USCIS got slower on 133 lines in one month
The finding: between the July 11 and August 6, 2026 captures of USCIS’s official processing-times tool, 163 of the 251 form/office combinations we track moved. 133 got slower. 30 got faster. Roughly four out of five lines that moved, moved against the applicant.
USCIS never publishes this. The official tool shows today’s figure and overwrites yesterday’s, so the direction of service levels — improving or deteriorating, and where — is invisible from the source alone. We bank every capture and difference them.
Window measured: 2026-07-11 → 2026-08-06 · 251 combinations compared · 163 moved (133 slower, 30 faster, 77 unchanged) · median move 1 months
The biggest slowdowns
| Form | Category | Office | 2026-07-11 | 2026-08-06 | Change (months) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-130 | Permanent resident filing for a spouse or child under 21 | All Field Offices | 129.5 | 139 | +9.5 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Santa Ana CA | 17 | 23.5 | +6.5 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | San Jose CA | 17 | 23.5 | +6.5 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Portland ME | 14.5 | 20.5 | +6 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | San Francisco CA | 15.5 | 21.5 | +6 |
| N-600K | Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322 | Chicago IL | 30 | 35.5 | +5.5 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Agana GU | 12.5 | 17 | +4.5 |
| I-212 | Permission to reapply for admission after deportation and removal | All Field Offices | 37.5 | 41.5 | +4 |
| I-360 | Afghan or Iraqi Translators and Afghan or Iraqi nationals who worked for on or behalf of the U.S. government | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 11.5 | 15.5 | +4 |
| I-765 | Based on being an L-2 spouse of an L-1 nonimmigrant [(a)(18)] | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 12.5 | 16.5 | +4 |
| I-539 | Change of status to L dependent | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 10.5 | 14 | +3.5 |
| N-600K | Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322 | Newark NJ | 5 | 8.5 | +3.5 |
| I-102 | Initial issuance or replacement of a Form I-94 | National Benefits Center | 13 | 16 | +3 |
| I-102 | Initial issuance or replacement of a Form I-94 | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 13 | 16 | +3 |
| I-130 | U.S. citizen filing for a spouse, parent, or child under 21 | All Field Offices | 72 | 75 | +3 |
The lines that improved
| Form | Category | Office | 2026-07-11 | 2026-08-06 | Change (months) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-130 | U.S. citizen filing for unmarried son/daughter 21 or older | All Field Offices | 216 | 195 | -21 |
| I-130 | U.S. citizen filing for a married son or daughter | National Benefits Center | 64.5 | 56 | -8.5 |
| I-817 | Voluntary departure under the family unity program | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 8.5 | 5 | -3.5 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Baltimore MD | 21 | 19 | -2 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Imperial CA | 15 | 13 | -2 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Helena MT | 7.5 | 6 | -1.5 |
| I-751 | Removal of lawful permanent resident conditions (spouses of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents) | All Field Offices | 39.5 | 38 | -1.5 |
| I-130 | U.S. citizen filing for a brother or sister | National Benefits Center | 59.5 | 58.5 | -1 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Anchorage AK | 10.5 | 9.5 | -1 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Cleveland OH | 15 | 14 | -1 |
| I-485 | Family-based adjustment applications | Louisville KY | 12.5 | 11.5 | -1 |
| I-821 | Somalia Initial | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 15 | 14 | -1 |
| I-129 | H-2B - Temporary nonagricultural workers | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 5.5 | 5 | -0.5 |
| I-129 | TN - United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA, formerly NAFTA) professional | Service Center Operations (SCOPS) | 4.5 | 4 | -0.5 |
| I-130 | Permanent resident filing for a spouse or child under 21 | National Benefits Center | 52 | 51.5 | -0.5 |
The two numbers to sit with
139 months. A permanent resident who files Form I-130 for a spouse or a child under 21, routed through a field office, now faces a published median of 139 months — over eleven and a half years — and that line added 9.5 months of wait in a single month. A queue that grows by nine and a half months every month is not standing still; it is accelerating away from the people in it.
195 months. The biggest improvement in the window was I-130 for unmarried adult sons and daughters of US citizens at field offices, down 21 months. The improved figure is still a wait of more than sixteen years. On these family lines, “getting better” and “long beyond any planning horizon” are the same fact.
Method
- Source: USCIS’s official Case Processing Times tool, captured by enumerating every form/office combination the tool exposes (43 forms, 251 combinations). Each capture is banked with its date; nothing is overwritten.
- Value semantics: USCIS publishes the time in which 80% of recent cases completed, per form and processing location, in months. A combination counts as moved only when both captures show a published figure and the figure changed; 11 combinations had no published figure at one end of the window and are excluded from the comparison.
- Cadence: captures are roughly monthly; this page’s tables regenerate from the data file after each capture, so the window shown above is always the newest complete pair.
Download the data
- uscis_times_movement.json — every mover in the window with from/to figures, plus the summary counts on this page.
- uscis_processing_times.json — the full current snapshot: 43 forms, 251 combinations, with capture dates per row.
Suggested citation: MigrantUSA, “USCIS processing times — month-over-month movement,” migrantusa.com/datasets/uscis-processing-times-movement/, retrieved [date].
Related
- USCIS processing times dataset — the snapshot this movement is computed from, with a free embeddable widget.
- USCIS processing times lookup tool — interactive, by form and office.
- Visa Bulletin movement data — the same idea applied to State Department priority dates.
This is general information, not legal advice. Processing times are medians and say nothing about any individual case. Consult an attorney for your specific situation.