Adjustment of status or consular processing: the two ways to finish a green card

What is the difference, in one paragraph each?

Consular processing: after USCIS approves the petition, it sends the file to the State Department’s National Visa Center (NVC). When a visa number is available, a consular officer at a US embassy or consulate interviews the applicant and decides whether to issue an immigrant visa. The visa is a travel document, not status. Permanent residence starts only when a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer admits the person at a port of entry.

Adjustment of status: a person who is already in the United States files Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, with USCIS and never leaves to collect a visa. Under section 245(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), when USCIS grants the application it records the person’s lawful admission for permanent residence as of the date of that decision.

Both paths need the same basis: an immigrant category, such as an I-130 family petition or an I-140 petition for EB-1A or the EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW), and a visa number if the category has an annual limit.

Sources: USCIS: Consular Processing; INA 245(a) to (c), 8 U.S.C. 1255

What INA 245 requires for adjustment

INA 245(a) lets USCIS adjust the status of a person who was inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States (or who has an approved petition as a self-petitioner under the Violence Against Women Act), if three things are true:

• The person applies for adjustment.
• The person is eligible to receive an immigrant visa and is admissible for permanent residence.
• An immigrant visa is immediately available when the application is filed.

Sources: INA 245(a) to (c), 8 U.S.C. 1255

What USCIS adds to that list

USCIS’s family green card pages add that the applicant must properly file Form I-485, be physically present in the United States when filing, have a visa immediately available both at filing and when USCIS makes its final decision, still have the family relationship the petition was based on, not be subject to a bar to adjustment, be admissible or have a waiver, and merit a favorable exercise of discretion. The Policy Manual says applicants must remain eligible from filing through the final decision.

Sources: USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen; USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6

The bars in INA 245(c)

Some people who are physically in the United States still cannot adjust under INA 245(a). The bars in section 245(c) include:

• Working without authorization before filing, being out of lawful status on the filing date, or failing to keep lawful status continuously since entry, other than through no fault of their own or for technical reasons. This bar does not apply to immediate relatives of US citizens or certain special immigrants.
• Entry under the Visa Waiver Program (for example with ESTA), except for immediate relatives.
• For employment-based applicants, not being in lawful nonimmigrant status.
• Entry as a crewman, or in transit without a visa.

Sources: INA 245(a) to (c), 8 U.S.C. 1255; USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6

Two exceptions: 245(k) and 245(i)

INA 245(k) helps employment-based applicants in EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 and EB-5. They can adjust despite the status, employment and nonimmigrant-status bars if, on the date they file, they are present in the United States under a lawful admission and, since that admission, have not, for more than 180 days in total, failed to keep lawful status, worked without authorization or otherwise violated the terms of admission.

INA 245(i) is narrower than it sounds. It covers people who are the beneficiary of a petition or labor certification filed on or before 30 April 2001 (and, if filed after 14 January 1998, who were physically present on 21 December 2000). It requires an extra $1,000 sum on top of the normal fee, except for children under 17 and certain family members of people legalized under the 1986 amnesty programs. USCIS handles it through Form I-485 Supplement A.

Sources: INA 245(k), 8 U.S.C. 1255(k); INA 245(a) to (c), 8 U.S.C. 1255; USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen

Who uses consular processing

Anyone outside the United States with an approved petition goes through consular processing. USCIS says a person living in the United States can also choose to apply for the immigrant visa abroad.

Where to apply is set by 22 CFR 42.61: normally the consular office for the place where the applicant lives. A person who is physically in the United States is treated as resident in the area where they last lived before entering.

Sources: USCIS: Consular Processing; 22 CFR 42.61(a) and 42.62(a)

Adjustment of status, step by step

• The petitioner files the immigrant petition (I-130 or I-140) with USCIS. For an immediate relative, the I-485 can be filed together with the I-130, while it is pending, or after it is approved. A family preference applicant can do the same only when a visa is immediately available.
• The applicant files Form I-485 with evidence. USCIS lists, among other things, the petition’s Form I-797 receipt or decision notice, photos, identity and birth documents, the I-94 or admission stamp, Form I-864 where required, and Form I-693 (the medical exam report), which must be filed with the I-485 if required. Preference applicants also show they have kept lawful status since arriving.
• USCIS may ask for more evidence and may interview the applicant. It checks visa availability against the Visa Bulletin at filing and again before the final decision.
• If USCIS grants the application, the person becomes a permanent resident without leaving the United States.

Sources: USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen; USCIS: Green Card for Family Preference Immigrants; USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6

Consular processing, step by step

Our guide to the green card interview abroad covers each of these steps in detail.

• USCIS approves the petition and sends it to NVC, where it waits until a visa number is available.
• NVC sends fee bills; each applicant files Form DS-260 and uploads civil documents.
• The applicant has a medical exam with a panel physician abroad; 9 FAM 504.4 says it cannot be done in the United States.
• A consular officer interviews the applicant and issues or refuses the visa.
• The applicant travels, CBP decides whether to admit them, and the green card is mailed after the USCIS Immigrant Fee is paid.

Sources: USCIS: Consular Processing; 9 FAM 504.4-7 (medical examinations)

Work and travel while you wait

With a pending I-485, an applicant can generally ask for a work permit on Form I-765 and for advance parole (permission to return after travel) on Form I-131. USCIS says that, generally, leaving the United States without advance parole while the I-485 is pending makes USCIS treat the application as abandoned. USCIS published new fees for Forms I-131 and I-765, effective 16 October 2026; check Form G-1055 for the current amounts.

Consular processing works differently. These official sources describe no work permit or travel document tied to a pending consular case. The right to live and work permanently in the United States begins when CBP admits the person as a permanent resident.

Sources: USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen; USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule (edition 10/16/26); USCIS: Consular Processing

Medical exam: civil surgeon or panel physician

Adjustment applicants who need a medical exam see a USCIS-designated civil surgeon in the United States, who reports on Form I-693. Consular applicants see a panel physician designated by the embassy or consulate. Our medical exam guide explains both.

Sources: USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6; 9 FAM 504.4-7 (medical examinations)

Government fees

As of the eCFR issue of 21 October 2026, 22 CFR 22.1 sets the State Department immigrant visa application processing fee at $325 per person for immediate relative and family preference cases and $345 per person for employment-based cases. Those fees apply to consular processing only. For adjustment, USCIS says Form I-485 and certain other forms have a filing fee, Form G-1055 (edition 10/16/26) lists Form I-485 at $1,440 on paper or $1,390 online for an applicant 14 or older, and $950 / $900 for a child under 14 filing with a parent; check the current edition before filing. Fees change. Lawyer fees, translations and travel are separate costs.

Sources: 22 CFR 22.1, item 32; USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen; USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule (edition 10/16/26); USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule, edition 10/16/26 (Form I-485)

Timing

These official sources give no processing time for either path; check the USCIS processing-times page and the monthly Visa Bulletin. One fixed rule matters for adjustment: in most numerically limited cases a visa must be available both when the I-485 is filed and when USCIS decides it. If the Visa Bulletin moves backwards in between, the Policy Manual tells officers to hold the case, process it up to the final step and finish it when a number is available again.

Sources: USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6; USCIS: Green Card for Family Preference Immigrants

Family members

In preference categories, a spouse or unmarried child under 21 can adjust as a derivative, filing their own I-485. USCIS cannot grant a derivative’s I-485 before the principal becomes a permanent resident. In consular processing, each family member files a DS-260, pays a fee, has a medical exam and normally attends the interview; the officer may waive the personal appearance of a child under 14, but the principal beneficiary must appear. The spouse or child of an immediate relative cannot be a derivative and must qualify independently.

Sources: USCIS: Green Card for Family Preference Immigrants; USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6; USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen; 22 CFR 42.61(a) and 42.62(a); 9 FAM 504.7-2a

Where cases commonly go wrong

• Travelling during a pending I-485 without advance parole, which USCIS generally treats as abandoning the application.
• Assuming that being in the United States is enough. An ESTA entry, a status gap or unauthorized work can bar adjustment, with the limited exceptions above.
• Filing a preference-category I-485 when a visa is not immediately available under the Visa Bulletin chart USCIS says to use that month.

Sources: USCIS: Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen; INA 245(a) to (c), 8 U.S.C. 1255; USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6; 9 FAM 504.4-7 (medical examinations)

How Visa Trouble can help

Free route discovery at Visa Trouble covers EB-1A and the National Interest Waiver alongside other green card paths. We’re building application preparation for both; it is planned, not open yet. We can point you to official information, but we don’t assess or prepare family-based green card applications. Visa Trouble is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Free route discovery is at visatrouble.com.