What Is Adjudication Of The Adjustment Of Status: Fill & Download for Free

If you're already in the United States legally and you get married in the United States, your procedure is, once you're married, for your spouse to file for family-based immigration to admit you (as his or her spouse) to the United States as a permanent resident. File the I-130 (petition for an alien relative) and I-485 (petition to adjust status) simultaneously. Filing the I-485 will generally permit you to remain in the United States pending the adjudication of the I-485 even if your original permission to remain in the United States expires before the I-485 petition is adjudicated. (But don't leave the United States while that petition is pending unless you intend to abandon the petition.)Note also that entering the United States on a B visa or on the visa waiver program with the intent to get married and become a lawful permanent resident would be a violation of the B visa/visa waiver program and may lead to the denial of your I-485 unless you can convince the adjudicator that reviews your I-485 that you did not enter the United States with the intent to marry a US citizen for the purpose of obtaining US residency.See Bringing Spouses to Live in the United States as Permanent Residents for more information. You'll probably want to engage an attorney; USCIS scrutinizes petitions for alien spouses extremely closely because there is a great deal of fraud in this area and it is difficult to get approval without the assistance of experienced counsel.

You are probably referring to the policy change (currently blocked by a permanent nationwide injunction) where people in F, J, and M status now accrue “unlawful presence” when they are out of status after August 9, 2018, whereas before, people in F and J statuses, who are almost always admitted for “D/S” on their I-94s, do not automatically start accruing “unlawful presence” even if they go out of status and stay past the end of their programs for years.The answer is NO, it has absolutely no effect on people who are doing Adjustment of Status in the US. “Unlawful presence” is not by itself relevant in the eligibility or adjudication of Adjustment of Status, so a change to the definition of when “unlawful presence” starts to accrue or how much “unlawful presence” will have accrued does not change who can do Adjustment of Status in the US.Someone in the Immediate Relative category (spouse, parent, or unmarried under-21 child of a US citizen) is eligible for Adjustment of Status if they entered the US legally. Whether they are out of status or whether they have accrued “unlawful presence” is completely irrelevant. Under the new policy, someone in F or J status now starts accruing “unlawful presence” when they go out of status, but even if they have gone out of status for years, and thus have accrued years of “unlawful presence”, they are still 100% able to do Adjustment of Status in the Immediate Relative category. This is no different from how someone in a status like B-2 visitor or H-1b worker who are admitted until a certain date on their I-94s (and who thus start accruing “unlawful presence” after staying past the date on their I-94s) are 100% able to do Adjustment of Status in the Immediate Relative category after staying past the date on their I-94s for years.In other categories, eligibility may be affected by being out of status. For example, in family-based categories other than Immediate Relative, one is ineligible for Adjustment of Status if one is out of status, or has ever been out of status in the past. In employment-based categories, one is ineligible for Adjustment of Status if one has been out of status for more than 180 days since the most recent admission. All of these things are about being “out of status”, not “unlawful presence”. The recent policy change did not change anything about when someone is “out of status”, and thus has no effect on Adjustment of Status in any of those categories either. People who, in past years, were out of status in F or J status but who weren’t accruing “unlawful presence”, still couldn’t do Adjustment of Status in those categories because they were out of status.What “unlawful presence” matters for is the unlawful presence bans — if you accrue 180 days/1 year of “unlawful presence” and then leave the US, you trigger a 3-year/10-year ban, respectively. Note the key condition — leave the US — if you haven’t left the US, you don’t have this ban. People doing Adjustment of Status in the US haven’t left the US, so aren’t affected by this. This change in policy, even if it goes into effect, only affects people who (after August 9, 2018) go out of status for a long time and then leave the US. It does not affect people who do Adjustment of Status in the US.

Answer: Currently it depends on how the individual entered the country. The individual does not have to return home to apply for a green card if she entered the country legally (even if she is currently out of status).Answer Assumptions: The question states that the individual is marrying a U.S. citizen, not a legal permanent resident ("LPR" or green card holder). I assume, based on the question, that the immigrant petition is for an immediate relative - i.e., spouse. I also assume the individual is otherwise eligible for a visa (e.g., has not committed a deportable offense, has an approved immigrant petition, etc.).Adjustment of status is a process that permits individuals to change their immigration status to "immigrant" (permanent) from within the country, without needing to return to their home country's consular office to apply for a visa. Adjustment of status is accomplished through Form I-485. See http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-485.pdf.However, adjustment of status is only available to individuals who were inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States. Generally, this means the individual had to have presented herself to an immigration officer at a U.S. port of entry. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255 (available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1255); see also http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=2da73a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=2da73a4107083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD.Therefore, even if otherwise eligible for an immigrant visa, an individual who entered the country without inspection (e.g., snuck across the border) generally will not be able to adjust status from within the country, even if their U.S. citizen spouse sponsors them. She would have to return to her home country and obtain the visa through consular processing. See infra ASIDE on why this could be a problem.By contrast, an individual who overstayed her visa will be able to adjust status from within the country if their U.S. citizen spouse sponsors her because she entered the country with a visa and was inspected. Again, this is only for U.S. citizen spouses, not LPR spouses.There is a limited exception for those who entered without inspection under 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i) for individuals that had immigrant petitions or labor certifications filed on their behalf before April 30, 2001 and meet certain other criteria. Those who qualify under § 1255(i) have to pay a $1,000 penalty with their adjustment of status application. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i) (available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1255); see also http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/Static_Files_Memoranda/Archives%201998-2008/2005/245iclarification030905.pdf (describing this limited exception).There are some other categories of individuals who may be eligible to adjust status from within the country, but I do not discuss them in this answer as they are outside the scope of this question. For example: someone who has an approved petition for classification as a VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) self-petitioner, victims of human trafficking, or recipients of a U visa. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1255(a), (l), (m).ASIDE: What's the problem with leaving the country to apply for a green card?Currently, being in the country without lawful immigration status -- that is, accruing days of "unlawful presence" -- can subject an individual to lengthy bars from reentering the country: a 3-year bar for those who have accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence, and a 10-year bar for those who have accrued more than 1 year of unlawful presence. 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(B) (available at http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182).Thus, for those that are ineligible to adjust for status from within the country (e.g., those who entered without inspection), once they leave the country to apply for the visa at their consulate, they cannot reenter the country for 3 or 10 years (depending on how much unlawful presence they have accrued), absent a waiver of inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(B)(v). This is the case even if they are otherwise eligible for a green card.Waivers of inadmissibility under (a)(9)(B)(v) are discretionary and require a showing of "extreme hardship" to the U.S. citizen or lawfully resident spouse or parent. Processing and adjudication of the waiver application takes considerable amounts of time, and the results are uncertain: the alien does not know before leaving the United States whether the waiver will be granted and discretion exercised in her favor.THE RESULT:Long processing and adjudication times for the waiver application +Uncertain outcome: unclear whether the 3 or 10 year bars will be waived at all =Prospect of prolonged separation from spouses/family/children/etc. At best: the time it takes to grant the waiver; at worst: waiver is denied and you are barred from reentry for 3 or 10 years, and thus separated from family for 3 or 10 years =Bottom Line: Many individuals who would otherwise qualify to legalize their status by returning to their countries and getting green cards may not do so because of the risk and uncertainty. (The government also loses out on all those application fees!)In January 2012, the Obama administration proposed regulations that would permit qualifying immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (not LPRs) to apply for an (a)(9)(B)(v) waiver from within the country. The regulations would presumably reduce some of the uncertainty outlined above. If passed, the regulations could benefit those who are not eligible to adjust status from within the country but are otherwise eligible for a green card through a U.S. citizen immediate relativeILLUSTRATION: Jane enters without inspection and marries a U.S. citizen, who files a petition to sponsor her. The petition is approved, but she cannot adjust status from within the country. If the proposed regulation passes, she can apply for a waiver of inadmissibility from within the country and wait here while the application is being adjudicated. If a waiver is granted, she returns to her country, the consular office issues her visa without a long delay after the standard visa processing procedures, and she can reenter the country with a green card. If a waiver is denied, it is still possible that removal proceedings could be initiated against her.Here is a link to the proposed regulation: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/01/09/2012-140/provisional-waivers-of-inadmissibility-for-certain-immediate-relatives-of-us-citizens. And here is a link to a FAQ page from USCIS describing the proposed regulation: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b874875decf56310VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6abe6d26d17df110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD.