Hema K
Forecast horizon: Q2–Q3 FY2026.
Method: Directional read of quarter-over-quarter movement in the USCIS Quarterly All-Forms series; no numeric point estimate.
Source data: Verified Facts #5, #6, #8, #9.
Projected value: Aggregate pending likely drifts down; single-form medians (notably I-90) stay volatile.
Accuracy band: Directional only — a planning signal, not a timeline.
Does not model: Fee-driven demand shifts, USCIS staffing or policy changes, or filing surges.
The Two-Clock Story Behind USCIS Processing Times
Here is the fastest way to make sense of USCIS processing times in 2026. Watch two clocks, not one. First, the whole-agency backlog, and it is easing. Second, your specific form, which may be doing the opposite.
At the end of Q1 FY2026 (December 31, 2025), total cases pending stood at 11,331,331. That is down from 11,651,012 at the close of FY2025 — a drop of roughly 319,681 cases, or about 2.7%. So after several years of growth, the aggregate direction is finally downward.
Yet the aggregate hides the spread. In the same quarter, for instance, USCIS completed 1,828,256 cases and received 2,124,032, so intake still outran output at the system level. When you file, though, the system-level ratio is not what you experience. Instead, you experience one form’s queue.
USCIS Processing Times by Form in 2026
For the clearest read of USCIS processing times, start with the per-form medians. Because the range is wide — from 4.5 months to 9.0 months — the chart above ranks the major forms by their Q1 FY2026 median.
Employment petitions sit at the fast, plan-able end. For instance, the I-129 nonimmigrant worker petition ran a 4.5-month median, while the I-140 immigrant petition ran 4.9 months. Both held steady year over year, which is exactly what a capacity planner wants to see.
By contrast, the longer clocks belong to other categories. The employment-based I-485 adjustment ran 7.5 months, naturalization (N-400) ran 6.2 months, and the I-90 green-card replacement ran 9.0 months. So if your team tracks a mix of these, the spread matters more than any single average.
| Form | What it covers | Q1 FY2026 median | Year-over-year |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-129 | Nonimmigrant worker petition | 4.5 months | Steady |
| I-140 | Employment-based immigrant petition | 4.9 months | Steady |
| N-400 | Naturalization | 6.2 months | Watch |
| I-485 (EB) | Employment-based adjustment of status | 7.5 months | Watch |
| I-90 | Green-card replacement | 9.0 months | Nearly doubled |
In plain terms, the forms most employers care about for talent — I-129 and I-140 — are the steady ones. Instead, the volatility this year lives elsewhere. For a deeper read on the employment petition specifically, see ImmiOne’s companion analysis of I-140 processing times and FY 2026 trends.
How Processing Times Moved Across Four Quarters
A single quarter is a snapshot, so the trend matters more than any one number. Across the last four quarters, the three headline work forms moved on very different paths. The I-140 actually swung from 7.5 months down to 4.9, while the I-90 fell and then jumped back up. The table below tracks each form’s median from FY25 Q2 through FY26 Q1.
| Form | FY25 Q2 | FY25 Q3 | FY25 Q4 | FY26 Q1 | Net move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-140 | 7.5 | 11.2 | 6.4 | 4.9 | ▼ improving |
| I-129 | 4.4 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 4.5 | ▶ steady band |
| I-90 | 8.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 9.0 | ▲ volatile |
In plain terms, the I-140 quietly got faster over the year, while the I-90 is the one that keeps changing direction. That is exactly why a single-quarter figure can mislead — the direction of travel tells you more than the latest dot.
Why the I-90 Clock Nearly Doubled
The I-90 is the story worth watching, and it is a useful lesson in why single-form tracking beats headline-watching. At the end of FY2025, the I-90 median sat at 4.6 months. By the end of Q1 FY2026 it reached 9.0 months — an increase of about 4.4 months, or roughly 96%.
That is the sharpest single-form swing in the dataset, even as the overall backlog fell. Meanwhile, the I-90 pending count reached 522,778 in the same quarter. So a form many teams treat as routine paperwork became one of the slower clocks almost overnight.
The takeaway is not alarm; it is timing. If green-card replacements sit anywhere in your workflow, building extra runway into that step keeps a slow clock from becoming a missed deadline. Teams that watch the per-form median catch this shift early, while teams that watch only the backlog headline get surprised by it.
Cost, Not Speed, Is the Real 2026 Change
The most deliberate change to USCIS processing times in 2026 is not a timeline at all. It is a price. Effective March 1, 2026, the premium processing fee for Forms I-129 and I-140 rose from $2,805 to $2,965. That is an increase of $160, codified at 8 CFR 106.4(c).
Premium processing itself did not change. The guarantee still promises adjudicative action within 15 business days for most classifications. However, two I-140 categories — E13 multinational executives and managers, and E21 national interest waivers — carry a 45-business-day guarantee instead. And premium processing remains available for these two forms only, requested through Form I-907.
So the fast-pass lane still works the same way; it just costs a little more. For budget owners, then, that is a clean line item to update rather than a workflow to rebuild. Read together with the steady I-129 and I-140 medians, the message is consistent. The routine clock is reliable, while the express option is now a known, slightly higher cost.
Why “I-140 Processing Time” Depends Entirely on Your Category
Here is the number that surprises most teams. The I-140 median of 4.9 months hides an enormous spread once you look at the actual immigrant category. USCIS publishes an “80% of cases completed within” figure per category on its processing-times dashboard, and within the single I-140 form that figure ranges from 2.5 months to 28.5 months — an 11-fold difference on the same form.
The fast end is the employment-based green-card workhorse. EB-2 filed on a PERM labor certification (E-21) clears within 2.5 months for 80% of cases, and EB-3 skilled workers (E-31/E-32) within 3.5. The slow end is the prestige categories: EB-1A extraordinary ability (E-11) takes 28.5 months, the EB-2 national interest waiver 27, and EB-1C multinational managers 25.5.
| I-140 category | 80% completed within |
|---|---|
| E-21 (EB-2, PERM) | 2.5 months |
| E-31/E-32 (EB-3 skilled/professional) | 3.5 months |
| EW-3 (EB-3 other worker) | 6.5 months |
| E-12 (EB-1B outstanding professor/researcher) | 16.0 months |
| Schedule A (nurses) | 23.5 months |
| E-13 (EB-1C multinational executive/manager) | 25.5 months |
| NIW (EB-2 advanced degree + national interest waiver) | 27.0 months |
| E-11 (EB-1A extraordinary ability) | 28.5 months |
In plain terms, “how long does the I-140 take?” has no single answer — it depends on the category you file. A team quoting “about five months” for an EB-1A case would be off by two years. So the practical move is to plan each I-140 against its own category line, not the form-wide median.
The same pattern shows up inside the H-1B. On the I-129, the “80% completed within” figure runs 9.0 months for a change of status, 9.5 for consular processing, and 10.5 for an extension of stay — close enough that the filing type rarely changes the plan, but worth confirming at intake.
What USCIS Processing Times in 2026 Mean for Planning
Here is where the two clocks become one decision. First, plan against your form’s median, then treat the backlog trend as background weather. Because the forms most employers file for talent are steady, timelines built on 4.5 to 5 months for I-129 and I-140 hold up well.
Where a form runs long or moves fast — the 9.0-month I-90, the 7.5-month employment I-485 — the fix is runway, not worry. So build the slower step in earlier, keep the file ready, and the timeline stays yours. For the wider context, ImmiOne’s guide to EB-2/EB-3 retrogression in 2026 shows how priority-date movement stacks on top of these processing clocks.
In short, the teams that plan well in 2026 do one thing differently. They track the clock that actually applies to them.
| Metric | End FY2025 | Q1 FY2026 | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total cases pending | 11,651,012 | 11,331,331 | ▼ −2.7% |
| I-90 median processing time | 4.6 months | 9.0 months | ▲ +4.4 mo |
| Premium processing fee | $2,805 | $2,965 | ▲ +$160 |
Strategic recommendations
- Plan each case against its own form median — 4.5–4.9 months for I-129 and I-140, longer for I-485 and N-400 — rather than the agency-wide backlog number.
- Add extra runway to any I-90 green-card replacement in your workflow; the median jumped to 9.0 months and is the most volatile clock in the current data.
- Treat the −2.7% aggregate pending drop as background context, not a per-case promise; individual forms still move independently of it.
- Update premium processing budgets to the $2,965 fee effective March 1, 2026, and confirm which of your I-140 filings fall under the 45-business-day E13/E21 tier.
- Quote I-140 timelines by category, not by the form-wide median — 2.5 months for an EB-2 PERM case versus 28.5 for EB-1A is an 11-fold gap on the same form.
Key insights
- The aggregate backlog eased for the first time in years, yet single forms diverged. So the headline number is a weak proxy for any one case.
- Employment petitions (I-129, I-140) were the steady clocks. As a result, talent-focused timelines built on them held up well.
- The I-90 nearly doubled to 9.0 months. Because routine-looking forms can shift fastest, per-form tracking pays off.
- The clearest 2026 change was cost, not speed. Premium processing rose $160 while its guarantee stayed the same.
Frequently asked questions
Put the 2026 processing-time picture to work
All processing times in this analysis are estimates drawn from publicly available USCIS data. Form-level and trend figures are medians from the USCIS Quarterly All-Forms release (through Q1 FY2026); the per-category and filing-type figures are the “80% of cases completed within” measure from the USCIS processing-times dashboard, captured July 1, 2026. Medians and dashboard figures shift each quarter and carry a margin of error.
The forecast block above is a directional read of historical trend data and may be affected by unforeseen policy or operational changes. It lists what the projection does not model.
This content is provided by ImmiOne for general informational purposes only and is not legal, HR, or business advice. Immigration, HR, workplace rules, policies, and processing timelines may change. Please consult ImmiOne or a qualified legal, HR, or business professional and verify information with official government sources before making decisions.
Use of this content does not create an attorney-client or advisory relationship.
References
- USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data (Quarterly All-Forms) — Q1 FY2026 release; per-form medians and pending counts through December 31, 2025.
- USCIS Check Case Processing Times — live dashboard; per-category and filing-type “80% completed within” figures (SCOPS), captured July 1, 2026.
- USCIS: How Do I Request Premium Processing? — eligibility and the 15/45-business-day guarantees.
- Federal Register: Adjustment to Premium Processing Fees — final rule; fee change effective March 1, 2026.
- 8 CFR 106.4 — USCIS fee schedule — premium processing fees codified at 106.4(c).