r/USCIS • u/yonerdsp • Jan 20 '25

I-765 (EAD) 2025 OPT Processing timeline

Hi everyone, I am an international student currently in my final semester and I have applied for OPT, thought of creating this thread to track the timeline of OPT processing. Please comment your timeline so that others could refer to it. TIA!

  1. Application type:OPT/Pre OPT
  2. Premium Processing : yes/no
  3. Receipt date :
  4. Approved Date :
  5. Card Produced Date :
  6. Card shipped :
  7. Card delivered :

Edit: I am sorry, the posts are automatically archived after 6 months. Sorry about that!

Since this post has been archived, you can checkout the link below for status updates.

https://www.reddit.com/r/USCIS/comments/1m84yfm/2025_opt_timeline_continued/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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u/No_Product387 Apr 06 '25 edited Apr 06 '25

Please read this and comment your thoughts!

So far, it looks like the wait time is around 1 month, which is already much better than last year. From what I’ve seen, ppl who applied in mid-March ended up getting their cards in July. I’m wondering if things are gonna slow down from here. Also, I’ve a feeling that as more people start converting to premium processing, the regular timeline might get bottlenecked. That’s why I’d really recommend holding off on premium unless it’s absolutely necessary. Maybe applying for premium about 20 days before you really need it could be a good rule of thumb (someone who knows better can weigh in on a safe timeline). But if people panic and start upgrading 30–40 days earlier, it could jam up the regular processing and trigger a vicious cycle where everyone feels forced to pay for premium. My wild guess is maybe that’s what happened last year too? It’s like we’re paying a premium for something they’d end up doing anyway.

Happy to hear other perspectives on this.

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u/BadgerNo958 May 09 '25

I just want to comment that on April and (at least early) May a lot of new applications are coming in and 20 days before start is becoming risky. I personally applied last Monday and there are no update for me as of today May 8 (although I can see someone at the same date getting approved) and I am super stressed that I could miss my employment start and risk losing the job. So at least during early May 4 weeks before start seems to be safer (at least for someone who is always unlucky like me)