USCIS processing times are 6-24 months and there is no way to get a status update — you just wait

You file an I-485 (Adjustment of Status) application to get your green card. USCIS cashes your $1,225 filing fee within 2 weeks. Then silence. You check the USCIS case status page daily: 'Case Was Received.' Every day for 14 months: 'Case Was Received.' You call the USCIS contact center. After 90 minutes on hold, an agent reads your screen: 'Your case is pending. There is no further information available.' You cannot plan your life — can you buy a house? Can you change jobs? Can you travel? You do not know if your green card will arrive in 2 months or 22 months. So what? USCIS processes 8+ million applications per year with no meaningful status transparency. 'Case Was Received' means anything from 'sitting in an unprocessed pile' to 'actively being reviewed by an officer.' There is no queue position, no estimated completion date, no notification when it moves to the next stage. Applicants spend hundreds of hours refreshing a status page that never updates, calling a helpline that has no information, and living in legal limbo that prevents major life decisions. Immigration attorneys charge $200-400/hour to make the same phone call and get the same non-answer. Why does this persist? USCIS is funded entirely by filing fees, not taxpayer money. When application volume drops (as during COVID), revenue drops, staff are furloughed, and backlogs grow. When volume increases, staff cannot be hired fast enough. The agency has no SLA (service level agreement), no accountability for processing times, and no obligation to provide transparency. Congress has never mandated processing time standards.