WASHINGTON— USCIS announced today reforms to simplify and improve how the agency presents case processing time statistics to the public. The adjustments are part of an agency-wide inquiry to improve transparency, efficiency, and customer service.
USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou stated, "USCIS is committed to listening to applicants and stakeholders and consistently enhancing our services." "This is a crucial step – but far from the last – in increasing the public's understanding of USCIS data."
The agency's publicly available processing times help the public understand how long it may take USCIS to process a particular form. The processing time for a single case is the number of months between the date of receipt and the date of decision. This time estimate is based on how long USCIS took to accept or refuse a given percentile of completed files for that form over the previous six months.
Instead of seeing an aggregate of all linked case types, users may now find the processing time information for their specific type of case right away. Other modifications include:
Including drop-down choices for form categories will assist users comprehend their situation and filter results to only relevant processing times;
An online case inquiry tool where users can enter their receipt date and instantly see if they should approach us with questions regarding their case; if so, they will be given a link to file an online case inquiry;
Presenting a single 80th percentile processing time (instead of a range) to help consumers predict how long USCIS will take to review a benefit request; and
Revising and expanding the processing times webpages, including a new Frequently Asked Questions page and an enhanced More Information page.
Processing times are intended to be a guideline instead of an absolute assessment of how long a case will take to process. Depending on the details of the case, some cases take longer to process than others.
USCIS held a national listening session in March to get public feedback on how to better convey processing timelines. A national listening session is scheduled for the middle of May. There will be more listening sessions in the future. We also invite people to give us feedback at ProcessingTimesFeedback@uscis.dhs.gov. Our website offers a complete list of initiatives done by USCIS to reduce processing delays and the agency's outstanding caseload.
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