How Long Does Getting a Green Card Take?
Are you working on applying for a green card through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)? You may be eager to have your case processed as quickly as possible. However, it may take several months, years, or even a decade to process your green card. The timeline depends on the type of green card you apply for, the location of the processing office, and . Here’s a breakdown of the estimated USCIS processing times.
Family-Based Green Card Processing Time
The estimate for processing family-based green cards varies widely because some have yearly caps. This means if many people apply in a single year, your application will be pushed to the next year or the year after that. Still, here are current estimated processing times:
IR-1/CR-1, Marriage-Based Green Card – No yearly caps, with a wait time of roughly 8 to 17 months
F-1/F-2/F-3/F-4, Family Preference Visas – Yearly caps apply, with processing times of 1 to 10 years
Employment-Based Green Card Processing Time
The US government issues about 140,000 employment-based (EB) green cards per year to different categories of applicants. To give you an idea of the demand, consider that USCIS received 1.2 million applications in 2020—the highest ever in a single year.
Green cards with employer sponsorships may be processed as quickly as one year for EB-1 visas with low demand or around five years for EB-2 and EB-3 visas with very high demand. Certain countries with excessive applicants, including India and China, have backlogs of many years.
Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis, and errors can slow the process down. Therefore, sponsoring employers should work with a knowledgeable immigration attorney to ensure a smooth process.
At Hurtubise Weber Law LLP, we know applying for a green card can be stressful. That’s why we are here to guide you through the immigration process. Call us today at (415) 413-8760 or contact us online to speak with our immigration lawyers in San Francisco and San Jose, California.