USCIS field office data
USCIS Chicago Field Office
Illinois · citizenship, green card and family petitions · data through June 30, 2026
Short answer
The Chicago office decided 1,226 citizenship applications in Apr–Jun 2026, −86% vs a year earlier. 23,623 N-400s are pending (+38% in a year). USCIS approved 77.2% of the N-400s it decided here (all field offices: 81.8%). 27,863 green card (I-485) applications are also pending.
This office has slowed down sharply. It decided 1,226 citizenship applications in Apr–Jun 2026, against 9,023 in the same quarter a year earlier. Expect a longer wait than this office's past pace suggests.
N-400 pending
23,623
+38% vs a year ago
N-400 decisions · Apr–Jun 2026
1,226
a year earlier: 9,023
N-400 approval rate
77.2%
all field offices: 81.8%
Green cards (I-485) pending
27,863
+18% vs a year ago
Citizenship · Chicago
Citizenship (N-400)
1,226 citizenship applications decided in Apr–Jun 2026 — sharply slower than a year earlier (−86%). 23,623 pending at quarter end (+38% vs a year ago). Approval rate 77.2%.
Backlog at the current pace: 58 months. That is how long the 23,623 pending would take to clear if decisions stayed at this quarter's rate and nothing new arrived (a year ago: 5.7 months). It is a measure of how far behind the office is, not a prediction for any one case.
| Quarter | Approved | Approval rate | Pending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr–Jun 2026 | 946 | 77.2% | 23,623 |
| Jan–Mar 2026 | 3,155 | 90.6% | 19,893 |
| Jul–Sep 2025 | 8,972 | 93.6% | 15,586 |
| Apr–Jun 2025 | 8,396 | 93.1% | 17,062 |
| Jan–Mar 2025 | 8,246 | 93.4% | 17,489 |
| Oct–Dec 2024 | 7,437 | 96.1% | 17,654 |
| Jul–Sep 2024 | 7,492 | 93.1% | 16,961 |
| Apr–Jun 2024 | 5,949 | 90.7% | 16,270 |
| Oct–Dec 2023 | 5,356 | 91.6% | 13,430 |
Pending by category at the end of Apr–Jun 2026.
USCIS has not published Jan–Mar 2024 or Oct–Dec 2025 data, so those quarters are blank.
Green card · Chicago
Green card (I-485)
2,920 green card applications decided in Apr–Jun 2026 — sharply slower than a year earlier (−56%). 27,863 pending at quarter end (+18% vs a year ago). Approval rate 86.0%.
Backlog at the current pace: 29 months. That is how long the 27,863 pending would take to clear if decisions stayed at this quarter's rate and nothing new arrived (a year ago: 11 months). It is a measure of how far behind the office is, not a prediction for any one case.
| Quarter | Approved | Approval rate | Pending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr–Jun 2026 | 2,511 | 86.0% | 27,863 |
| Jan–Mar 2026 | 4,211 | 92.9% | 25,265 |
| Jul–Sep 2025 | 7,400 | 94.8% | 24,896 |
| Apr–Jun 2025 | 6,170 | 93.2% | 23,659 |
| Jan–Mar 2025 | 4,477 | 89.7% | 25,417 |
| Oct–Dec 2024 | 4,493 | 92.0% | 23,548 |
| Jul–Sep 2024 | 4,508 | 90.5% | 21,242 |
| Apr–Jun 2024 | 5,044 | 92.3% | 22,117 |
| Oct–Dec 2023 | 4,081 | 94.9% | 26,724 |
Pending by category at the end of Apr–Jun 2026. Employment-based cases are counted where they were received, mostly at service centers.
USCIS has not published Jan–Mar 2024 or Oct–Dec 2025 data, so those quarters are blank.
Family petitions · Chicago
Family petitions (I-130)
2,068 family petitions decided in Apr–Jun 2026 — sharply slower than a year earlier (−57%). 68,801 pending at quarter end. Approval rate 87.1%.
| Quarter | Approved | Approval rate | Pending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr–Jun 2026 | 1,802 | 87.1% | 68,801 † |
| Jan–Mar 2026 | 2,537 | 94.2% | 9,076 |
| Jul–Sep 2025 | 5,671 | 96.2% | 9,866 |
| Apr–Jun 2025 | 4,541 | 95.1% | 9,144 |
| Jan–Mar 2025 | 2,379 | 89.6% | 10,698 |
| Oct–Dec 2024 | 2,509 | 93.4% | 9,614 |
| Jul–Sep 2024 | 3,135 | 92.5% | 9,245 |
| Apr–Jun 2024 | 3,930 | 94.9% | 10,033 |
| Oct–Dec 2023 | 3,020 | 96.3% | 14,227 |
Pending by category at the end of Apr–Jun 2026.
† Apr–Jun 2026: USCIS changed its I-130 data source this quarter; field-office pending counts jumped about 8× in one quarter, which reflects how petitions are counted, not a real surge in filings.
USCIS has not published Jan–Mar 2024 or Oct–Dec 2025 data, so those quarters are blank.
Apr–Jun 2026
How Chicago compares
| N-400 pending | N-400 decisions vs year ago | N-400 approval rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 23,623 | −86% | 77.2% |
| All U.S. field offices | 742,138 | −73% | 81.8% |
Similar field offices
Questions about the USCIS Chicago field office
How long does citizenship (N-400) take at the USCIS Chicago field office?
USCIS does not publish one exact wait for each office. In Apr–Jun 2026, the Chicago office decided 1,226 citizenship applications and had 23,623 pending at the end of the quarter. That is fewer decisions than a year earlier (−86%). At that pace, clearing everything pending would take about 58 months, compared with 5.7 months a year ago. Use the USCIS "Check Case Processing Times" tool for your form and office. It gives the time it takes to finish 80% of cases. The numbers on this page show whether your office is speeding up or slowing down, which that tool does not.
What is the N-400 approval rate at USCIS Chicago?
USCIS approved 77.2% of the citizenship applications it decided at Chicago in Apr–Jun 2026. The rate for all field offices was 81.8%.
How many green card applications are pending at USCIS Chicago?
27,863 I-485 applications were pending at the Chicago field office at the end of Apr–Jun 2026. It decided 2,920 in the quarter, with an approval rate of 86.0%. Employment-based cases are mostly decided at service centers, so most of these are family-based or humanitarian.
Why is the Chicago field office slower?
Field offices have been deciding far fewer applications in 2026 than a year earlier, while new filings keep arriving, so pending cases are piling up, and approval rates have fallen too. USCIS does not publish a reason for each office; its quarterly data shows the slowdown at almost every office at once, which points to agency-wide causes rather than anything about one office.
How do I know which USCIS field office handles my case?
Your field office is set by your home ZIP code. Your interview notice names it, and the official USCIS office locator (uscis.gov/about-us/find-a-uscis-office/field-offices) shows the office for any ZIP code.
More: USCIS field offices in Illinois · All field offices · USCIS processing times
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Citizenship Data — quarterly Form N-400, I-485 and I-130 reports by field office, FY2024 Q1 through FY2026 Q3 (data through June 30, 2026). Counts are applications, not people. USCIS suppresses very small counts ("—"). Pending counts can shift between quarters when USCIS moves cases between offices. The data does not include international offices.