I-539 Processing Times
Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
9.6 mo – 12.0 mo
avg. across USCIS source rows
Current I-539 Processing Time
As of , USCIS I-539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status) processing times average 9.6 mo to 12.0 mo across current USCIS source rows, with full range < 1 mo to 13.2 mo across all offices. National Benefits Center has the lowest average upper bound at 2.5 mo (average range < 1 mo to 2.5 mo). Processing times have been increasing over the past three months. Source data is checked daily; USCIS publishes new estimates about monthly.
Category-specific source pages report the exact USCIS source row and history for a single I-539 eligibility category:
- Change of status to B nonimmigrant
- Change of status to F or M student or J exchange visitor category
- Change of status to H4 dependents
- Change of status to L dependent
- All other change of status applications
- Change of status to H4 dependent with I-765
- Extension of stay for B nonimmigrant
- Extension of stay for F or M students and J exchange visitor category
- Extension of stay for H4 dependents
- Extension of stay for L dependents
- All other extension of stay applications
- Extension of stay for T nonimmigrant
- Extension of stay for U nonimmigrant
- Extension of stay for H4 dependents with I-765
- Reinstatement to student status
Processing Time Trend
Upper bound of processing time range shown. Source: USCIS Processing Times.
The chart includes historical office series (California Service Center, Vermont Service Center, and Nebraska Service Center and 1 other office) from offices that previously reported this form. The current table below lists only offices with current USCIS estimates.
Dashed lines are offices that no longer report this form; each ends at its last published date.
Chart series show upper-bound processing times for All other change of status applications, one of 15 current USCIS categories with a published range. The office comparison table uses office-level averages across current USCIS categories.
Trend Summary
The upper end of I-539's average range has lengthened over the past year, from 7.8 to 12 months. Those two figures rest on different reporting bases: 5 offices no longer report I-539, and Service Center Operations has since begun reporting it. National Benefits Center, the only office reporting at both, moved from 8.5 to 2.5 months over the same window. The average peaked at 17.3 months in November 2022 and has since receded to current levels. That record spans the same change, across 2 different office sets — the earlier figures and the current one are not measured the same way. Where an applicant files matters: National Benefits Center currently reports 0.5 to 2.5 months for I-539, while Service Center Operations reports 10.8 to 13.2 — non-overlapping ranges.
<iframe src="https://immigrationtimes.org/embed/i-539.html" width="600" height="400" style="width:100%;max-width:600px;border:0;" frameborder="0" title="I-539 Processing Times"></iframe> <p>Source: <a href="https://immigrationtimes.org/forms/i-539/">I-539 Processing Times — ImmigrationTimes.org</a></p>
USCIS Service Center Consolidation
As of , USCIS publishes I-539 processing times at 2 reporting levels (National Benefits Center and Service Center Operations), down from 6 as recently as July 2025 — when reporting included individual service centers (e.g., California and Nebraska) that now roll up to the divisional level. Source: USCIS published processing times.
I-539 Processing Times by Office
2 offices| Office | Min | Max | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Benefits Center (NBC) Lowest average upper boundLowest upper | < 1 mo | 2.5 mo | Fast |
| Service Center Operations (SCD) | 10.8 mo | 13.2 mo | Normal |
Cite This Data
Citation
As of Aug 17, 2026, USCIS processing times for I-539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status) range from < 1 mo to 13.2 mo across all offices and all filing categories (full range; source-row average 9.6 mo–12.0 mo). Source: https://immigrationtimes.org/forms/i-539/. Dataset version DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21311840
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<iframe src="https://immigrationtimes.org/embed/i-539.html" width="600" height="400" style="width:100%;max-width:600px;border:0;" frameborder="0" title="I-539 Processing Times"></iframe> <p>Source: <a href="https://immigrationtimes.org/forms/i-539/">I-539 Processing Times — ImmigrationTimes.org</a></p>
Frequently Asked Questions
Current USCIS I-539 processing times range from < 1 mo to 13.2 mo across all offices (full range; source-row average 9.6 mo–12.0 mo). Figures come from USCIS official processing time estimates, which USCIS publishes about monthly; this page is rebuilt daily.
Based on current data, National Benefits Center has the lowest average upper bound for I-539 at 2.5 mo (average range < 1 mo to 2.5 mo). See the full comparison in the table above.
Get Alerts
Two mailings: an email when I-539 processing times change, and a monthly briefing on USCIS processing time trends.
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Data aggregated from 63 USCIS processing time publications, issued monthly. Each office's range averages only the filing categories for which USCIS publishes both a lower and an upper bound, so both endpoints cover the same categories. Data last updated . See our data sources and methodology. Permanent link. Verify on USCIS.gov.