Adjustment of status

Refugees seeking admission to the United States under INA section 207, 8 U.S.C. § 1157,[1][4] are not required under any law to file any adjustment of status application.[3][6] Their status is automatically adjusted by the Refugee Act to that of an immigrant upon their lawful entry into the United States.[4][3][2][7] After residing as legal immigrants for at least one year,[3] they may then apply for a green card.[4] This can be done by filing a Form I-485 ("Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status"),[8] or visiting the nearest center of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).[4][3]

Those who have previously been admitted as stateless refugees under section 1157 very rarely become inadmissible as a result of a common criminal conviction.[2][7][9] In the event any such person knowingly departs from the United States or is forcefully deported, he or she can at any time re-enter the country at any port of entry (without a consent from anyone).[3][10][4] Anything to the contrary could lead to deprivation of rights under color of law, which is a crime that entails capital punishment.[11]

In all other cases,[5] the alien must actually file an application for adjustment of status (Form I-485) or cancellation of removal (EOIR-42A),[12] which could take between one year and several years for approval.[5] In order to apply for permanent residency, the applicant must not be "removable" from the United States.[13] If he or she is the beneficiary of an approved immigrant petition (family or employment-based), the priority date must be current (if applicable). The application (Form I-485) must be accompanied by a sealed envelope from a designated civil surgeon who performed a medical examination on the alien applicant.[5] The USCIS has waived the rule on filing Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, until September 30, 2022.[14]

Once the application package (I-485, I-693, and the filing fees) is received, the applicant will receive the receipt number.[5] This receipt number can be used to track the case online.[15] In most employment-based applications, the petition will be approved within four months and a green card will automatically be mailed. In some cases, a face to face interview is required. This is often done in marriage-based applications to ensure that the marriage is bona fide, meaning genuine and not a sham marriage.

After filing the adjustment of status forms, the application will be considered abandoned if the applicant leaves the United States (a few exceptions apply). This can be mitigated by filing for a humanitarian parole (Form I-131) and an Employment Authorization Document (Form I-765). Once the humanitarian parole and Form I-765 are approved, the applicant will receive the Employment Authorization Document which will also serve as advance parole (if endorsed as such).

In exceptional cases when the adjustment of status is approved, but an immigrant visa number is not immediately available, the approval will be postponed indefinitely until such a number becomes available. This can be the case when the applicable priority date retrogresses during the time of adjudication. In such cases, it is common that Form I-765 and the advance parole are renewed every year.

Based on a rule promulgated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in August 2019, from February 24, 2020 to March 8, 2021, every applicant for adjustment of status in the United States, except for those who fall under exceptions, had to submit form I-944, Declaration of Self-Sufficiency. The form called for information related, among other things, to the applicant's assets and liabilities, health insurance, bankruptcy filings, past Immigration Fee waiver requests, applicant's education and occupational skills and more. The form was based on the Public Charge Rule adopted by the DHS.[16]

On November 2, 2020, a U.S. district court vacated the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule, 84 Fed. Reg. 41,292 (Aug. 14, 2019), as amended by Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds; Correction, 84 Fed. Reg. 52,357 (Oct. 2, 2019) (Public Charge Final Rule) nationwide. That decision was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. On March 9, 2021, the Seventh Circuit lifted its stay and the district court's order that vacated the DHS's rule went into effect. On March 9, 2021, the DHS successfully moved to dismiss its own appeal before the Seventh Circuit. It then immediately implemented the judgment, i.e., the vacatur of the August 2019 rule. That rule was repealed (discontinued) on March 9, 2021 and Form I-944 has been discontinued and should not be filed by anyone.[17][18][19]