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PERM Tracker

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Check a USCIS case by receipt number

The number at the top of an I-797 notice, three letters and ten digits. This page says which office issued it and what the digits are read as, and will read the case's status from USCIS's Case Status API once USCIS issues PERM Tracker its API keys. A Department of Labor number (G-100-…) belongs on the PERM case page.

It is at the top of every I-797 notice USCIS mailed. The number goes into this page's address so you can bookmark or share the result. The receipt number and USCIS's answer are kept for twelve months after the last lookup; nothing about you is.

Live status

USCIS access is pending

This page will check live once USCIS issues API keys. PERM Tracker's application for USCIS Case Status API access is in progress, and until it is granted nothing here is looked up at USCIS.

The three letters

USCIS's glossary names seven prefixes. One more, YSC, appears on notices from the Potomac Service Center and is listed here as seen on notices rather than as USCIS's own definition. Any three letters are accepted by USCIS's own validation, so a new one would still look up.

Every prefix, and the office it names
EAC
Vermont Service Center The letters stand for Eastern Adjudication Center, the center's old name.
WAC
California Service Center Western Adjudication Center, the old name.
LIN
Nebraska Service Center Lincoln, where the center sits.
SRC
Texas Service Center Southern Regional Center, the old name.
NBC
National Benefits Center Cases that end at a field office, including most I-485 adjustment filings.
MSC
National Benefits Center Missouri Service Center, the center's earlier name; still issued.
IOE
USCIS online filing (ELIS) Filed through a USCIS online account. The Case Status API returns no filing or modified date for IOE receipts.
YSC
Potomac Service Center (seen on notices; not in USCIS's glossary list)

Common questions

What is a USCIS receipt number?
The 13-character identifier USCIS assigns to a filing: three letters and ten digits, like EAC2190123456. USCIS's glossary says the letters are the office that took the case (EAC, WAC, LIN, SRC, NBC, MSC or IOE) and the ten digits are the number itself. It is the key to the case at USCIS, the way a G-100 number is the key to a PERM case at the Department of Labor.
Where do I find my receipt number?
At the top of the I-797 notice USCIS mailed after the filing was accepted, and on every later notice about the same case. If the filing went through a USCIS online account, the receipt starts with IOE and is shown in the account. The employer's attorney has it if you do not.
Does this page show my case status?
Not yet. PERM Tracker's application for USCIS API access is pending. Until USCIS issues keys, this page decodes what the receipt number encodes and links you to USCIS's own status page, which answers the same receipt today. No status is shown here that did not come from USCIS.
Is this the same as my PERM case number?
No. A PERM case number (G-100-26125-868956) is the Department of Labor's record of the labor certification. A USCIS receipt number is USCIS's record of the petition filed after it, most often the I-140, or of the I-485 filed after that. Each agency answers only its own number. Type a DOL number here and this page sends you to the PERM lookup.
What do the digits mean?
USCIS does not publish a reading of them. The convention practitioners use is that the first two digits are the federal fiscal year, the next three are the workday of that year on which the case was receipted, and the last five are a sequence number. This page shows that reading and labels it a convention, because USCIS has not confirmed it.
Do you store the receipt number I type in?
Yes, and nothing about you. When USCIS access is live, each lookup sends the receipt number to USCIS and keeps what comes back: the receipt number, the form type, the status text, the dated history and the time of the lookup. A stored lookup is deleted twelve months after the last lookup of that receipt, or sooner on request. No name, email or address is asked for or kept. Section 18 of the privacy policy states exactly this.

Statuses on this page, when shown, are USCIS's own words from its Case Status API, with the time we last heard from USCIS printed beside them. USCIS is the authority for any receipt and its own status page answers every receipt today. The office names come from USCIS's glossary; the reading of the digits is a convention and is labelled as one. What a lookup sends and what is kept is stated in section 18 of the privacy policy.

The basics

What is a USCIS receipt number?

The 13-character identifier USCIS assigns to a filing, three letters and ten digits, printed at the top of every I-797 notice. USCIS's glossary names the letters as the office that took the case (EAC, WAC, LIN, SRC, NBC, MSC or IOE). It is USCIS's key to the petition, the way a G-100 number is DOL's key to the PERM case that came before it.

Which USCIS forms follow a PERM?

The I-140 immigrant petition, filed by the employer within 180 days of the PERM certification, and then the I-485 adjustment of status once a visa number is available. Each gets its own receipt number. The I-140 queue and I-485 queue position pages read USCIS's published figures for those stages.

Why does this page not show a status yet?

Because PERM Tracker's USCIS API access is pending, and a status this site did not get from USCIS is not one it will show. The page decodes the receipt and links to USCIS's own status page, which answers any receipt today. When USCIS issues keys, the same page reads its Case Status API and prints USCIS's own words with the time they were read.

The rules behind these numbers

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