What is the current processing time for the I-526 Petition?

The average processing time is between 18-24 months. The processing time is expected to decrease, but time will tell.

We are still looking at about 18 months.

Right now, it essentially remains the same but we expect the processing times to become shorter by the beginning of next year.

According to USCIS, the average processing time for I-526 is about 16 months.

One can only speculate as to the inner workings of USCIS. Regional Center I-526 applications are taking upwards of 14 months to process. Direct I-526 applications are taking between 3-8 months to process. Right now both the CA and DC office are concurrently processing applications. At some point, everything will be completely centralized in DC but unclear when this will be. The backlog on the I-924 applications appears to be moving now; one can hope the same will be for the I-526 side as well.

Unfortunately, the period of time to process the I-526 petition is unpredictable and we can only estimate the processing time for the approval of an I-526 petition and then furthering the process by applying for conditional permanent residency, usually through the U.S. consulate. In certain circumstances, our law firm has received an approval of an I-526 petition within two months, but of course we cannot guarantee that this is going to be the case with all filings of an I -526 petitions. Recently the processing time for an I-526 petition might be 12 months more or less.

Reports reflect 18-24 month processing time for I-526 petitions.

We hope to see faster processing times due to the move from California to Washington, D.C. We are still estimating processing times at approximately 8-12+ months.

It varies but regrettably for a regional center, it is in excess of one year. For direct investment EB- 5, may be eight months or less.

As stated on the USCIS processing time web page, the last processed I-526 was in March of 2012. Our understanding is that current processing times are approximately 12 months.