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I-131 processing times · Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records

Application for Advance Parole Document for Aliens Inside the United States

Latest USCIS data: Apr–Jun 2026, from the All USCIS Application and Petition Form Types report.

If you file today (Advance Parole), most likely
5-10 months
could be 4-18 months

Based on USCIS's median time of 5.8 months (Apr–Jun 2026 data) and on how much real waits differed from it in the past.

Time to clear backlog

21 months

rising vs. previous quarter

Pending applications

425,511

+13% vs. previous quarter

Decided in Apr–Jun 2026

61,991

−9% vs. previous quarter

Approval rate

71%

−16 pts vs. previous quarter

Quarter-over-quarter highlight: The pile of pending I-131 (Advance Parole) applications at USCIS grew 13% to 425,511 in Apr–Jun 2026. At that quarter's pace of decisions, clearing it would take 21 months, up from 17 months.

For a green card from inside the US, the I-131 is usually filed with the I-485 and the I-765 work permit.

If you file today

How long an I-131 filed today is likely to take, by category. In past quarters, the typical wait landed in the most likely range about half the time, and in the could-be range 8 times in 10.

CategoryMost likely (50%)Could be (80%)USCIS median
Other Travel Documents11-18 months8-24 months14.4 months
Advance Parole5-10 months4-18 months5.8 months
Parole in Place13-24 months9-45 months14.6 months

What happened to the applications

The bars are the I-131 (Advance Parole) decisions USCIS made each quarter, approved in blue and denied in red. The amber line is the 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.

  • Approved
  • Denied
  • Pending at quarter end
  • Filed
0100k200k300k400k500k202120222023202420252026
Source: USCIS’s quarterly All USCIS Application and Petition Form Types reports, via the Immigration and Citizenship Data page.
The numbers are stored in a JSON file on GitHub. A diamond marks a pending count that doesn't match the quarter before's count plus the quarter's filings minus its decisions: it is what USCIS reported, but USCIS doesn't say why they differ, so the pages draw no conclusions from it.

USCIS median and backlog over time

The range starts from USCIS's own median processing time for your category and widens it by how far real waits have landed from that median in past quarters. Time to clear backlog is how long USCIS 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. USCIS's Apr–Jun 2024 report repeated the quarter before's medians, so the chart has none for Apr–Jun 2024.

  • Time to clear backlog
  • USCIS median processing time
0102030months202120222023202420252026
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. USCIS's median is how long the cases it decided in the quarter had taken. A diamond marks a pending count that doesn't match the quarter before's count plus the quarter's filings minus its decisions: it is what USCIS reported, but USCIS doesn't say why they differ, so the pages draw no conclusions from it.

By category, Apr–Jun 2026

CategoryReceivedApprovedDeniedPendingUSCIS median
Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records21,90413,5511,255120,76814.4 months
Application for Advance Parole Document for Aliens Inside the United States113,62743,79118,200425,5115.8 months
Application for Travel Document, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records (Parole in Place)5,35284553529,02214.6 months
Application for Initial Parole Document for Aliens Outside the United States64410246932,373n/a