On March 20, USCIS released the last quarter of data for FY 2025, offering a glimpse into the latest trends in denial rates and processing times. Find below the latest trends, split into family and employment-based cases.
Family and Marriage-Based Petition Denial Rate
- The I-129F Fiancé(e) Petition experienced the highest rejection rate among the requested forms, standing at 32.11%. Out of 35,227 petitions, 11,312 faced denial.
- I-130 Petition for Alien Relative (Immediate Relative) 54,455 out of 773,065 were rejected, a denial rate of 7.04%
- For All Other Relatives (not immediate family), 67,737 of 311,222 were rejected, a denial rate of 21.8%
- I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence denials stood at 3.57%, with 3,704 out of 103,813 applications turned down.
- I-485 Adjustment of Status Petitions for Family-based green cards faced moderate denial rates at 12.59%, with 62,389 out of 495,460 facing denial.
- N-400 Applications for Naturalization saw 84,762 out of 966,748 petitions denied, a 8.77% denial rate.
Employment-Based Petition Denial Rates
|
Visa |
USCIS Approvals |
USCIS Denials |
USCIS FY 2025 Denial Rate |
|
EB-2 |
52,795 |
1,127 |
2.09% |
|
EB-2 NIW |
19,532 |
15,863 |
44.83% |
|
EB-1A |
12,468 |
6,165 |
33.09% |
|
EB-1B |
5,142 |
116 |
2.21% |
|
EB-1C |
10,940 |
329 |
2.92% |
|
O-1 |
29,733 |
1,948 |
6.1% |
|
H-1B |
406,349 |
8,926 |
2.1% |
|
L-1A |
22,535 |
2,004 |
8.2% |
|
TN |
16,345 |
896 |
5.2% |
- Nonimmigrant (I-129) and Immigrant (I-140) worker petitions saw remarkably similar denial rates at 14.07% and 13.98%, respectively.
- I-129 petitions: 93,120 out of 661,879 denied.
- I-140 petitions: 24,817 out of 177,457 denied.
- I-485 Adjustment of Status Petitions for Employment-based green card petitions saw denial rates of 11.56%, with 14,105 denials out of 122,050.
- The denial rate for I-765 applications for employment authorization was 9.51%, with 112,224 out of 1,179,652 applications denied.
Quarter 4 FY 2025 Processing Times
Processing times are presented as the median to complete processing of 50% of all the cases processed in the quarter.
Family-Based Processing Times
|
Form |
Processing Time (Months) |
Last Year (FY 2024) |
|
I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) |
7.9 |
5.6 |
|
I-130 Petition for Alien Relative (Immediate Relative) |
13.7 |
13.5 |
|
I-130 Petition for Alien Relative (All Other Relative) |
38 |
NA |
|
I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence |
18.8 |
22.0 |
|
I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (Family) |
6.0 |
7.7 |
|
N-400 Application for Naturalization |
5.7 |
4.7 |
Relative to Q4 of the previous Fiscal Year (2024), the processing times for most family-based categories have only changed slightly. Processing times for removal of condition and adjustment of status applications improved in FY 2025, while processing times for naturalization, I-130, and I-129F Fiancé petitions have increased.
Employment-Based Processing Times
|
Form |
Processing Time (Months) |
Last Year (FY 2024) |
|
I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker |
3.6 |
2.3 |
|
I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers |
6.4 |
7.8 |
|
I-765 Application for Employment Authorization (Adjustment Of Status) |
2.3 |
3.6 |
|
I-765 Application for Employment Authorization (All Other) |
3.3 |
1.5 |
|
I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (Employment) |
7.5 |
6.9 |
|
I-526E Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor |
6.5 |
N/A |
Relative to Q4 of the previous Fiscal Year (2024), the processing times for most categories have increased slightly, with the exception of the I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers and I-765 Application for Employment Authorization.
