Immigration Services / Applications for permanent resident status including both employment-based visa petitions and family-based visa petitions
Application Procedures: Becoming a Permanent Resident While in the United States
If you would like to become a lawful permanent resident in the United States, you must file the following items with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:
- Form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
- Please review Supplement A to Form I-485 to see if additional fee requirements apply to you.
- Form G-325A Biographic Data Sheet (Between the ages of 14 and 79)
- Form I-693 Medical Examination Sheet (not required if you are applying based on continuous residence since before 1972, or if you have had a medical exam based on a fiancé visa)
- Two color photos taken within 30 days (Please see USCIS Form I-485 for more instructions on photos.)
- Form I-864 Affidavit of Support (completed by the sponsor). (This requirement may not apply to you if you are adjusting to permanent resident status based on an employment petition.)
- Form I-765 Authorization for Employment (if seeking employment while case is processed). For more information, see How Do I Get a Work Permit?
- Evidence of inspection, admission or parole into the United States (Form I-94, Arrival Departure Record). See How Do I Get an Arrival-Departure Record? for more information.
In addition:
- If you have already been approved for an immigrant petition , you must submit a copy of the approval notice sent to you by the USCIS.
- If someone else is or has filed a petition for you that, if approved, will make an immigrant number immediately available to you, you must submit a copy of the completed petition that is being filed for you. Such applications include only immediate relative, special immigrant juvenile or special immigrant military petitions. For more information, please see How Do I Get an Immigrant Visa Number?.
- If you were admitted into the United States as a fiancé of a U.S. citizen and married that citizen within the required 90 days, you must submit a copy of the fiancé petition approval notice and a copy of your marriage certificate.
- If you are an asylee or refugee, you must submit a copy of the letter or Form I-94 (Arrival-Departure Record) that shows the date you were granted asylum or refuge in the United States. You also must submit USCIS Form I-643 (Health and Human Services Statistical Data).
- If you are a Cuban citizen or native, you must use USCIS Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) and submit evidence of your citizenship or nationality.
- If you have been a continuous resident of the United States since before January 1, 1972, you must submit evidence showing that you entered the United States prior to January 1, 1972 and that you have lived in the United States continuously since your entry into the country.
- If your parent became a lawful permanent resident after you were born, you must submit evidence that your parent has been or will be granted permanent residence. You must also submit a copy of your birth certificate, and proof of your relationship with your parent.
- If your spouse became a lawful permanent resident after you were married, you must submit evidence that your spouse has been granted permanent residence. You must also submit a copy of your marriage certificate and proof that any previous marriages entered into by you or your spouse were legally terminated.