Processing Times for Immigration Filings

Upon the filing of every type of nonimmigrant or immigrant visa application with the USCIS or applying for an interview with an overseas U.S. Embassy or Consulate a processing time occurs. More people want to visit, work or move to the U.S. than our government can timely continue to process. And the U.S. has quota restrictions.

Different countries take longer times, different skills have lower priorities and different family relationships mean different waits. To complicate matters the times are constantly changing. Further, select offices of the USCIS do specific tasks and often get farther behind. Then, additional governmental resources are allocated to alleviate this backlog and processing times shrink, for awhile.

Cases are processed in the order that they are received, and the general processing time depends upon the type of application, the office processing the petition and the date on which it was filed. Particular petitions also depend upon the information provide or missing with the application and that specific applicants situation and criminal history, if any.