Adjustment of Status: Getting a Green Card Inside the U.S.

Permanent residence: what it gives and the two ways to get it

A lawful permanent resident (green card holder) has been "lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant" (INA § 101(a)(20), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(20)). In USCIS's words, a resident may live permanently in the United States and work at any lawful job of their choosing (USCIS, rights and responsibilities of a permanent resident). Residence is also the road to citizenship: after generally five years as a resident (INA § 316(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1427(a)), or three years for a person who has been living in marital union with a U.S. citizen spouse (INA § 319(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1430(a)), the resident may apply for naturalization — see the naturalization hub.

Permanent residence usually comes through a family member, an employer, a grant of asylum or refugee status, or the Diversity Visa lottery (USCIS, green card eligibility categories). It is received in one of two ways: by adjustment of status inside the United States, the subject of this guide, or with an immigrant visa issued at a U.S. consulate abroad — see the consular processing hub.

Conditional residence. Residence based on a marriage entered into less than 24 months before the person obtains it is conditional (INA § 216, 8 U.S.C. § 1186a). To make it permanent, the resident files Form I-751, usually jointly with the spouse, during the 90-day period before the second anniversary of becoming a resident (§ 216(d)(2)); see the marriage-based immigration hub.

It can be lost. A resident who falls within a class of deportable aliens in INA § 237, 8 U.S.C. § 1227, for example after certain criminal convictions, can be placed in removal proceedings and ordered removed; see the INA § 237 hub.

What adjustment of status is

The law is INA § 245, 8 U.S.C. § 1255. Under § 245(a), the status of a person "who was inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States" may be adjusted to permanent residence, in the government's discretion, if three things are true:

1. the person applies for adjustment;
2. the person is eligible to receive an immigrant visa and admissible to the United States for permanent residence; and
3. an immigrant visa is immediately available when the application is filed.

The immigrant visa has to come from somewhere: most often an approved or pending family petition (Form I-130) or employment petition (Form I-140), but also a diversity visa, special immigrant juvenile status, VAWA and other categories. Refugees and asylees adjust under a different section, INA § 209 (see the asylee adjustment hub), and U visa holders have their own route in § 245(m) (see the U visa hub).

The alternative is consular processing: the person attends an immigrant visa interview abroad and enters as a resident. For someone who has been in the United States without status, leaving for that interview can trigger the 3- or 10-year bars, which is why the choice between the two routes matters so much. Our articles on Form I-485 and on who cannot adjust cover the basics.

Who decides. USCIS decides adjustment applications, with one large exception: when a person is in removal proceedings (other than as an "arriving alien"), the immigration judge has exclusive jurisdiction over any adjustment application (8 C.F.R. § 1245.2(a)(1)(i)). That exception is where a court case and a green card case meet, and it is explained below.

For help with your own I-485, whether before USCIS or an immigration judge, see our green card lawyer page, and use our green card (I-485) document checklist to gather your papers. To compare this path with an immigrant visa abroad, see adjustment of status vs. consular processing.

Who can adjust: admission, parole and an available visa

"Inspected and admitted or paroled"

A person who came in through a port of entry and was admitted — on a tourist visa, a student visa, a work visa — or who was paroled, meets the entry requirement even if they later overstayed. A person who entered without inspection generally does not, and can adjust only if protected by § 245(i) (below) or through a category that does not require admission, such as a VAWA self-petition. The USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, ch. 2 sets out how USCIS reads the requirement.

Two points often surprise people:

• TPS is not an admission. In Sanchez v. Mayorkas, 593 U.S. 409 (2021), the Supreme Court held that "a TPS recipient who entered the United States unlawfully is not eligible under §1255 for LPR status merely by dint of his TPS." See the TPS hub.
• A grant of U status inside the country is not an admission for § 245(a), under USCIS Policy Alert PA-2025-25 (Nov. 3, 2025). It does not affect the separate U-visa adjustment route in § 245(m).

Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens

Spouses of U.S. citizens, unmarried children under 21 of U.S. citizens, and parents of adult U.S. citizens are "immediate relatives." No annual quota applies to them, so a visa is always available, and the I-130 and I-485 can be filed together (concurrent filing, Policy Manual Vol. 7, Part A, ch. 3). As the next section explains, immediate relatives are also exempt from the bars for overstaying and unauthorized work — which is why a U.S. citizen's spouse who entered on a visa and overstayed can usually adjust, while one who entered without inspection usually cannot.

Preference categories and the Visa Bulletin

Other family members (for example, spouses of permanent residents and married children of citizens) and most employment categories are subject to annual limits and wait for their priority date to be reached in the State Department's Visa Bulletin. USCIS announces each month which of the two Visa Bulletin charts applies to adjustment filings — "Dates for Filing" or "Final Action Dates" — on its filing-charts page. For September 2026 it directed family cases to Dates for Filing and employment cases to Final Action Dates. Our explainer on how to read the Visa Bulletin walks through priority dates and the two charts, and the one on how to read USCIS processing times explains the separate wait for USCIS to decide the I-485.

The bars in § 245(c), and who is exempt

INA § 245(c) lists people who cannot adjust under § 245(a) even if they were admitted (VAWA self-petitioners are exempt from all of them):

• (c)(1) crewmen; (c)(3) people admitted in transit without a visa; (c)(5) S visa holders; (c)(6) people deportable on terrorism grounds;
• (c)(2) people who worked without authorization before filing, are out of status on the day they file, or have not kept lawful status continuously since entry;
• (c)(4) people admitted without a visa under the Visa Waiver Program or the Guam/CNMI program;
• (c)(7) employment-based applicants who are not in lawful nonimmigrant status;
• (c)(8) people who worked without authorization or "otherwise violated the terms of a nonimmigrant visa."

The immediate-relative exemption. The statute itself exempts immediate relatives from (c)(2) and (c)(4). The regulation extends the exemption to (c)(8) (8 C.F.R. § 245.1(b)(10)), and the USCIS Policy Manual (Vol. 7, Part B, ch. 4) says the (c)(2) and (c)(8) bars do not apply to immediate relatives. So an immediate relative may adjust even after unauthorized work, being out of status on the filing date or failing to keep status. The exemption does not reach a person who entered without inspection — that is the § 245(a) admission requirement, not a § 245(c) bar.

The employment-based exception, § 245(k). Certain employment-based applicants (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-5 and religious workers) may adjust despite (c)(2), (c)(7) and (c)(8) if they are present under a lawful admission and, in total, have not been out of status, worked without authorization or otherwise violated their admission for more than 180 days.

Marriage during removal proceedings. A marriage entered into while the person is in proceedings cannot support adjustment unless the couple proves "by clear and convincing evidence" that the marriage was entered into in good faith and not to obtain a green card (INA § 245(e)(3); INA § 204(g); 8 C.F.R. § 245.1(c)(8)). A fiancé(e) admitted on a K visa can adjust only on the basis of the marriage to the U.S. citizen who filed the petition (§ 245(d)).

Being eligible under § 245 is only half the test: the person must also be admissible. Criminal records, prior removals, misrepresentation and the permanent bar are covered in the inadmissibility and waivers guide.

Section 245(i): the grandfather clause

INA § 245(i) lets some people adjust even though they entered without inspection or are barred by § 245(c). The person must be the beneficiary (or a qualifying family member of the beneficiary) of an immigrant petition or labor certification filed on or before April 30, 2001. If that petition was filed after January 14, 1998, the beneficiary must also have been physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000. The applicant pays an additional $1,000 with Form I-485 Supplement A.

• "Approvable when filed." Under 8 C.F.R. § 245.10(a)(3), the old petition must have been properly filed, "meritorious in fact, and non-frivolous" when filed. A petition later withdrawn, denied or revoked because of something that happened after filing still preserves grandfathered status — so a 2001 petition by a former employer or an ex-spouse can still matter today.
• It does not cure inadmissibility. The person must still be admissible or have a waiver. In Matter of Briones, 24 I&N Dec. 355 (BIA 2007), the Board held that § 245(i) is not available to a person inadmissible under the permanent bar of § 212(a)(9)(C)(i)(I) — someone who was unlawfully present for more than a year in total and then re-entered or tried to re-enter without inspection.

Proof of a 25-year-old filing is often the whole case: receipt notices, the labor certification, and records of presence in December 2000. Old files should be requested before anything is filed.

Forms, fees and evidence in 2026

The core filing with USCIS is Form I-485. Fees below are from the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, edition 09/09/26:

• Form I-485: $1,440 on paper, $1,390 online; $950 ($900 online) for a child under 14 filing with a parent. Supplement A for § 245(i): $1,000.
• Form I-130 (family petition): $675 on paper, $625 online.
• Form I-864, the affidavit of support required in family cases: no USCIS fee. The 08/24/26 edition is current; the 10/17/24 edition is accepted only until October 1, 2026.
• Form I-693, the medical examination: since December 2, 2024 it must be submitted with the I-485, or USCIS may reject the application. The civil surgeon charges separately.
• Work permit (Form I-765) while the I-485 is pending: $260 if the I-485 was filed with a fee on or after April 1, 2024. Under Policy Alert PA-2025-27 (Dec. 4, 2025), these cards are now issued for up to 18 months instead of 5 years (Policy Manual updates).
• Advance parole (Form I-131) with a pending I-485: $630 on paper, $580 online. Read the travel section below before using it.

New I-485 edition and public charge rule. DHS's final rule "Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility," 91 FR 45324 (July 20, 2026), took effect on September 18, 2026 and applies to adjustment applications postmarked or electronically submitted on or after that date. It removes the 2022 regulations (8 C.F.R. §§ 212.20–212.23). Under USCIS's guidance, means-tested benefits received before that date are considered as under the 2022 rule, and after it any means-tested benefit may count. USCIS now accepts only the 09/18/26 edition of Form I-485 and rejects the 01/20/25 and 09/04/26 editions filed on or after September 18. Lawsuits challenging the rule were filed in the Southern District of New York in September 2026. Our news article on the public charge rescission and the public charge hub follow it.

Evidence. A typical family case includes the petitioner's proof of citizenship or residence, proof of the relationship (and, for a marriage, proof it is genuine: joint lease, accounts, children, photographs over time), the applicant's passport and I-94 entry record, birth certificate, court dispositions for any arrest, and the sponsor's tax returns for the I-864. The I-94 matters most: it is the proof of "inspected and admitted or paroled."

If USCIS denies. There is no appeal from a USCIS denial of an I-485 (8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(5)(ii)). Since February 28, 2025, USCIS policy is to issue a Notice to Appear when it denies a benefit request and the person is not lawfully present (PM-602-0187). A person who is not an arriving alien can then renew the application before the immigration judge.

Adjusting status before an immigration judge

An immigration judge can grant a green card. When a person is in removal proceedings (other than as an arriving alien), the judge "has exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate any application for adjustment of status the alien may file" (8 C.F.R. § 1245.2(a)(1)(i)). The I-130 or I-140 is still decided by USCIS; the judge decides the I-485 itself, any waiver that goes with it (see the waivers guide) and discretion, after testimony and cross-examination by the government's attorney. Adjustment is one of the main forms of relief in removal defense, alongside asylum and cancellation of removal.

• Renewing a USCIS denial. A person who is not an arriving alien "retains the right to renew his or her application" in removal proceedings (8 C.F.R. § 1245.2(a)(5)(ii)), and the § 245(c) requirements are judged as of the original filing date if they were met then.
• Court fee under H.R. 1. Pub. L. 119-21 (July 4, 2025), § 100013(a), added a fee for an adjustment application filed with or decided by an immigration court. For filings on or after October 1, 2026 (fiscal year 2027), EOIR set it at $1,590, for a total of $3,030 with the base fee; it was $1,540 from February 1, 2026 (91 FR 61447, Sept. 29, 2026; 91 FR 2561, Jan. 21, 2026). These fees are adjusted for inflation each fiscal year, so check EOIR's current notice before filing.
• Continuances to wait for a petition. A judge may continue a case "for good cause shown" (8 C.F.R. § 1003.29). Matter of Hashmi, 24 I&N Dec. 785 (BIA 2009) held that an unopposed motion to wait for a pending family petition "should generally be granted" if approval would make the person prima facie eligible. The Attorney General's Matter of L-A-B-R-, 27 I&N Dec. 405 (A.G. 2018) still controls, and recent Board decisions are stricter: Matter of J-A-F-S-, 29 I&N Dec. 195 (BIA 2025) (no continuance for "speculative" new relief) and Matter of Pinzon Rozo, 29 I&N Dec. 507 (BIA 2026) (no continuance to await a visa that will not be available for an uncertain and lengthy period). EOIR's continuance memo (PM 21-13, reinstated February 3, 2025) says good cause does not exist when the priority date is too remote.
• Administrative closure, once a common way to pause a case while USCIS decided a petition, is uncertain: on June 22, 2026 a federal court in Texas v. U.S. Department of Justice (N.D. Tex. No. 7:26-cv-00070) vacated EOIR's 2024 rule that authorized it. The waivers guide explains the effect.
• After a removal order. Adjustment eligibility that arises later — for example, a marriage — may support a motion to reopen. Matter of Velarde-Pacheco, 23 I&N Dec. 253 (BIA 2002) sets five conditions for reopening on a marriage entered into during proceedings, including a timely motion and clear and convincing evidence that the marriage is likely genuine. But Matter of Yadav, 29 I&N Dec. 438 (BIA 2026) held that a valid marriage to a U.S. citizen after a removal order is not, by itself, an exceptional situation for reopening outside the deadline.
• Appeal and review. The judge's decision can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Federal courts cannot review the facts found in an adjustment decision (Patel v. Garland, 596 U.S. 328 (2022)), so the record made before the judge is the one that counts.

For a detained person, a pending adjustment case can matter at a bond hearing, and the Board has held that a USCIS denial of adjustment may be weighed on flight risk (Matter of A-W-M-K-, 29 I&N Dec. 805 (BIA 2026)). The immigration courts directory lists every court.

Arriving aliens and parolees in proceedings

A person paroled into the United States who is placed in removal proceedings is often charged as an "arriving alien." For them the rule is reversed: USCIS, not the immigration judge, decides the adjustment application, even during proceedings and even with an unexecuted final removal order (8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(1); Policy Manual Vol. 7, Part A, ch. 3; Matter of Yauri, 25 I&N Dec. 103 (BIA 2009)).

The judge has jurisdiction over an arriving alien's adjustment only if all four conditions of 8 C.F.R. § 1245.2(a)(1)(ii) are met:

1. the person properly filed the I-485 with USCIS while in the United States;
2. left and returned on advance parole to pursue that application;
3. USCIS denied the application; and
4. DHS placed the person in proceedings on return or after the denial.

Matter of Silitonga, 25 I&N Dec. 89 (BIA 2009) confirms that this is the only exception. In practice, a paroled person in court files the I-485 with USCIS and asks the judge for time or other relief while USCIS decides — and in Matter of Roque-Izada, 29 I&N Dec. 106 (BIA 2025) the Board refused to end proceedings for a Cuban Adjustment Act applicant whose eligibility rested on speculative parole. Whether someone was admitted, paroled or neither is decided from their documents, so the I-94 or parole papers must be read carefully.

Discretion after USCIS's May 2026 memo

Adjustment has always been discretionary: § 245(a) says the status "may be adjusted" by the government "in his discretion." On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued policy memorandum PM-602-0199, titled "Adjustment of Status is a Matter of Discretion and Administrative Grace, and an Extraordinary Relief that Permits Applicants to Dispense with the Ordinary Consular Visa Process." It tells USCIS officers that:

• adjustment is "not designed to supersede the regular consular processing of immigrant visas";
• a nonimmigrant's "failure to comply with the conditions of their nonimmigrant admission or parole" and "failure to depart as expected are highly relevant," and such applicants may need "unusual or even outstanding equities" to offset them (quoting Matter of Blas); the absence of negative factors alone is not enough;
• applying for a green card is not inconsistent with holding a "dual intent" status such as H-1B or L-1, although that alone does not decide discretion; and
• a discretionary denial must list the positive and negative factors and explain why the negatives outweigh.

The May 22, 2026 press release said that a person "in the U.S. temporarily" who wants a green card "must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances." The memo does not change § 245 or the immediate-relative exemptions, and as of September 23, 2026 the discretion chapter of the Policy Manual (Vol. 7, Part A, ch. 10) had not been rewritten to match it. Earlier, PA-2025-16 (Aug. 19, 2025) added "anti-American" activity and past parole requests as discretionary factors. The memo is USCIS guidance to its officers; an immigration judge weighs discretion under the statute and Board precedent. Our article on the May 2026 memo has more.

What this means in practice: an adjustment file now needs affirmative evidence of good character and ties — family, work, taxes, community — and a clear, honest explanation of any overstay or status violation, rather than relying on bare eligibility. And no one should leave the United States to "follow" the memo without advice: for a person with unlawful presence, the trip abroad can trigger the 3- or 10-year bar.

Two 2025–26 USCIS holds were lifted by courts: the holds on cases of nationals of travel-ban countries (PM-602-0192 and PM-602-0194) were vacated in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS (D.R.I. June 2026), and the diversity-visa adjustment hold (PM-602-0193) was temporarily set aside on August 28, 2026 in Medani v. Trump (N.D. Cal.) for a certified class of fiscal year 2026 applicants.

Travelling on advance parole while the I-485 is pending

An adjustment applicant who leaves the United States without advance parole generally abandons the application (8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(4)(ii)); people who keep H-1B or L-1 status, and their H-4 or L-2 family members, are the exception. For fourteen years, Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012) held that a trip on advance parole was not a "departure" for the 3- and 10-year bars. On August 13, 2026, the Board overruled it in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, 29 I&N Dec. 830 (BIA 2026): "A departure from the United States pursuant to a grant of advance parole is a 'departure'" under § 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II). The Board applied the new rule prospectively.

USCIS's unlawful presence page now warns that "as of Aug. 13, 2026, departing the United States after obtaining an Advance Parole Document is a departure" for the unlawful presence bar, and that a person with more than 180 days of unlawful presence may be inadmissible on return. (The Policy Manual chapter on unlawful presence had not been updated as of September 27, 2026.) For an immediate relative who once overstayed a visa, a short trip on advance parole can now create the very bar that adjustment was meant to avoid.

• Returning on advance parole also makes the person a parolee — and, if placed in proceedings, possibly an arriving alien, with the jurisdiction rules described above.
• H.R. 1 created a $1,000 parole fee ($1,050 for requests postmarked on or after October 16, 2026, per 91 FR 62540), but the statute exempts a lawful applicant for adjustment under § 245 who is returning after temporary travel abroad (Pub. L. 119-21, § 100004(b)(7)).

The advance parole hub, the unlawful presence hub and our article on parole and advance parole follow this change.

Carlos Maury, a former U.S. Immigration Judge, leads Carlos Maury Law; to talk about adjustment of status, in court or before USCIS, call (213) 769-0050. We speak Spanish.