I-485 Final-Stage Wait Rises 35 Days Since Mid-June, Now 13.7% Above Last Year

The median final-stage wait for I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence, or Adjustment of Status) stood at 42 days the week of June 15. It reached 77 days the week of August 31, a 35-day rise across 12 weeks. The 8-week slope of +2.7 days per week is a consistent directional signal (R² = 0.66), meaning the line has moved upward with moderate regularity, not in isolated jumps. The same week last year, the median was 68 days across 10,759 approvals; this week's 77-day reading across 6,311 approvals puts the year-over-year gap at 13.7%. The data does not tell us why the pace has slowed, but the pattern is consistent with a broader rise in queue depth entering late summer.

IOE (the electronic-filing channel) processed 5,629 of this week's 6,311 approvals, a 89% share, and its slope of +2.7 days per week exactly mirrors the national figure. For the overwhelming majority of applicants, the IOE trajectory is the relevant one. LIN (Nebraska Service Center), with 142 approvals this week, shows a steeper slope of +18.6 days per week (R² = 0.83), but that signal reflects a small and likely compositionally distinct population; 7% of LIN approvals were transfer-touched cases, compared with 0% at IOE. Receipt prefix records where a case was initially filed, not where it was ultimately decided, and the data does not tell us the destination of transferred cases. A gap between centers should not be read as a verdict on where to file.

WAC (California Service Center, the USCIS facility in Laguna Niguel, CA) posted a median of 220 days this week on 163 approvals, with a slope of -36.8 days per week (R² = 0.56). That slope would suggest rapid improvement if sustained, but the small sample and zero transferred share make it difficult to draw a firm conclusion; the population may differ in composition from the IOE pool. The National Benefits Center (MSC, in Lee's Summit, MO) posted a median of 132 days on 305 approvals. Both centers operate with case mix that differs from IOE, and both have small sample sizes relative to the electronic channel.

Looking at the Stage durations (30-day raw) data, the largest pending group is approximately 471,000 cases at the 'USCIS Is Currently Processing the Case' status, with a median of 91 days, a 25th percentile (p25) of 47 days, and a 75th percentile (p75) of 148 days across those 471,387 cases. The spread reflects genuine case-level variability: a quarter of cases at this status finish under 47 days, while the slowest quarter has been waiting 148 days or more. Separately, about 37,000 cases remain at the older 'Case Was Updated To Show Fingerprints Were Taken' status, which carries the longest median of any substantial stage at 319 days, with a p25 of 195 days and a p75 of 439 days across those 37,433 cases. The biometrics (fingerprint appointment) stage is not itself the bottleneck; cases land there before adjudication (the USCIS decision step) begins, and the long median at the fingerprints-taken status reflects how long cases have been sitting in the pre-adjudication queue. The approximately 303,000 cases at 'Interview Was Scheduled' carry a tighter distribution: a median of 40 days, p25 of 33 days, and p75 of 56 days across 303,599 cases.

Cases sitting at the fingerprints-taken status show a 319-day median wait, more than four times this week's 77-day approval median.