whereTOemigrate Research · July 2026 edition
Visa Processing Times 2026
Published processing times for 1,183 visa pathways, aggregated by category and country.
↓ Download the data (CSV) · free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0, link to this page)
The headline numbers
- Median visa processing time worldwide: 30 days (n=1,183 of the 2,863 pathways publish a time).
- 90% of pathways resolve within 180 days; the slowest published time is 1,680 days.
- 624 pathways (53% of those that publish a time) are processed in 30 days or less.
Median processing by visa category
| Category | Median days | Pathways (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Work | 30 | 506 |
| Residence | 30 | 341 |
| Education | 30 | 95 |
| Investment | 30 | 57 |
| Passive Income | 30 | 28 |
| Family | 42 | 133 |
| Ancestry | 90 | 23 |
Fastest countries (median, min. 5 published times)
| Country | Median days | Pathways (n) |
|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | 2 | 8 |
| Bahrain | 3 | 9 |
| Cameroon | 3 | 5 |
| Indonesia | 5 | 27 |
| Vietnam | 5 | 5 |
| Comoros | 10 | 5 |
| Ethiopia | 10 | 7 |
| Finland | 14 | 16 |
| Latvia | 14 | 12 |
| Liechtenstein | 14 | 5 |
| Bangladesh | 15 | 8 |
| Cuba | 15 | 6 |
Cite this data
Free to cite and republish with attribution: “Source: whereTOemigrate — Visa Processing Times 2026: Median 30 Days Across 1,183 Pathways” (CC BY 4.0). Figures computed on the July 2026 edition of the whereTOemigrate pathway database: 2,863 open visa and residency pathways across 215 countries and territories, each linked to a named source. The tracked inventory has since more than doubled; a new edition will be computed when the canonical database’s proof coverage supports it. Methodology: how we collect and verify.
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