Notice:
U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has improved the reporting
procedure for processing times of immigration benefit applications. In the past, USCIS benefit processing reports
indicated the specific type of applications or petitions that were being
processed and the date the cases were received.
However, the date the case was received did not provide a clear
indication of when USCIS expected to complete the case, nor did it provide a
clear indication of USCIS’ commitment to process cases within a certain cycle
time. It also did not align with the
processing times and cycle times the agency reports in other contexts.
This improved reporting procedure is an effort to give our customers more accurate information
that better reflects current processing time and USCIS service level commitments. Effective immediately, when
we are completing applications and petitions within our service level goals we will report the USCIS service level
commitment. For example, when our service level goal is to process a particular kind of case within six months, and
if our processing time is six months or less, we will show "6 months".
When we are not meeting our service level goal, the date
posted will reflect the filing date of cases that are being completed. It should be noted that while in some
instances reported processing dates may appear to have regressed due to this
change, they do not reflect a lengthening of USCIS processing times, but simply
the change in reporting. Our goal is to
provide accurate projections and thus give customers clear expectations as to
what they can expect as a processing time.
There are several important exceptions to the processing
times shown below:
- Case processing will be delayed if we must ask
you for more evidence or information.
If
we ask for missing required initial evidence, count the processing time from
when we receive that missing evidence.
- The case processing timeframe will start over if
a customer doesn't appear for an interview or asks that it be rescheduled.
What if I have a problem or have questions about a case?
For more information about when and how to contact us,
whether your case is outside our processing time or if there are other issues, please see our fact sheet –
Case Services - How do I… know what kind of services are
available to me after I file my application or petition?
One additional point about these
projections. They are the time to
complete processing and mail the actual notice and/or document. If you check case status online and see that
your case has been approved, and you haven't yet received your approval notice
or document in the mail, we ask that you wait thirty days from the approval
date before contacting us. That is
because it may take that long before it is returned to us as undeliverable. You can also print the case status online
answer for your records.