I-140 EB-3 for Philippines

Skilled workers, professionals with a bachelor's degree, and other (unskilled) workers.

5,848

Petitions filed

FY2026 born in the Philippines

2,467

Approved

in the same year

0.6%

Denied, of decisions

16 denials

3,365

Pending

still awaiting a decision

How long an I-140 takes

USCIS reported a median processing time of 3.4 months for I-140 in FY2026 Q2 — for the form as a whole. The agency does not publish a separate processing time for EB-3, or for any other preference, so no page on this site claims one.

What it does publish per preference is the volume: how many petitions were filed, approved, denied and left pending, by fiscal year and by country of birth. That is everything below.

EB-3 movement can run ahead of or behind EB-2 depending on the month and country of birth, which is why some applicants downgrade between them.

Year by year for Philippines

Fiscal years, by the year the petition was received.

Fiscal year	Filed	Approved	Denied	Denial share	Pending
FY2026 (part year)	5,848	2,467	16	0.6%	3,365
FY2025	15,372	6,964	163	2.3%	8,245
FY2024	17,778	13,930	243	1.7%	3,605
FY2023	13,763	13,287	354	2.6%	122
FY2022	9,849	9,468	314	3.2%	67
FY2021	5,683	5,376	258	4.6%	49
FY2020	6,622	6,094	454	6.9%	74
FY2019	7,211	5,619	1,518	21.3%	74
FY2018	4,476	3,094	1,334	30.1%	48
FY2017	4,056	2,781	1,220	30.5%	55
FY2016	3,180	2,521	593	19.0%	66
FY2015	3,128	2,660	414	13.5%	54
FY2014	1,568	1,409	126	8.2%	33

A petition received in one year is often decided in a later one, so approvals and denials in a row do not add up to that row's filings. The most recent year is partial — it runs only to the end of the quarter this release covers.

What EB-3 approvals were granted under

FY2026 approvals born in the Philippines. USCIS reports the sub-category only for petitions it approved, so there is no denial figure at this level.

Skilled Workers 1,002

Unskilled Workers 797

Professionals with Baccalaureate Degrees 668

Approved 0

Other and Unknown3 0