I-130 processing at Vermont Service Center

Petitions by US citizens for their spouses, their unmarried children under 21 and, if they are 21 or older, their parents.

USCIS does not publish processing times per office. Nationally, I-130 (Immediate Relative) filers can expect a decision in 11-22 months if they file today, going by USCIS’s median for Apr–Jun 2026. USCIS decided 51% fewer of these that quarter than its average over the four before, so plan for the later end. See the national I-130 range for each category.

Latest USCIS data: Apr–Jun 2026, from the I-130 by Category, Case Status, and USCIS Field Office Location report.

Time to clear backlog

6.7 months

after USCIS moved cases away

Pending applications

11,146

−88%, cases moved out

Decided in Apr–Jun 2026

5,013

−67% vs. previous quarter

Approval rate

80%

−9 pts vs. previous quarter

Quarter-over-quarter highlight: The pile of pending I-130 (Immediate Relative) applications at the Vermont Service Center shrank 88% to 11,146 in Apr–Jun 2026 as USCIS moved cases to other offices. At that quarter's pace of decisions, clearing it, without the cases moved out, would take 6.7 months; the quarter before is not comparable.

By category, Apr–Jun 2026

CategoryReceivedDecidedPendingTime to clear backlog
Immediate Relative8265,01311,1466.7 months

after cases moved away

All Other Relative4521,6866,00511 months

after cases moved away

All categories1,2786,69917,1517.7 months

after cases moved away

What happened to the applications

The bars are the I-130 (Immediate Relative) decisions the Vermont Service Center made each quarter, approved in blue and denied in red. The amber line is its backlog: how many applications were still waiting at the end of that quarter, most of them filed in earlier ones. The dashed line is how many came in, which in Apr–Jun 2021 includes new filings USCIS routed here from elsewhere rather than filed with the office.

  • Approved
  • Denied
  • Pending at quarter end
  • Filed (or routed here)
020k40k60k80k100k120k202120222023202420252026cases moved or routed incases moved out
Source: USCIS’s quarterly I-130 by Category, Case Status, and USCIS Field Office Location reports, via the Immigration and Citizenship Data page.
The numbers are stored in a JSON file on GitHub. A dashed line ("cases moved or routed in"): In Apr–Jun 2021, USCIS moved these cases to the Vermont Service Center and routed new filings here, which the filings line counts: its pile, and the time to clear it, changed for that reason, not because the office sped up or fell behind. A dashed line ("cases moved out"): In Apr–Jun 2026, USCIS moved these cases away from the Vermont Service Center: its pile, and the time to clear it, changed for that reason, not because the office sped up or fell behind.

Backlog over time

Time to clear backlog is how long the office would need to decide every pending case at last quarter’s pace. It is not your wait: the pile includes cases on hold and cases USCIS cannot decide yet, and USCIS sometimes moves pending cases between offices. A dashed line marks a quarter in which it did: the pile, and the time to clear it, then include the cases moved in (or leave out those moved away), so they don't show the office falling behind or catching up. The chart leaves it out for quarters in which the office decided fewer than 100 of these cases.

Time to clear backlog
0510152025months202120222023202420252026cases moved or routed incases moved out
Time to clear backlog is the pending applications at the end of each quarter, divided by the decisions (approvals and denials) made per month during it. A dashed line ("cases moved or routed in"): In Apr–Jun 2021, USCIS moved these cases to the Vermont Service Center and routed new filings here, which the filings line counts: its pile, and the time to clear it, changed for that reason, not because the office sped up or fell behind. A dashed line ("cases moved out"): In Apr–Jun 2026, USCIS moved these cases away from the Vermont Service Center: its pile, and the time to clear it, changed for that reason, not because the office sped up or fell behind.