How Long It Takes to Get an H-1B Visa Petition Approved

Once an employer has gone through the various preliminary steps and then filed an H-1B case petition (on Form I-129), the processing is in the hands of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Some applicants have been known to receive approval in as few as 30 days, others wait much longer.

Employers willing to pay an additional amount can get "premium processing" of the I-129 petition ($2,500; 2023 figure). This guarantees a decision within 15 calendar days of filing, or within 15 days of a response to a Request for Evidence, if USCIS issues one. (See 8 C.F.R. § 106.4.)

Because of the annual limit on the number of H-1B petitions that can be approved, an employer often must petition six months in advance of the date the employee starts the job. That should, in theory, leave plenty of time for USCIS to approve or reject the petition, so that the employee knows whether they can get an H-1B visa or get into H-1B status in the U.S. before the job starts.

Nonetheless, USCIS sometimes takes more than six months to adjudicate H-1B petitions in the best of times (and the COVID-19 pandemic introduced further delays). This can virtually force employers to pay the extra fee for premium processing when it's available, particularly if the employee does not have any other authorization to start working on October 1.

But some H-1B petitions are not subject to the annual limit, in which case you might need premium processing or be concerned about when USCIS will approve the petition. For planning purposes, the key will be to learn to monitor your application while it's being processed by USCIS. Here's how to do that.

Getting Application Receipt Number From USCIS

In an H-1B case without premium processing, after your employer has petitioned for your H-1B visa, USCIS will, normally within approximately two weeks, send a receipt notice on Form I-797. The receipt notice will contain your name (listed as the beneficiary), your employer's name (listed as the petitioner), and the address of the Service Center that has the petition.

If your employer retained an attorney, the attorney's name and address will be listed on the receipt notice, as well. If your employer filed without an attorney, the receipt notice will list the employer's address. (Be sure to review these details for correct information as well as spelling.)

In the top left-hand corner of the receipt notice is the case receipt number, which confirms the processing of your case as well as allowing you to track the case through USCIS Case Status Online. For example, your receipt number might read something like this: EAC-22-096-36548. We will explain how to read the number below.

Checking Average Processing Time of Cases in Your Category

Once you have checked your current case status, you can get a sense of how it will progress by using the USCIS Processing Times Information website.

You will need to know the USCIS office where the form is being reviewed. Find this on the receipt notice mailed to the employer after USCIS accepted your case for processing. On the processing times web page, first select "I-129," which is the form the employer submits for H-1B petitions. Under "Form Category," select H-1B. Then, from the Field Office or Service Center dropdown menu, select the Service Center handling your petition.

How will you know which service center to select? The first three letters of the receipt number indicate the service center where your application was filed. As of 2023, this is either the Vermont Service Center, the California Service Center, or the Texas Service Center, depending on where your employer's office is located, which center serves that geographic region, and which type of H-1B petition the employer is submitting, for instance change of employer, extension of status with no changes, or cap-exempt employer.

Receipt numbers beginning with EAC are at the Vermont Service Center, those with WAC are at the California Service Center, and those beginning with SRC are at the Texas Service Center.

Then click "Get processing time," and you'll be given an average. For example, it might say "2.5 months," which means USCIS will review most petitions within that time. There also is a section on "When can I ask about my case," which is explained below, for when your petition is beyond the processing time range.

What If My Case Is Taking Longer Than USCIS's Estimated Processing Time?

The information you get from the processing times website is USCIS's best guess based on its most recent data. It's not exact, and you can't rely on it to be 100% accurate.

But if your case is outside of the estimated processing time, the employer can call USCIS at 800-375-5283 or use the link on the processing times page to place a service request. USCIS will then provide a confirmation number as well as a new estimated time of processing, typically 30 to 60 more days.

Of course, if your employer paid for premium processing, there is a guarantee of a decision within 15 days, so you should be able to rely on that. If it is taking longer, your employer might have received a Request for Evidence that needs to be responded to before USCIS can make a decision. But even so, USCIS should make a decision within 15 days after receiving your employer's response to the request.

Will I Be Affected by Annual Limits on First-Time H-1B Visas?

As mentioned above, you might be applying under the H-1B cap—that is, an annual limit of 65,000 on the number of H-1B petitions approved. USCIS allows "cap" petitions to be filed six months before the start of the "fiscal year," which begins on October 1. H-1B "cap" workers can't get their H-1B status, and start their job, until October 1 at the soonest.

So many people want H-1B status in most years that there's a lottery just to be selected to apply. After several years in the planning, USCIS began implementing a new, pre-filing registration system in 2020. To get into the lottery, employers must submit an online pre-registration during a designated period USCIS announces, normally in March.

The new procedure involves a $10 per-case filing fee for the online registration. Duplicate registrations for the same employee are prohibited. If USCIS receives more than 85,000 registrations (as it almost always does), it will conduct a random lottery and notify "winners" soon after the pre-registration ends.

Employers whose petitions USCIS selected then be given a filing window in which to prepare and submit their petitions to USCIS. This typically starts in April and lasts 90 days.)