The IRS allows 7 weeks to notify you about an ITIN application, and 9 to 11 weeks if you apply between January 15 and April 30 or from outside the United States (IRS, checked September 2026). The clock runs from the IRS's receipt of the application, not from the day you post it, and no service can shorten it; what a Certifying Acceptance Agent shortens is the time before filing and the odds of a rejection that restarts the clock. If the weeks pass with no notice, the IRS asks you to call.
How long does an ITIN take in 2026?
The IRS publishes two figures and nothing else. On its ITIN page it asks you to allow 7 weeks for a notice about your application, and says it can take 9 to 11 weeks if it is tax season, January 15 to April 30, or if you applied from overseas. Those are the numbers to plan around. Anyone quoting days is describing their own preparation time, not the IRS.
The IRS also shows where it stands. Its processing status page, updated September 11, 2026, listed Form W-7 among the forms it was working on and gave August 2026 as the month of receipt being processed. In plain terms: an application the IRS received in early August was being decided in mid September, which sits inside the 7-week figure.
When does the clock start?
When the IRS receives the application, not when you send it. A mailed W-7 from abroad adds courier days before the count begins, and a rejected application starts a new count from the day the new one arrives. A Certifying Acceptance Agent files directly, so the count begins when the IRS logs the certified package. Nothing you do after that point speeds the count; the IRS decides in its own order.
Why does peak season take longer?
Because a W-7 is filed with a tax return in most cases, and the IRS receives most returns between mid January and the end of April. The IRS names the window itself: January 15 to April 30. An application received in that window is quoted at 9 to 11 weeks rather than 7. Applications from outside the United States are quoted at the same longer figure all year, which the IRS attributes to the extra handling of international mail and documents.
If your reason for the ITIN does not tie you to a return deadline, the quiet months are May to December. If it does, file early in the window rather than late, and expect the longer figure.
Does a Certifying Acceptance Agent make it faster?
Not at the IRS. The IRS's comparison of application routes gives no route a shorter decision time. What the certifying route changes is everything before the IRS: no courier days for your passport, no wait for a certified copy from a passport office, and a form reviewed by someone who has seen the rejections. The slow ITIN is the one that comes back as a CP567 after 9 weeks and has to be filed again. Avoiding that is where the time is saved.
What delays an ITIN application?
- A CP566: the IRS wants more information and gives you 45 days to send it. The decision waits for your reply, and the application is rejected if none comes.
- Documents that fail: a notarised copy, an expired passport, a scan the IRS cannot read. These end in a CP567 and a restart.
- Peak season and overseas mail, both named by the IRS in its 9 to 11 week figure.
- A mailing address that changes mid-application. Publication 1915 tells you to call the IRS if your address changes after you file.
- A second application filed while the first is pending. Two files for one person slow both.
What arrives, and when?
| Notice | What it means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| CP565, Notice of ITIN Assignment | The IRS assigned your number | Keep the letter. It is the only document the IRS issues for the number. |
| CP566 | The IRS needs more information to process the application | Reply within 45 days to the address on the notice, with exactly what it asks for. |
| CP567 | The application was rejected or an ITIN was revoked | Read the reason, fix it, file a complete new W-7. There is no appeal. |
| Your original documents | Returned by the IRS if you mailed them | Expect them within 60 days; call if they have not arrived. |
What to do at week 12
Call. Publication 1915 gives the numbers: 1-800-829-1040 inside the United States, 1-267-941-1000 from overseas, and it says to use them if you have not received a response within the stated time or if your mailed documents have not come back after 60 days. Have a copy of the W-7, the date it was sent or filed, your passport details and your mailing address ready. Ask whether a notice was issued and to which address.
Do not file a second application to hurry the first. Do not pay anyone for a status portal; the IRS has none for pending applications. If a CP566 was sent to an address you no longer use, ask the agent what it requested and answer it. The status guide walks through the call.
What we plan around
The IRS's figures and nothing else. We do not publish a turnaround of our own, because the only honest number is the IRS's. What we control is the part before the IRS: one form from you, a live video session with your passport, the W-7 checked line by line, certification through a Certifying Acceptance Agent, and filing. Then we track the calendar, follow up with the IRS on your behalf when the weeks are up, and tell you the moment the CP565 lands. The service page has the price and the steps.