Estimate wait times based on current USCIS processing data. Ranges reviewed September 2026.
Green card wait times vary significantly based on country of birth due to per-country visa limits.
Every case is different. Our attorneys handle family, marriage, and adjustment cases daily and can give you a case-specific estimate, not a generic one.
Schedule ConsultationA spouse of a U.S. citizen usually receives a green card 10 to 18 months after filing when the couple files the I-130 and I-485 together inside the United States. There is no visa number wait because spouses are immediate relatives. What moves the number is the field office that schedules the interview, whether USCIS issues a request for evidence on the marriage or the I-864 Affidavit of Support, and how quickly the work permit and travel document are decided in the meantime. Couples processing through a consulate abroad should plan on 12 to 20 months: I-130 approval, National Visa Center document review, then the embassy interview. Check the current I-130 and I-485 ranges on our USCIS processing times tracker and the full sequence in the family green card timeline.
A U.S. citizen who is at least 21 can petition for a parent as an immediate relative, so there is no Visa Bulletin wait. Parents already in the United States after a lawful entry commonly adjust status in 10 to 16 months. Parents abroad go through consular processing, typically 12 to 20 months including the National Visa Center stage. The most common delays are missing civil documents, translation problems, and questions about the petitioner's income on the I-864. Parents with prior unlawful presence or an old removal order need a legal review before anything is filed, because the timeline can change completely.
An unmarried child under 21 of a U.S. citizen is an immediate relative and follows the same 10 to 18 month path as a spouse. A child of a permanent resident falls in the F2A category, which has been current or nearly current for much of 2026, so many F2A cases finish in 14 to 24 months. The risk in child cases is aging out: if the child turns 21 before a visa number is available, the case can drop to a slower category. The Child Status Protection Act can freeze the child's age in some situations, and that math should be done before filing, not after.
Siblings of U.S. citizens (F4), married children of citizens (F3), adult unmarried children of citizens (F1), and adult unmarried children of permanent residents (F2B) all wait for a visa number in addition to USCIS processing. Those waits run from several years to well over a decade, and longer for people born in Mexico, the Philippines, India, or China. The calculator above adds the current bulletin wait to the processing estimate. To understand the monthly chart itself, read how to read the Visa Bulletin, and use the F2A wait time calculator if you are the spouse or child of a permanent resident.
All figures are estimates drawn from published USCIS and Department of State data. They are not legal advice and not a guarantee of any timeline or outcome.
