Questions and Answers > Other Eb-5 Questions

What is the average time needed to process an I-526 petition?

What is the average time needed to approve an I-526 petition? On what basis does the processing time depend? Does the nationality of the applicant matter?

Answers

• A Olusanjo Omoniyi

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 17, 2020

  The processing time for an I-526 petition depends on the nationality of each petitioner. There is no worldwide general standard time.

• Bernard P Wolfsdorf

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on November 7, 2019

  I am advising about two years but it is not clear if there is an average time that people know. There is a published time but that is not accurate.

• Salvatore Picataggio

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on November 6, 2019

  According to USCIS, it is 29 to 49 months. Nationality does not matter at this time. Anecdotally, it seems that investors who file with projects that have already processed some other investors might go a little faster.

• Charles Foster

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on November 4, 2019

  The processing time is a factor of resources and volume of filed cases and is likely to grow given the significant increase in minimum investment amounts on November 21.

• BoBi Ahn

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on November 1, 2019

  It is currently taking approximately two years for an I-526 petition to be adjudicated. It is processed on a first-in, first-out basis, and the nationality of the applicant does not matter. Only after I-526 is approved, in the next step, will your nationality be a factor in whether there is a visa availability.

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on November 1, 2019

  The nationality of the applicant does not matter but the regional center seems to matter.

• Stephen Berman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on October 31, 2019

  You can check the USCIS website for processing times. Yes, nationality matters. If there is a backlog, it will take longer to adjudicate.

• Belma Demirovic Chinchoy

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on October 31, 2019

  We are seeing petitions processed in approximately 24 months with some outliers on either end. The USCIS-stated processing time is up to 45 months. The country of origin of the applicant does not impact the processing speed.

• Jan Pederson

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on October 31, 2019

  There is no real average. One regional center project for expedited adjudication takes 3 to 5 months. Twenty-four to 26 months is an average for other types.

• Hassan Elkhalil

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on October 31, 2019

  According to the USCIS website, the processing time for the I-526 is between 29 to 50 months. The process of the I-526 is not country dependent.