicants and from certain parolees;
- 5.2 months for naturalization, which is the lowest since 2016;
- 3.6 months for employment authorization documents from adjustment applicants, which is the lowest since 2017;
- 4.4 months for advance parole documents, which is the lowest since 2018; and
- 2.7 months for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (nonpremium).
At the same time, we acknowledge that we need to make more progress to reduce processing times for certain other forms. For example, processing times and net backlogs remain higher than our processing goals for Form I-601, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver; Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition; and bona fide determinations related to Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status. Fortunately, the HART Service Center is poised to make significant progress on these forms, as described in new FAQs recently posted on the center’s first anniversary.
We are also making steady progress related to EB-5 immigrant investor forms by hiring new staff and making other important investments at our Immigrant Investor Program Office, while strictly complying with Congress’ anti-fraud and integrity provisions. For more information, please see the newly updated EB-5 FAQs.
On April 1, 2024, we began using a final rule to adjust, for the first time since 2016, certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees. With this fee rule, we can recover our operating costs more fully and support more timely processing of new applications.
We have also updated our Check Case Processing Times resource to clarify the difference between administrative processing times, which we are working hard to reduce, and delays due to statutory limitations, which only Congress can resolve. For example, certain processing times for Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, can appear very long, but this is because there are not enough available immigrant visas under the statutory caps established by the Immigration Act of 1990. We use the State Department’s visa bulletin to determine whether a visa is available before processing a Form I-130 preference petition.
For More Information.
For a full list of processing times going back to FY 2013, please see our historical processing times page.
For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
This article is provided as an educational service and is not legal advice. Consult with an attorney for your specific circumstances. For a comprehensive evaluation of your immigration situation and options, you are invited to call us at 214-494-8033, text us using our chat box, or complete our contact form.