Work Visa (I-129)

I-129 processing runs slow by USCIS standards — 210 days, or about 7 months on average. Backlogs at this level commonly trace to per-country numerical caps, mandatory background-check steps, or upstream petitions that must clear separately before this filing can be adjudicated.

Petition for nonimmigrant worker including H-1B, L-1, O-1, and other employment-based temporary visas. The official adjudicator is U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with upstream labor-market steps handled by the U.S. Department of Labor for employment-based petitions. For applicants outside the United States, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs handles consular processing through embassies and consulates.

I-129 has a 85% approval rate, solidly above the cross-form USCIS average. The category leans approve-by-default for complete filings, but a meaningful minority of cases are denied, usually for missing evidence, eligibility gaps, or admissibility issues during background checks. The cross-form USCIS average across the 8 categories tracked here is 73%, so I-129 sits above the agency-wide benchmark.

Filing volume for I-129 has been roughly stable across recent USCIS reporting periods. Stable receipts make capacity planning more predictable: when adjudication speed shifts in a stable-volume category, the cause usually lies in policy guidance, staffing changes, or background-check turnaround rather than a demand surge.

USCIS publishes form-type performance data quarterly. The current dataset reflects fiscal year 2023 adjudication, covering 2.1M total applications across 198 countries and 63 field offices. The DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics publishes the annual Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, which provides historical baselines this dataset cross-checks against.

Processing time is the average number of days from USCIS receipt of a complete filing to final adjudication, sourced from quarterly USCIS performance reports. Approval rate is computed as approved cases divided by completed cases (approvals plus denials), excluding still-pending applications. All values are aggregated nationally; per-service-center variation can be substantial. Read the full VisaTracker methodology for definitions, edge cases, and refresh cadence.

Note: This page presents general statistics, not legal or immigration advice. Eligibility, evidence requirements, and case-specific timing should be discussed with a licensed immigration attorney or an accredited representative recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice.