Measured timelines of the DOHA process

No official stage-by-stage timeline is published. These figures are measured from dates stated in the decisions themselves, and only hearing decisions state them: of the 30,782 decisions in the record, 26,935 are hearings, and 25,963 of those give at least one usable date. Each figure below shows how many cases it rests on. All are medians of decided history, not a prediction about any pending case.

How long does a DOHA security clearance case take?

Measured on 24,350 decided cases that state their own dates, the median time from the Statement of Reasons to the judge’s decision was 262 days, with half of all cases falling between 189 and 378 days: a median of 176 days from the SOR to the hearing, then 70 days from the hearing to the decision. No official schedule is published; these are the histories of decided cases, not a forecast for any pending one.

Basis: 24,350 hearing decisions stating an SOR date. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

The three intervals, end to end

The medians do not add up exactly, because each interval is measured on a different set of cases. The bar is drawn to the longer of the whole path and the two parts.

176 days

70 days

remainder

Statement of Reasons to hearing · 176 days
Hearing to decision · 70 days
Whole path, Statement of Reasons to decision · 262 days

Hearing and written record

Cases decided after a live hearing took a median of 269 days from the Statement of Reasons to the decision (16,012 cases). Cases decided on the written record took a median of 251 days (7,976 cases). What each path is, and how they differ, is covered in the correspondence guide.

An association, not proof of cause: the groups being compared differ in many ways.

By decision year

Median days from Statement of Reasons to decision, by decision year
Year	Cases	Median to decision
2026	651	276 days
2025	632	308 days
2024	862	307 days
2023	966	356 days
2022	1,020	401 days
2021	603	345 days
2020	456	258 days
2019	1,022	262 days
2018	1,575	335 days
2017	2,160	410 days
2016	1,586	325 days
2015	1,455	259 days

2026
Cases
651
Median to decision
276 days
2025
Cases
632
Median to decision
308 days
2024
Cases
862
Median to decision
307 days
2023
Cases
966
Median to decision
356 days
2022
Cases
1,020
Median to decision
401 days
2021
Cases
603
Median to decision
345 days
2020
Cases
456
Median to decision
258 days
2019
Cases
1,022
Median to decision
262 days
2018
Cases
1,575
Median to decision
335 days
2017
Cases
2,160
Median to decision
410 days
2016
Cases
1,586
Median to decision
325 days
2015
Cases
1,455
Median to decision
259 days

By guideline

Median days from Statement of Reasons to decision, by guideline
Guideline	Cases	Median to decision
F · Financial Considerations	14,563	269 days
E · Personal Conduct	7,736	267 days
B · Foreign Influence	3,440	262 days
H · Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse	3,360	247 days
J · Criminal Conduct	3,335	260 days
G · Alcohol Consumption	1,898	264 days
C · Foreign Preference	1,251	239 days
D · Sexual Behavior	554	286 days
K · Handling Protected Information	270	337 days
M · Use of Information Technology	266	316 days

F · Financial Considerations
Cases
14,563
Median to decision
269 days
E · Personal Conduct
Cases
7,736
Median to decision
267 days
B · Foreign Influence
Cases
3,440
Median to decision
262 days
H · Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse
Cases
3,360
Median to decision
247 days
J · Criminal Conduct
Cases
3,335
Median to decision
260 days
G · Alcohol Consumption
Cases
1,898
Median to decision
264 days
C · Foreign Preference
Cases
1,251
Median to decision
239 days
D · Sexual Behavior
Cases
554
Median to decision
286 days
K · Handling Protected Information
Cases
270
Median to decision
337 days
M · Use of Information Technology
Cases
266
Median to decision
316 days

A case alleging several guidelines counts under each one.

How these numbers are measured

The date the Statement of Reasons was issued and the hearing date are read from the text of every decided hearing-level case in the record. A Statement of Reasons date appears in about 95.5% of decisions; a hearing date in about 47%, because many cases are decided on the written record with no hearing. Whether a case went to a live hearing or was decided on the written record is identified from the decision text itself, from transcript citations and testimony against explicit written-record markers. Dates that fail basic sense checks, out of order or implausibly far apart, are excluded rather than guessed.

Medians are shown with their sample sizes, and small samples are suppressed. The record here runs through 2026-10-02 and updates as new decisions are ingested. This is measured history, and it is not a prediction of how long any pending case will take. The deadlines that do apply are covered on the deadline calculator and the correspondence guide.

Reading the statistics

Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
† marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

Where to go from here

Get help with my case

Send us your question, or the Statement of Reasons you received. No charge, and a CASE analyst reads it. Usually five to ten business days.

Ask a question →

I do this for clients

Rank every decision by how closely it matches a matter, see how the assigned judge has ruled, and keep it together with cited exports.

For attorneys and firms →

Decided public cases: descriptive, never a prediction.