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I-485 processing at California Service Center

New public charge rules from September 18, 2026

For green card applications (Form I-485) filed from September 18, 2026, USCIS can look at more kinds of public benefits that you get from that date. If you or your family get public benefits, talk to an immigration lawyer before you file.

Details

DHS has rescinded (cancelled) its 2022 public charge rule. USCIS's new guidance applies to every Form I-485 postmarked or filed online on or after September 18, 2026. For those applications, USCIS can consider any means-tested public benefits (benefits that depend on your income) received on or after that date. For benefits received before that date, it can consider only public cash assistance for income maintenance and long-term institutionalization at government expense.

Applications filed from December 23, 2022 to September 17, 2026 are decided under the 2022 rule.

States and cities have sued to stop the new rule. It is in effect while the lawsuits go on.

If you or your family receive public benefits, talk to an immigration lawyer or accredited representative before filing.

Sources: USCIS: USCIS Issues Guidance on Making Public Charge Inadmissibility Determination (Aug 18, 2026); USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 8, Part G: Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility; Federal Register: Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility (Jul 20, 2026); JURIST: Two lawsuits challenge the revised public charge rule.

Last checked Sep 26, 2026.

Applications based on employment or on an investment in a new business.

USCIS does not publish processing times per office. For I-485 (Employment) cases, the wait depends on the priority date: see today’s cutoff dates. See the national I-485 numbers.

Latest USCIS data: Apr–Jun 2026, from the I-485 by Category, Case Status, and USCIS Field Office Location report.

Time to clear backlog

56 months

rising vs. previous quarter

Pending applications

21,053

+6% vs. previous quarter

Decided in Apr–Jun 2026

1,134

−11% vs. previous quarter

Approval rate

70%

−11 pts vs. previous quarter

Quarter-over-quarter highlight: The pile of pending I-485 (Employment) applications at the California Service Center grew 6% to 21,053 in Apr–Jun 2026. At that quarter's pace of decisions, clearing it would take 56 months, up from 47 months. Going by its average pace over the four quarters to Apr–Jun 2026, the California Service Center's backlog of these cases would take clearly longer to clear than that of the country as a whole.

By category, Apr–Jun 2026

CategoryReceivedDecidedPendingTime to clear backlog
Family1024not shown: too few decisions
Employment1,5321,13421,05356 months
Humanitarian004not shown: too few decisions
Other2027not shown: too few decisions
All categories1,5351,13421,10856 months

What happened to the applications

The bars are the I-485 (Employment) decisions the California 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 Oct–Dec 2023 includes new filings USCIS routed here from elsewhere rather than filed with the office.

  • Approved
  • Denied
  • Pending at quarter end
  • Filed (or routed here)
05k10k15k20k202120222023202420252026cases moved outcases moved or routed in
Source: USCIS’s quarterly I-485 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 out"): In Jul–Sep 2022, USCIS moved these cases away from the California Service Center: 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 or routed in"): In Oct–Dec 2023, USCIS moved these cases to the California 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.

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 waiting for a visa number, 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
050100months202120222023202420252026cases moved outcases moved or routed in
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 out"): In Jul–Sep 2022, USCIS moved these cases away from the California Service Center: 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 or routed in"): In Oct–Dec 2023, USCIS moved these cases to the California 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.