USCIS processing times tool now online

A few months ago, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service announced a comprehensive modernization project. The USCIS has long been criticized for outdated processes and increasingly long processing times - the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these problems due to agency closures and staff shortages.

To improve the processing times of USCIS application procedures, an increase in personnel, digital modernization of various procedures, and simplified application processes have already been announced in order to not only regulate the sometimes months or years-long waiting times, but also to be able to handle future applications more efficiently.

Now, USCIS announced that external communications will also be a part of the modernization project.
Among other things, applicants should have more transparent insight into the current processing times of USCIS procedures.

It was already possible to find out on the website of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service what average waiting times could be expected for the various application procedures. However, only a rough distinction was made here according to USCIS location (field office or service center) and the respective application form (e.g.I-129Filing, I-539 Filing, etc.).

In the modernized online portal, applicants can now obtain more concrete information for specific application processes ("Form Category"), which should lead to better planning security.

For example, if the applicant first selects I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker under the "Form" item, the visa category can be specifically selected under the "Form Category" item (e.g., L) and then the responsible service center (e.g., California Service Center).

Thus, the month or week number then displayed indicates the processing time from the moment USCIS officially receives the application ("Receipt Date") until the expected decision. The estimate is based on the average of the cases of the last six months.

The estimated processing time for a particular form is based on how long it took the agency to approve or disapprove a certain percentage of the closed cases for that form during the previous six-month period.