Most background checks involve multiple agencies (like the FBI or DHS). The standard workflow for these inter-agency communications typically concludes within three to four months.
| Source | Trust Level | Notes | |--------|-------------|-------| | | High (but general) | They won’t share raw data, but when pressed, officers often say “majority within 6 months” for immigrant visas. | | FOIA request data | Medium | Released data is aggregated, often 2–3 years old, and excludes pending cases (survivorship bias). | | Law firm internal tracking | Medium-High | Good for specific visa types (e.g., EB-1, EB-2 NIW). But sample size limited to clients. | | VisaJourney self-reports | Low-Medium | Self-selection bias (angry outliers post more). But large N (>10,000 cases) can show trends. | | CEAC status scraping | Medium | Some sites (e.g., visagrader.com) scrape public data but can’t see internal “last updated” fields reliably. | Most background checks involve multiple agencies (like the
The claim that most administrative processing cases are resolved within 6 months is generally by official and expert sources, though the majority of cases are actually completed much faster. ⏱️ Typical Timelines | | FOIA request data | Medium |