US Immigration update: USCIS Filing Fee Increase Temporarily Blocked. Apply Before Fees Increase.
Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status is used to obtain the Green Card.
Form I-485 is used by nonimmigrant visa holders requesting to stay permanently in the U.S. To be eligible to apply all foreign nationals must be eligible to apply for a U.S. Green Card first.
Form I-485 is used by nonimmigrant visa holders requesting to stay permanently in the U.S. To be eligible to apply all foreign nationals must be eligible to apply for a U.S. Green Card, and who can do so while living in the U.S., without leaving for an overseas consular interview.
The Green Card allows its holder to live legally and work in the United States for an unlimited period of time.
Please read the following instructions carefully
Depending on your eligibility status you may be required to submit an immigration petition from any of the following:
Once the petition has been received and approved, the applicant will be able to submit Form I-485 correctly to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Subsequently, the USCIS will forward the application to the U.S. Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC), where it will be assigned a visa number.
U.S. citizens’ direct family members: Will automatically be assigned an application number once form is received and revised.
Non-direct relatives: Due to the limited number of Visas given out each year, non-direct relatives will have an extended waiting period of time before receiving an application number. The NVC will assign your priority date, based on the date your application was received.
How to file Form I-485 and an immigration petition simultaneously.
Concurrent Filing is when the immigrant petition and Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, are filed at the same time and mailed together with all the required filing fees and supporting documentation to the same filing location.
Concurrent filing is allowed in the following instances:
Non-direct family members of Green Card holders and American citizens, are eligible to apply for the Adjustment of Status by filing the Form I-485.
To correctly submit Form I- 485 a Green Card holder will first need to sponsor all non-direct family members by filing Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative on behalf of the applicant.
Direct family members (spouse, parents, and children) of U.S. citizens who are temporarily living in the United States with a nonimmigrant status, may file Form I-485 and Form I-300 simultaneously
If the direct relatives applying reside outside of US territory, the NVC will directly assign a visa number to their application and forward it, along with the Green Card petition, to the local embassy or consulate. The latter will also be responsible for informing the applicants about the required steps to complete the application process.
Children under the age of 14 filing Form I-485 with at least one parent, will pay a reduced fee of $365. Children under 14, filing the form without a parent, must pay a fee of $985.
American employers are required to file Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, on behalf of their foreign employees. You may submit Form I-485, once a visa number becomes available.
Note:Should extraordinary circumstances apply, you will automatically receive a visa number when filing Form I-140 and Form I-485 simultaneously.
The Special Immigrant status refers to:
Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant must be filed by any of the categories mentioned above or by the respected qualifying institution or person, on behalf of the applicant.
Note: Due to extraordinary circumstances, members of the Armed Forces may file Form I-360 and Form I-485 simultaneously. However, due to recent legal changes made by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Religious Workers are not allowed to file both forms concurrently.
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Processing time will vary depending on :
There is no standard answer to this question, since each case is processed based on individual circumstances.
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