INSTRUCTIONS : ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS/APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENT (Form I-485)

• The Form I-485 Adjustment of Status is the Application to register for permanent status and is needed to adjust your status to that of a permanent resident of the United States of America. You may apply for the adjustment of status or permanent status if you an immigrant visa number is made immediately available to you based on a pre-approved immigration petition or if you are filing the application with a completed relative petition, special immigrant juvenile petition or special immigrant military petition.

• The Application consists of 6 pages and is filed at a location dependent on the eligibility category under which you are filing. Before beginning the application, you should review the “Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-485” link found at the United Citizenship and Immigration Service’s website for the most current guidance on where to submit your application.

• The Filing Fee attached to the Form I-485 is $985; and additional $85 biometric fee, when applicable, will be placed on the initial filing charge bringing your total cost to bring your total to roughly $1070.

• Those applicants who are over the age of 79 will not be charged a biometric fee; additionally there is no fee for those applicants who are filing Form I-485 and maintain refugee status. For individuals under the age of 14, you must file the Form I-485 with at least one parent; the fee for children is $635. If you are a child under the age of 14 and do not file with a parent you will be charged the full $985.

• The I-485 Adjustment of Status form will first for initial evidence, pertaining to your criminal history, if applicable, your birth certificate and passport. Additionally, you will need to submit two identical color photographs of yourself taken within 30 days of filing the application. The photos must be 2X2’s, in color, with a full face frontal view on a white to off-white background. Additionally, when filing your Form I-485, you should also include your medical examination report with the application, unless you are a refugee.