Immigration litigation duration statistics, by court

Immigration litigationimmigration-related federal suits — take a median of 86 days from filing to resolution, based on 102,493 real cases in the public federal court record. Most resolve between 47 days and 315 days — full statistics, disposition mix, and district breakdown below.

Median
86d
Faster 25%
47d
Slower 25%
170d
Slowest 10%
315d

Filing to termination · 102,493 cases · median 86 days

How immigration lawsuit cases end

Of 27,740 resolved cases — the observed record, not a prediction of any one case.

62%are dismissed· typically 102d
23%reach judgment· typically 147d
7%settle· typically 114d
5%transfer or stay (incl. MDL)· typically 64d
2%are remanded· typically 81d

Immigration litigation duration by court

Median time to resolution in the districts with the most immigration lawsuit cases.

DistrictCasesMedianSlowest 10%
E.D.N.Y.10,63764d215d
C.D. Cal.9,930107d1.1 yr
S.D. Tex.4,189125d1.6 yr
N.D. Cal.4,061138d359d
W.D. Tex.4,05563d321d
N.D. Ill.3,73191d241d
D.N.J.3,64993d312d
S.D.N.Y.3,59279d276d
E.D. Cal.3,572107d343d
E.D. Va.3,03995d257d
D. Mass.2,72269d282d
S.D. Fla.2,60370d297d
D. Minn.2,57156d248d
W.D. Wash.2,54295d277d
D. Md.2,483107d287d

Have a specific immigration lawsuit?

These are averages across every immigration lawsuit. For a forecast tuned to your case — your court, your amount, your posture — get a free estimate, or the full report built from your complaint.

Other case types

Cite this data

Tertius, "Immigration litigation: how long federal cases take, and how they end" (2026). Analysis of Federal Judicial Center Integrated Data Base records, 9.1M U.S. federal civil cases. https://usetertius.com/benchmarks/immigration-litigation

Free to cite with attribution — a link back to this page lets readers verify the numbers.

Source: data/fjc/civil.parquet (Federal Judicial Center), cleaned by Tertius · model tertius-acta-6. Durations are filing to termination for U.S. federal civil cases. This is observed historical data, not a prediction of any specific case, and not legal advice. Tertius forecasts timing and disposition, never merits or damages.