Immigration Timeline Calculator

Green card and visa processing times swing widely depending on the category you're filing under and where you were born. Enter both, and the tool estimates how long the wait is likely to run so you can plan the rest of your immigration journey around it. Demand and government processing capacity push these numbers around constantly, and for the capped categories the country of birth can matter more than the category itself: an EB-2 applicant born in India waits far longer than one born almost anywhere else.

The estimates are typical ranges per category, with a separate range where one country's backlog is far longer than the rest, as India's is for the employment categories and F1. They are a planning guide, not a reading of your own priority date. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens face no per-country cap, so their range applies whatever the country; natives of India, mainland China and Mexico cannot enter the Diversity Visa lottery. Where the tool has no country-specific range for a capped category, it says so rather than guessing: check that month's Department of State Visa Bulletin for your category and country.

Even solid estimates carry no guarantee, and individual cases rarely move in a straight line. A Request for Evidence (RFE), an unusually complex file, or a sudden policy shift can all stretch the timeline. Applicants also tend to overlook how long document gathering and interview prep actually take, and that lead time can add weeks or months to the total.