I-360 Final-Stage Median Jumps 32 Days, But Year-Over-Year Picture Is Better

The I-360 final-stage median for the week of August 24 came in at 129 days, up 32 days from last week's 98. A number that large invites alarm, but the 12-week trailing average for this series is 107 days, and the series itself has ranged from 31 days (the week of June 29) to 177 days (the week of June 8) over the past three months. Week-to-week swings of this magnitude are a feature of the series, not an exception. The same week last year ran 149 days across 133 approvals, so the year-over-year read is actually 20 days faster.

The 8-week regression slope is +3.9 days per week, but the R² of 0.29 means only about 29% of the week-to-week variation is explained by that linear fit. A slope this modest against a fit this weak does not constitute a reliable upward trend. The June-through-August pattern, which has included readings of 31, 86, 73, and 177 days in consecutive weeks, is better described as noise around a stable center than as a directional move.

In a series that has swung from 31 to 177 days in three months, one week's reading is a data point, not a direction.

All 642 approvals this week came through MSC (the National Benefits Center, USCIS's Lee's Summit, Missouri facility), the single reporting center for I-360. The form covers distinct sub-categories that process on very different timescales: VAWA self-petitioners (historical baselines of 18 to 30 months), Special Immigrant Juveniles (15 to 24 months), and religious workers (8 to 14 months), among others. Because the current data context does not break down this week's 642 approvals by sub-category, the 129-day aggregate median reflects whatever sub-category mix cleared this particular week. A shift in that composition, even with no change in adjudication (the case decision step where approval, denial, or an RFE is issued) pace, can move the reported median by dozens of days.