If you are applying for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa, one of the first questions you’ll ask is: “What is the EB-5 visa processing time?”
The truth is, EB-5 processing times vary greatly depending on many factors, such as your nationality, the project you invest in, how the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) handles the Form I-526/I-526E Petition (“Petition”), and timing regarding the approval of Petitions, and timing regarding visa availability. On average, it can take 12 to 30 months for many Petitions to be approved, but the official USCIS posted times may show 2–4 years or longer.
EB-5 Visa Process Overview
There is a 3-step process to obtaining lawful permanent residence in the U.S. via the EB-5 immigrant investor visa category. First, an investor files a Form I-526 or Form I-526E Petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. Once the Petition is approved, an investor and eligible family members may then proceed to the visa application step, or if the investor is in the United States, he or she may be eligible for Adjustment of Status. After obtaining conditional lawful permanent residence, the third step is to file the Form I-829 Petition to Remove the Condition from permanent residence between the 21st and 24th month of the investor’s Conditional Permanent Residence period to remove the “condition” from the investor’s permanent resident status.
How Long Does I-526 Petition Approval Take?
There are generally 2 ways you can estimate the average processing time for Petitions.
1. Check with an experienced EB-5 attorney
First, you can check with an EB-5 attorney that represents many investors in many EB-5 projects (such as Enterline and Partners) to find out the actual average time in which Petitions are approved. It is important that the lawyer represents investors in more than just a few projects because some projects may experience different processing times for the Petitions.
Some projects may have faster processing of Petitions once a number of Petitions have been approved for that specific project. This would change the processing time to appear shorter than the average of all Petitions. On the other hand, Petitions that have been filed for a project that has not yet had an approved Petition may take considerably longer to receive its initial approval, changing the processing time to appear longer than the average of all Petitions. A lawyer that files many Petitions in many different projects should be able to see the average processing times across all Petitions and projects, not just in a few projects.
2. The USCIS Check Case Processing Times page
The USCIS maintains a page in which petitioners may check the posted processing time averages {Check Case Processing page}
To use this page, select the Petition type (I-526) and choose the Field Office or Service Center. Since most EB-5 investors are filing Form I-526E Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor, we will use that choice here. Note that only the Immigrant Investor Program Office is available for the I-526 Petitions. Click “Get Processing Time”. The results will show like this:
Processing time for Form I-526E at Immigrant Investor Program Office on November 29, 2025 shows:
According to this information, on November 29, 2025 80% of I-526E Petitions are being completed within 14.5 months. Why does USCIS show data in this way? There are some underlying reasons why this posted processing time is so long which makes this not very accurate.
USCIS requests that petitioners and especially lawyers do not follow up with Petition status requests if a Petition is within the posted processing time. Once a Petition is 30 days outside of a posted processing time, then USCIS will respond to requests made about specific Petitions. If the Petition is within this posted processing time, USCIS will simply advise the inquirer that the Petition is within the posted processing time and to please be patient. Extending the posted processing time over such a long period limits petitioners and lawyers from making inquiries until a Petition has been pending for years.
This also frustrates a petitioner that wants to file a Writ of Mandamus. A Writ of Mandamus is an order from a court to a government agency requiring that the relevant agency or official properly fulfill its official duties or correct an abuse of discretion. In the case of a Petition that has been pending for a long time, a Writ of Mandamus is asking the court to demand that USCIS make a decision on a Petition. If the Petition is still within the posted processing time, the court may decide not to approve the Writ. Based on these reasons, the posted processing times here are a strategic tactic by USCIS to reduce the number of inquiries sent to USCIS about Petitions and curtail the use of the Writ of Mandamus.
Not very comforting to see such long waiting times for your I-526E Petition to be processed
EB-5 Visa Processing Time at a Glance
| Stage | Estimated Processing Time | Notes |
| Form I-526E Petition | 12–18 months (realistic average) | USCIS posts 80% of Petitions resolved in 14.5 months. Some are faster. Some are slower |
| Visa Application / Adjustment of Status | 6–12 months | Depends on consulate or USCIS backlog |
| Form I-829 (Remove Conditions) | 24–48 months | You remain a permanent resident while waiting |
If you have questions about the EB-5 visa category of processing times, please contact us at info@enterlinepartners.com.
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Copyright 2025. This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This article may be changed with or without notice. The opinions expressed in this article are those of Enterline and Partners only.
