- Greater Cincinnati approved about 750 naturalization applications from January through June 2026, down from roughly 1,000 approvals per quarter in 2025.
- The field office received about 800 applications per quarter and had around 2,360 cases pending at the end of June.
- The local N-400 processing time was 9.5 months as of September 5, 2026, for completion of 80% of cases.
Greater Cincinnati’s Cincinnati field office approved about 750 naturalization applications from January 1 through June 30, 2026, down from roughly 1,000 approvals per quarter in 2025, according to USCIS data. The pace dropped sharply.
The office received about 800 applications per quarter in 2026. That continuing flow did not prevent its pending caseload from reaching about 2,360 cases by June 30.
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The figures describe different stages of the process. Applications arrive first; approvals follow after adjudication, which can take months. Early-2026 approvals therefore reflect filing patterns from earlier periods, not just applications filed this year.
The local N-400 processing time stood at 9.5 months as of September 5, 2026. The measure represents the time in which the field office completes 80% of cases, according to the field-office processing data.
The local figures show fewer completions, not a halt in applications
The approval total covers six months, while the 2025 comparison is expressed as a quarterly pace. Taken at face value, the two figures point to a substantially slower stream of completed applications in 2026. The estimates are approximate, so they do not support a precise comparison of individual quarters.
The intake figure offers a separate view of activity. The office was receiving about 800 applications each quarter, down from around 1,000 per quarter in 2025. People continued to apply, even as approvals fell.
That gap does not establish why the office approved fewer cases. The available figures show application arrivals, completed cases and the pending inventory, but they do not break down the causes behind the change. They also do not show how many of the 2,360 pending cases will be decided in any particular month.
The backlog gives the local approval count context. About 2,360 cases remained pending at the end of June, while the office continued receiving new applications. Those measures capture workload at a point in time, rather than a final count of applications that will be approved.
A longer completion period can also separate the date someone applies from the date their case is approved. The posted 9.5-month measure concerns the time for completing 80% of cases, not a promise that every applicant will receive a decision on that schedule. The local data therefore show both a slower approval pace and a continuing inventory awaiting decisions.
National monthly completions also fell from a year earlier
USCIS completed 20,674 naturalization cases nationwide in July 2026, compared with 80,077 in July a year earlier, according to the national figures cited in the data. The comparison provides a broader backdrop to Cincinnati’s local slowdown.
Those monthly totals are not a Cincinnati approval count. Nor do they establish that the local office followed the same month-by-month pattern. The local figures cover approvals across the first half of 2026, while the national comparison isolates July and measures completed cases.
The distinctions matter when reading the numbers together. The Cincinnati field-office data show about 750 approvals through June, quarterly application arrivals of about 800, and a pending inventory of about 2,360. The national total gives a separate snapshot of completed cases across the country.
As of September 5, the local office’s posted completion measure remained 9.5 months for 80% of N-400 cases. The processing-time figure provides the latest dated measure in the local data, while the approval and pending totals describe activity through June 30.
