USCIS Houston Field Office

Houston decides more N-400s than anyone

USCIS’s field office counts for April to June 2026:

Source: USCIS N-400 performance data by field office, FY2026 Q3, April 1 to June 30, 2026. “Not reported” means USCIS withheld the figure under its disclosure standards.

By our count of USCIS’s rows, Houston had the largest civilian N-400 pending count of any field office (30,883) and also the most decisions (4,858). Dallas was next on both, with 28,373 pending and 3,333 decided. Houston denied 435 of its decisions, 9.0%, against 18.6% nationally. So the pile is big, but it moves: Houston’s backlog ratio, our rough indicator explained below, was 6.4: the lowest of the ten field offices with the most civilian N-400s pending, and 72nd of 83 overall in our ranking.

The I-485 backlog is the slow part

Source: USCIS I-485 performance data by field office, FY2026 Q3. Humanitarian means asylee, refugee, Indochinese and Cuban refugee cases; the total also includes 749 pending “other” cases (HRIFA, trafficking or crime victims), of which 4 were decided.

Three things stand out. Houston’s 57,601 pending I-485s were the most of any field office, by our count. Its humanitarian pile, 34,665, was the fourth-largest, and only 34 of those cases were decided in the quarter. And employment cases came in at 3,236 while 439 were decided.

Our ratio and the national medians

To compare offices of different sizes, we take what Houston had pending and divide it by what it approved or denied in April to June. This backlog ratio is our rough indicator from USCIS counts, not a USCIS processing time: Houston’s 16.0 for employment green cards means 16 pending cases per decision, not 16 months. Figures are rounded to one decimal.

For the middle column we total every field office in the same two USCIS files, 93 rows. Because USCIS withheld N-400 denials for seven of them, the combined N-400 ratio comes out a little high. National medians are months from receipt to completion for cases finished nationwide in April to June 2026 (All Forms by Quarter, FY2026 Q3). In our ranking, Houston’s I-485 ratio across all categories was the 10th-highest of 89 field offices.

Address and the 30 counties it serves

The USCIS locator lists the Houston Field Office at 810 Gears Road, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77067, and places it in the Dallas district (locator data, Aug 28, 2026 file). USCIS asks you to check the address on your notice before you go. Visiting hours are not on uscis.gov; your notice gives the time.

Active ZIP codes assigned to Houston come from 30 Texas counties. The largest are Harris (229 ZIPs), Montgomery (26), Fort Bend (24), Jefferson (24), Galveston (23), Brazoria (21), Matagorda (13), Nacogdoches (13), Wharton (12), Colorado (11), Liberty (11), Walker (11) and Polk (10). The rest: Angelina, Austin, Chambers, Grimes, Hardin, Jasper, Madison, Newton, Orange, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, Tyler, Waller and Washington. Look up your ZIP in the Field Office Locator.

Weather matters here. USCIS says offices may close for bad weather or unexpected events, and asks you to check USCIS office closings before traveling.

Your interview, oath or appointment in Houston

Nobody walks in: USCIS field offices require an appointment.

• Green card interviews. USCIS decides whether an I-485 needs an interview. The notice gives the date, time and location. USCIS asks you to bring original documents, including passports and your I-94, and to report an address change within 10 days (adjustment of status).
• Oath ceremonies. USCIS publishes no ceremony venue for Houston. The oath may come the same day as the interview; otherwise Form N-445 arrives with the date, time and location. A judicial ceremony is run by a court, an administrative one by USCIS (naturalization ceremonies).
• Appointments you request. The old InfoPass search leads here today: request an in-person appointment online or through the Contact Center, 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833), with live agents on weekdays from 8am to 8pm Eastern. USCIS keeps these visits for what a call, letter or email cannot solve, for example an emergency travel document or proof of status. If you are renewing an expired green card on Form I-90, USCIS says the receipt notice plus the expired card is evidence of status for 36 months from the card’s expiration date, which may make the visit unnecessary (Replace Your Green Card).

If your Houston case is slow

1. Compare first. Choose your form and the Houston office on the USCIS processing times page. USCIS does not research cases still inside the range (While My Case Is Pending).
2. Then ask. Outside the range, use e-Request for a case taking longer than expected.
3. Emergencies. USCIS reviews expedite requests case by case, at its sole discretion, and generally wants documents. It says needing a work permit, standing alone and without other compelling factors, does not warrant one.
4. Stay reachable. Update your address.

The YourCaseStatus app (coming soon) will alert you when your status changes.

Related pages

• N-400 processing time and I-485 processing time
• Case is ready to be scheduled for an interview
• Other field offices: Newark, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa
• USCIS case status and our status index