I-539 Processing Times
Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
9.0 mo – 11.6 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 9.0 mo to 11.6 mo across current USCIS source rows, with full range < 1 mo to 12.8 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. Data is checked daily from official USCIS estimates.
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 11.6 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 0.2 to 2.5 months for I-539, while Service Center Operations reports 10.1 to 12.8 — 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) | 10.1 mo | 12.8 mo | Normal |
Cite This Data
Citation
As of Jul 15, 2026, USCIS processing times for I-539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status) range from < 1 mo to 12.8 mo across all offices (full range; source-row average 9.0 mo–11.6 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 12.8 mo across all offices (full range; source-row average 9.0 mo–11.6 mo). This data is updated daily from USCIS official processing time estimates.
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.
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Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Data aggregated from daily USCIS processing time snapshots. 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.