Adjustment of Status

Adjustment of status (AOS) is the process by which a foreign national already inside the United States becomes a lawful permanent resident (green-card holder) without departing for a consulate abroad. It is governed by Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA § 245 [8 U.S.C. § 1255]) and adjudicated by USCIS on Form I-485. The alternative route—consular processing on Form DS-260 at a U.S. embassy or consulate—is the default for applicants who are outside the country or who cannot satisfy the § 245 requirements. AOS is a discretionary benefit: meeting the statutory elements establishes eligibility, but does not by itself compel approval.

To adjust under INA § 245(a), an applicant must have been inspected and admitted or paroled, be physically present in the United States, have an immigrant visa immediately available (both when the I-485 is filed and when it is decided, keyed to the applicant's priority date against the Department of State Visa Bulletin), and be admissible. Section 245(c) then bars adjustment for several classes—most commonly applicants who failed to maintain lawful status or who engaged in unauthorized employment. For employment-based cases, INA § 245(k) is the workhorse exception: beneficiaries in the EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 preferences may adjust despite a status lapse or unauthorized work, provided that since their last lawful admission the aggregate of such violations has not exceeded 180 days.

At Locke Immigration Law, every adjustment case begins with a deliberate eligibility screen: where the applicant is located, whether the § 245(c) bars apply, the § 245(k) aggregate-day count from the last lawful admission, and confirmation of visa availability under the correct Visa Bulletin chart. We coordinate the ancillary applications a pending I-485 unlocks—the employment authorization document (EAD), advance parole (AP) for travel, and § 204(j) job portability once the case has been pending 180 days—and we weigh concurrent I-140/I-485 filing against its trade-offs case by case. Because a discretionary denial carries no direct administrative appeal, we build the record to be approved on first review.