Analysis

EAD processing times: OPT, H-4, asylum and adjustment compared

USCIS reports I-765 by eligibility basis. Four queues, four very different waits.

There is no such thing as "the" I-765 processing time. USCIS splits work authorisation by the basis it was filed on, and the categories run at different speeds — 0.6 months for Asylum against 4.5 months for All Other in FY2026 Q2.

Eligibility basis Median Filed Decided Pending
Asylum 0.6 months 151,673 191,726 107,579
DACA 3.9 months 86,462 18,713 226,375
Adjustment Of Status 4.3 months 144,512 49,267 584,851
All Other 4.5 months 205,995 125,516 998,662

USCIS I-765 figures, FY2026 Q2

Which category your EAD is in

OPT, H-4 and several other bases are not named separately — they sit inside the "All Other" group, which is why a single quoted "OPT processing time" is always an approximation of a category rather than a figure for OPT itself.

Source — USCIS quarterly data release, FY2026 Q2. Public domain.

Every figure above is read from the USCIS quarterly data release and rebuilt each time a new one is imported — this piece was last rebuilt 34 minutes ago. Nothing here is legal advice, and ImmigrationAll is not affiliated with USCIS or any government agency.