Adjustment of Status

As a result of the State Department updating its July 2007 Visa Bulletin on July 2, 2007, declaring all Employment-based preference categories to be unavailable, the USCIS has now announced that it "is rejecting applications to adjust status (Form I-485) filed by aliens whose priority dates are not current under the revised July Visa Bulletin."  The USCIS Press Release is as follows:

Incredibly, the U.S. Department of State has announed today, July 2, 2007, that it is updating its Visa Bulletin for July 2007.  The July Visa Bulletin was the visa bulletin which all of a sudden declared most of the Employer Based visa categories to be current.  Now, today, the State Depatment has announced that it unexpectedly used "almost 60,000 Employment numbers" in June, and as a result the State Department is changing the July numbers.  Specifically, the State Department has announced that all numbers for the Employment-based preference cases have been used up for this fiscal year (FY-2007), and that new Employment-based preference numbers will only be made available for the next fiscal year (FY-2008), beginning October 1, 2007.

This is a truly incredible turn of events:  one moment the State Department announces that most of the Employment-based preference categories will be current in July, and the next moment they announce that all of the Employment-based preference categories are unavailable in July--even before any new cases were filed in July.  In other words, this was a pure miscalculation on the part of the State Department, and was not based on any deluge of filings on July 2--since the numbers were cut off before anyone even filed in July.

“Chargeability” refers to the rules which are used to determine under which country you will be counted for green card purposes.

On October 20, 2006, the USCIS issued a notice regarding certain I-485, adjustment of status, applications filed under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Specifically, the USCIS advised that the National Benefits Center transferred certain Cuban Adjustment Act Applications received on or after October 1, 2006, which do not require an interview, to the Texas Service Center. The USCIS stressed: "This internal transfer of work does not alter, in any way, the existing process for filing a CAA application with USCIS. Customers will continue receiving a receipt notice for their case with a receipt number bearing an “MSC” prefix."

Advance Parole is permission to re-enter the United States after traveling abroad in order to continue processing for adjustment of status or other benefits.  This section discusses various issues regarding Advance Parole.

The general rule, commonly known, is that E-1’s, E-2’s, H-1’s, and L’s, who file for Adjustment of Status can continue to work under their previous status prior to obtaining their EAD card under the Adjustment of Status procedure, PROVIDED that they are otherwise maintaining their non-immigrant status (e.g., E-1, E-2, H-1, or L). What is less commonly known is that the position of the USCIS (as stated in an INS Memorandum from 1997) is that this general rule applies to “all nonimmigrants”.

Adjustment of Status is the process of applying for U.S. Permanent Residency ("green card" status) from within the U.S., as opposed to traveling to a U.S. Consulate outside of the U.S. to obtain U.S. Permanent Residency, known as "Consular Processing." Adjustment of Status and its counterpart, Consular Processing, are usually the final step in obtaining U.S. Permanent Residency, i.e., after one's immigrant petition (e.g., I-140, I-130, etc.) has been approved. However, under current procedure,s it may be possible to file an immigrant petition together with an Adjustment of Status application.

The USCIS issued a Press Release, on October 4, 2006, reminding Applicants for Adjustment of Status, and other benefits, to obtain ADVANCE PAROLE Before Holiday Travel Abroad.