USCIS I-129F Processing Time
Join our DiscordForm I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e), is the first step in obtaining a K-1 visa for your fiancé(e) and their children (K-2), or a K-3 visa for your spouse and their children (K-4).
The current end-to-end processing time for Form I-129F ranges from 9 to 11 months.
To help applicants stay informed, Track My Visa provides free case tracking and backlog insights for I-129F petitions. By joining our platform, you can follow your case progress, explore real processing patterns, and better understand where your petition stands - all at no cost. Basic tracking and insights are free, forever, as part of our commitment to supporting I-129F applicants.
Application flow
All cases start in the Received status. A small number of applications are rejected within a few weeks due to improper filing. The majority of the remaining cases are directly Approved, whereas a small portion are directly Denied. The rest of the applications receive a Request for Evidence. Once USCIS receives the evidence from the applicant, their status changes to Request for Evidence Received. After that, most cases are Approved, while a smaller portion are Denied.
After being approved, cases are forwarded from USCIS to the Department of State's National Visa Center, also known as DOS.
To learn more about each status, visit our FAQ page.
What does the current case backlog look like?
This graph shows the current status of I-129F applications being tracked on Track My Visa.
The backlog helps us understand the big picture. For example, we can see that USCIS generally processes cases in the order they were received.
Newer cases are shown on the right side of the graph. They mostly have the Received status. On the other side of the graph, the old cases have mostly all been processed - either sent to the Department of State or Denied.
Near the middle of the graph, you see that USCIS is actively working on cases - turning months from light blues into greens and yellows. Once USCIS starts working on a month, many cases are quickly Approved, while others take longer due to a variety of reasons, such as a Request for Evidence RFE (see our Blog post about RFEs).
In late 2025, USCIS increased their processing rate, dropping wait times from around 10 months to around 8. In early March 2026, USCIS slowed processing, once again pushing wait times slightly higher.
Join Track My Visa to monitor USCIS processing activity and to view a zoomed-in view of the backlog chart, all for free — alongside many other PRO-only features.
