Analysis

USCIS denial rates by form — and why we refuse to grade on them

The figures are published, so here they are. What they cannot tell you is the point.

This is the one table on the site that carries a warning heavier than the numbers. USCIS publishes approvals and denials per form, so a denial share can be computed — but nothing the agency releases explains why one form denies more than another, and the obvious explanation is usually wrong.

Highest denial share, of decisions made

Form Category Decided Denied Share
I-290B Other 7,314 4,429 60.6%
I-130 (All Other Relative) Family Based 23,584 10,182 43.2%
Waivers Other 11,248 4,366 38.8%
I-918 Humanitarian 6,687 2,429 36.3%
I-129F Family Based 11,443 2,839 24.8%
I-765 (Adjustment Of Status) Employment Based 49,267 11,145 22.6%
I-485 (Other) Lawful Permanent Residence 3,494 754 21.6%
N-400 (Naturalization) Citizenship and Nationality 95,984 14,837 15.5%
I-539 Other 47,486 6,716 14.1%
I-485 (Family) Lawful Permanent Residence 83,203 11,689 14.0%
I-140 Employment Based 54,647 7,241 13.3%
I-131 (Advance Parole Document for Aliens) Other 67,931 8,916 13.1%
I-821 Humanitarian 9,216 1,145 12.4%
I-765 (All Other) Employment Based 125,516 14,445 11.5%
I-130 (Immediate Relative) Family Based 150,203 17,243 11.5%

Forms with at least 2,000 decisions, FY2026 Q2

Why nothing here is graded on this

A form or an office that denies more may be applying the law more strictly, or may simply be receiving weaker filings from a different population of applicants. USCIS publishes no outcome that separates those two explanations — no appeal success rate per office, no reason code, nothing.

A grade built on denials would silently pick one of those explanations and punish offices for the cases that walked through their door. So every letter on this site is built on queue length instead, where the direction is unambiguous: waiting longer is worse for every applicant, and the agency publishes both the queue and the rate it is cleared at.

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 36 minutes ago. Nothing here is legal advice, and ImmigrationAll is not affiliated with USCIS or any government agency.