N-600 Final-Stage Wait Falls 10 Days but Summer's Upward Drift Continues
The week of August 17 brought a welcome 10-day drop in the N-600 Certificate of Citizenship final-stage wait, but the 8-week slope remains positive and medians are running well above last year's pace.
The N-600 Certificate of Citizenship final-stage wait fell to 69 days this week, down 10 days from last week's 79, the largest single-week improvement in the 12-week window. But a one-week drop does not reverse a summer of upward movement: the 8-week regression slope sits at +4.1 days per week, and the current median is 72% above the 40-day reading recorded in the same week last year. Cases that had received a Request for Evidence cleared in just 25 days, well below the 79-day standard track, an unusual gap that may reflect a batch of responses clearing together rather than any structural shift in processing.
- This week's N-600 final-stage median fell to 69 days, down 10 days (-13%) from last week, the sharpest single-week improvement in the 12-week window.
- The 8-week regression slope is still +4.1 days per week (R² = 0.32), indicating the underlying trend remains pointed upward despite this week's relief.
- The current 69-day median sits 72% above the same week last year's 40-day reading, though last year's sample was only 12 cases.
- Cases that received and responded to an RFE (Request for Evidence) posted a median of 25 days, compared with 79 days for standard-track cases, triggering the rfe_fast anomaly flag.
- The total active N-600 pending backlog across all filing cohorts stands at 98,214 cases, up 1,468 (+1.5%) over the past 28 days.
One good week inside a slow climb
The N-600 final-stage wait (median days from the case's last reported status to approval) dropped to 69 days this week, down from 79 days last week. That 10-day relief is real, but it arrives in the middle of a summer that has pushed medians steadily higher. Over the past 12 weeks, the median ranged from a trough of 33 days (week of June 29) to a peak of 146 days (week of June 1), and the 8-week linear regression slope is +4.1 days per week. A single favorable week is not a reversal of that drift.
For historical context: the same week last year posted a 40-day median, but that reading rested on a sample of only 12 cases, too thin to treat as a reliable baseline. The 3-year same-week average is also 40 days. At 69 days, this week's median is meaningfully elevated against either reference point, even after the week-over-week improvement.
The cases that moved faster had more paperwork
The data flagged an rfe_fast anomaly this week. Cases that received and responded to an RFE (Request for Evidence, USCIS's standard follow-up letter asking for missing documents) posted a final-stage median of 25 days. Cases that processed without an RFE took 79 days. That gap, roughly 3.1 times faster for the RFE-responded group, is well outside the typical range. Receiving an RFE is not a denial signal; most cases that receive one are ultimately approved. The speed difference this week may reflect a specific batch of RFE responses that happened to clear together rather than any durable structural advantage for the RFE track. A single week is not enough to confirm any mechanism.
3.13x RFE response cases clear faster than the plain processing cohort.
This week, cases with more paperwork behind them cleared the final stage three times faster than those on the standard track.
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