FY2026 Q2 · USCIS record
I-765 processing time for OPT
4.5 mo
Median processing time
half of cases took longer
998,662
Still pending
in this category
125,516
Decided this quarter
approvals and denials
205,995
Filed this quarter
new petitions received
Which category your case is counted in
USCIS reports I-765 by eligibility basis, and OPT is not one of the named ones — it sits inside the "All Other" group with several other bases.
USCIS does not publish a separate processing time for an F-1 student applying for OPT. It publishes I-765 as All Other, and that is the queue your petition sits in — so the figures above are that category's, not an estimate made for this page.
Also counted in the same category: an H-4 spouse applying for an EAD .
What comes after the petition
OPT has its own filing windows tied to the programme end date, which USCIS does not publish figures for.
Reading the number
4.5 months is a median: half of the I-765 All Other petitions USCIS finished in FY2026 Q2 took longer than that, and half took less. It describes cases that were completed in the quarter, so it says nothing directly about a case filed today — a queue of 998,662 pending petitions sits ahead of a new filing.