How Long Does It Take to Process a Fiancé Visa Petition?
After improving significantly in 2024, processing times and pending fiancé visa petitions are on the rise
Source: Manifest Law analysis of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data
The slowdown in fiancé petition adjudications is beginning to affect the broader K-1 visa system. As USCIS approved more petitions than it received throughout much of 2023 and early 2024, the agency steadily reduced its pending caseload while processing times fell. Pending I-129F petitions declined from a peak of 58,479 in the first quarter of 2023 to just 22,328 by the third quarter of 2024, a reduction of more than 60%. Over the same period, median processing times fell from 14.5 months to 8.5 months before reaching a low of 5.6 months in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Those improvements, however, have begun to reverse. As petition approvals dropped below new filings beginning in late 2024, pending caseloads started climbing again, increasing from 22,328 petitions in the third quarter of 2024 to 36,875 by the first quarter of 2026. Processing times have also moved upward, rising from the 5.6-month low to 7.5 months over the same period. The relationship between these trends is consistent with how USCIS case backlogs typically develop: when the agency adjudicates fewer petitions than it receives, pending inventories grow, increasing the amount of work awaiting review and placing upward pressure on processing times.
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