Trump Admin Doubles Immigration Form Length, Says It’ll Take No More Time to Do

By David Bier

The Trump administration has quietly made immigration more difficult for people seeking to immigrate to the United States. It has increased the length of immigration applications significantly. Since January, it has increased the length of 15 immigration forms, yet at the same time, it claims that most of these forms will take no more time to complete. The table below presents a list of all of the forms that the new administration has increased since January and how long each administration estimated the forms would take to complete.

Table: Immigration Form Lengths by Presidency

 

Form

President Trump

President Obama
    Form Pages Instruction Pages Minutes to Finish Form Pages Instruction Pages  Minutes to Finish

1

 I-130 | Petition for Alien Relative

12

12

120

2

7

90

2

 I-130 | Petition for Alien Spouse Supplement

18

12

170

2

7

90

3

 I-526 | Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur

13

13

110

3

4

110

4

 I-485 | Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

18

42

390

6

8*

390

5

 I-290B | Notice of Appeal or Motion

5

9

90

2

8

90

6

 I-129F | Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)

13

15

195

6

9

95

7

 I-485 Supplement A | Supplement A to Form I-485, Adjustment of Status Under Section 245(i)

4

11

13

2

4

75

8

 I-730 | Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition

8

7

40

4

6

40

9

 I-765 | Application for Employment Authorization

2

18

205

1

12

205

10

 N-600 | Application for Certificate of Citizenship

15

13

95

9

9

95

11

 N-600K | Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322

13

16

125

8

9

125

12

 I-693 | Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record

13

12

150

9

11

150

13

 I-918 | Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status

11

17

300

8

9

300

14

 I-914 | Application for T Nonimmigrant Status

10

14

135

9

9

135
  Total

155

211

2,138

71

112

1,990

*Note the form goes onto the ninth page, but USCIS doesn’t include those sections as part of the form instruction length.
Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Old Forms Obtained through Web Archive

Topics:
International Economics, Development & Immigration