Green Card processing times

How long does it take to get a Green Card? Many potential USA immigrants ask this question. However, the answer is not that simple. Learn about the Green Card categories and their different USCIS processing times and waiting periods.

How long does it take to get a Green Card?

Are you in the middle of your Green Card application process or waiting for your big win in the Green Card Lottery? If so, you are probably spending your free time researching about living in the United States and already preparing for your US immigration.

However, one of the most important questions of immigrants to the USA is how long it will take to receive their US immigrant visa after applying for the Green Card. Depending on which path to the Green Card you chose, there are several answers to this question. The following factors affect the Green Card waiting time:

• Your Green Card category (e.g., family-based Green Card, employment-based Green Card, Green Card by marriage, Green Card by investment, or Green Card Lottery winner)
• Your relationship with your family sponsor (for family-based Green Cards)
• Your country of birth or home country (e.g., due to the Green Card Lottery eligibility requirements)
• The supporting evidence (e.g., for a marriage-based Green Card or a workplace-based Green Card)
• The number of Green Card applications filed worldwide
• Political or social changes that may affect internal processes at US immigration authorities
• The service center that processes your immigration application (for example, California usually has longer wait times while Nebraska tends to have shorter ones)
• Your diligence in filing your application and meeting (payment)-deadlines and schedules
• Biographical events that may negatively affect your right to a Green Card

For certain Green Card categories, only a limited number of visas can be issued per year, according to the law. In these categories, applications are processed strictly in the chronological order of the application filing date ("priority date"), resulting in several years of waiting time.

Processing times for Green Card applications

You can look up the average processing times for the different Green Card categories on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.

To do so, select the form you submitted in the "Processing Times" online tool, such as:

• I-130 Petition for Alien Relative (family-based Green Card)
• I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers (employment-based Green Card)
• I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor (Green Card through investment)
• I-360 Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant

In the next step, select the appropriate category. You can choose from the following categories for forms I-130 and I-140:

Categories for family-based Green Cards

If you want to look up the USCIS processing time for your I-130 application, you must choose from the following categories:

• Permanent Resident filing for a spouse or child under 21
• Permanent Resident filing for unmarried son/daughter 21 or older
• US citizen filing for a spouse, parent, or child under 21
• US citizen filing for unmarried son/daughter 21 or older
• US citizen filing for a married son or daughter
• US citizen filing for a brother or sister

Categories for employment-based Green Cards

If you want to look up the waiting time for your I-140 application, you must choose from the following categories:

• Extraordinary ability (E11)
• Outstanding professor or researcher (E12)
• Multinational executive or manager (E13)
• Advanced degree or exceptional ability (E21)
• Skilled worker or professional (E31, E32)
• Unskilled worker (EW3)
• Advanced degree or exceptional ability requesting a National Interest Waiver
• Schedule A Nurses

In the last step, select the service center that is currently processing your Green Card application. The choices are:

• California Service Center
• Nebraska Service Center
• Potomac Service Center
• Texas Service Center
• Vermont Service Center

After selecting your form, category, and service center, the system will display the estimated processing time for your Green Card application.

Current processing times in the Check Case Processing Times Tool of the USCIS:

We tested various combinations of Green Card types, categories, and service centers in USCIS's Check Case Processing Times Tool and compiled the following time spans:

As of: January 2023

Please note that the USCIS processing times listed are only the time until your immigration application is processed. You will also need to go to the US Embassy for a Green Card interview.

Your entire Green Card process may look something like this:

• Filing of the immigration application (e.g., I-130 or I-140)
• Processing by the USCIS
• USCIS forwarding your application to the National Visa Center
• Fee payment, document submission, online visa application (DS-260)
• Medical examination
• Interview at the US Embassy and decision on your application

There are particularly long wait times for Green Cards in the family categories with fixed annual quotas, such as Green Cards for unmarried children of US citizens over the age of 21 or siblings of US citizens. Here, the "immigrant visa backlog" is up to 22 years.

For employment-based immigrant visas such as "Professionals holding advanced degrees" or "Skilled workers, professionals, and other workers," the backlog is currently 8 - 10 years. However, these numbers are dynamic and can change quickly (e.g., due to policy decisions affecting the US labor market).

Green Card Visa Bulletin and case status

In addition to the Green Card wait time calculated by the USCIS tool, you can also get very specific information about your personal Green Card application using your receipt number and the online case status check.

In addition, the Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin provides you with an overview of the Green Card categories currently being processed by the agencies and which applicants are now allowed to schedule interviews with US embassies.

Within the Visa Bulletin, you can refer to the "Priority Date" (for employment-based and family-based Green Cards) or the "Case Number" (if you won the Green Card Lottery).

How to reduce Green Card waiting time

If you can't or won't tolerate the current Green Card wait time of often several years, you have only two options to speed things up:

1. Let your sponsor (for employment-based Green Cards) apply for "premium processing."
2. Enter the Green Card Lottery.

Option #1 isn't cheap but quite effective. Your prospective US employer can use premium processing to ensure that USCIS processes your application for a work-based Green Card within 15 (maximum 45) days. The downside to this: the whole thing costs $ 2,500.

Option #2 is by far cheaper and takes just a few minutes online, so we recommend you always have a ticket in the Green Card Lottery pot while making any Green Card-related endeavors.

Winning a Green Card in the Green Card Lottery

Winning in the US government's lottery of 55,000 American immigrant visas each year means you won't have to join the queues for family and work-based Green Cards.

Winning the Green Card Lottery is thus the ultimate life hack for USA fans because you can start submitting your immigration application right away after receiving your winning notification.