Get Your Green Card Without Leaving the United States (Adjustment of Status)

Adjustment of status is the path that lets you become a permanent resident while already inside the United States, without returning to your home country or setting foot in a consulate. Same destination as the consular process, through a different door.

Before assembling anything we review whether adjustment is the right path for you: how you entered the country, who is petitioning for you, and whether a visa is available for your category. If the answer is no, we tell you at the first appointment and you are not charged for a filing that does not apply.

What the preparation of your adjustment of status includes

• Permanent residency application (Form I-485)
• Work permit and travel permit filed in the same package
• Affidavit of support and medical exam, reviewed before filing
• Organization of the evidence and tracking of the dates
• Support all the way to the interview and the decision

What is adjustment of status?

Adjusting your status means asking USCIS to grant you permanent residency —the green card— without leaving the United States. The whole process happens by mail and at offices inside the country: Form I-485 is filed and the decision is awaited here, with your life where it already is.

The alternative is the consular process, which requires returning to your home country and interviewing at the embassy or consulate. Which one applies is not a free choice: it depends on where you are, how you entered, and your category. That is why the review comes first.

Can you adjust your status? The three requirements looked at first

Almost every case is decided on these three points. If all three are met, the path is usually open.

1. Having entered with inspection

As a general rule, adjustment of status requires having been inspected and admitted or paroled when entering the country. The law provides for exceptions —there are forms of relief that allow adjustment for those who did not enter that way— and not every case is resolved the same, so this point is reviewed one by one, never from hearsay.

2. Having a petition behind you

A basis is needed: a family petition (Form I-130) filed by a citizen or permanent resident, an employment petition, or forms of relief such as VAWA or approved asylum. Without that basis there is nothing to adjust. In many cases the petition and the I-485 can be filed together.

3. A visa being available for your category

Immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen —spouse, unmarried children under 21, and parents— do not wait for a visa number. Everyone else depends on the Visa Bulletin published monthly by the Department of State, which sets how far each category has advanced. Filing before a visa is available means starting over later on.

What is filed together with the I-485

The I-485 does not travel alone. The package usually includes the affidavit of support from the petitioner (Form I-864), the medical exam performed by a designated civil surgeon (Form I-693), your identity and entry documents, and the evidence of the relationship behind the petition.

Two things that change your daily life can be requested in that same filing: the work permit (Form I-765) and the travel permit (Form I-131). They are not automatic —they have to be requested and approved— but they are requested here, without opening a separate process.

How the case moves forward, step by step

After filing, the USCIS receipt arrives confirming the filing date. Shortly after comes the biometrics appointment: fingerprints and photograph at a nearby office.

From there the case is under review. USCIS may request additional documentation through a request for evidence, which has a deadline and no extensions; answering late or incompletely is one of the most common causes of denial. Many cases include an interview, especially marriage-based ones.

We keep track of those dates and explain every letter that arrives, in Spanish, so you always know where your case stands.

Adjustment of status or consular process: which one applies to you

The practical difference is where you wait. With adjustment you wait inside the United States, with a work permit and a travel permit if you requested them. With the consular process you wait abroad and enter already as a resident.

It is not a preference: if you are outside the country, the path is consular; if you are inside and meet the requirements, the path is adjustment. There are situations in which leaving the country has serious consequences that are hard to undo, and that is exactly the conversation worth having before anything moves.

Five mistakes that delay an adjustment of status

A form with blank spaces or missing signatures: USCIS returns the entire package and the case starts over. A medical exam submitted after it is no longer valid. An affidavit of support with income that falls short and no joint sponsor.

Leaving the country with a pending I-485 and no approved travel permit: as a general rule this is treated as abandoning the application, and by then you are already outside. And something as simple as not reporting a change of address: USCIS letters go to the address on file, and a missed deadline cannot be recovered.

How we work your case

We start with an appointment where we review your full situation —how you entered, who can petition for you, what documents you have— and tell you clearly whether adjustment applies. From that comes a written, closed quote, before you pay anything.

Then we prepare the entire file: we transcribe the forms, organize the evidence in the order the agency expects to see it, check that not a single signature is missing, and submit it at your direction. We have attorneys licensed in Colombia, and service is available in Spanish and English, online or in person.