Updated
I-485s at the Chicago field office
On June 30, 2026, USCIS's field office in Chicago, Illinois held 6,714 employment-based I-485s. It approved 875 in the three months before. These are USCIS's own counts.
The quarter at the Chicago field office
That pile is 7.4 quarters of work at the quarter's pace of 906 decisions, and the 6th largest of 93 field offices. It compares workload. It isn't a wait for any one case.
The last 4 quarters
Employment-based I-485s at this office, newest quarter first, with the family-based pile beside them for scale. Pending is the count on the quarter's last day.
| Quarter | Received | Approved | Denied | Pending | Family pending |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr to Jun 2026 | 2,392 | 875 | 31 | 6,714 | 10,396 |
| Jan to Mar 2026 | 1,370 | 1,289 | 32 | 5,580 | 10,011 |
| Oct to Dec 2025 | 1,798 | 453 | 13 | 5,730 | 10,958 |
| Jul to Sep 2025 | 686 | 716 | 47 | 4,702 | 12,580 |
Source: USCIS, i485_performance_data_fy2026_q3_v1.xlsx, through June 30, 2026. “Withheld” is a cell USCIS prints as D because it holds one to nine cases.
The processing time USCIS posts
USCIS posts one time for employment-based I-485s at every field office together: 9.5 months, as of its October 19, 2026 posting. That's the time within which it decided 8 cases in 10. It posts no separate time for Chicago. Every I-485 time USCIS posts
What these numbers can't tell you
- How long your own case will take. USCIS publishes a pile and a quarter's decisions per office. It doesn't publish a wait per office.
- Where your case is. USCIS can move a case between offices while it waits, and this file counts it wherever it sits on the quarter's last day. USCIS says it sends a transfer notice when it moves a case, and an interview or appointment notice names the office to go to.
- Why a count moved. Cases sent in from another office and cases newly filed both show as received.
For the office's address, hours and the area it serves, use USCIS's own list of field offices.
Timelines people shared from the Chicago office
USCIS doesn't publish how long one office takes, so this part comes from people whose I-485 was here. Their dates are self-reported, and each timeline is checked before it shows.
Nobody has shared a timeline from the Chicago office yet. Yours would be the first.
Questions about this office
How many employment-based I-485s are pending at the Chicago field office?
How long does the Chicago field office take to decide an I-485?
Can my I-485 be decided at an office other than my local one?
How long did people at the Chicago field office wait for their I-485?
Where do these numbers come from?
Read next
I-485 by field office through Jun 30, 2026. How these figures are counted. Spotted an error? Tell us; every fix is dated in the corrections log.
The sources in full
I-485 by field office: USCIS quarterly I-485 by field office (uscis.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
What this data includes
I-485 by field office: I-485 applications received, approved, denied and pending at each USCIS field office and service center in the quarter, by category. Cells USCIS withholds as too small are left blank, never zero.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it
Don't have the number?