Form · Immigration & Migration Law
Form I-485 application to register permanent residence or adjust status
Link to Form I-485, edition 18 September 2026. USCIS rejects the 20 January 2025 and 4 September 2026 editions filed on or after 18 September 2026. The applicant certifies the form under penalty of perjury.
- Kind
- Form. A form to complete, or a guide to completing an official one.
- Where it applies
- United States
- AI use
- Red You write the text. The tool writes nothing into the document. Where permitted, it may check, clarify or collect data, and anything it checks or collects is verified.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the official form at uscis.gov and the 5 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Link to the official form. Licence: Link only. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form. Download the current form from uscis.gov each time; do not copy or adapt it.
Where this comes from
The official form is published by uscis.gov; this page is a completion guide. Last checked on 2026-10-22.
When to use it
Use when a person in the United States applies to adjust status to lawful permanent residence on a current Form I-485. Check the edition date and the two September 2026 alerts before filing. Do not use it as the immigrant petition.
Used for these tasks
- Reconcile a visa evidence pack with successful uploads
- Build a visa-pathway longlist from the client's facts
- Draft a partner-visa submission that cites criteria in the Migration Regulations 1994
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The applicant certifies the application under penalty of perjury, so the tool writes no answer, no medical fact and no basis that would be filed.
AI may
- Compare the edition date printed on a draft PDF with the edition the form page accepts on the filing date
- List whether the file contains a sealed or uploaded Form I-693, a concurrent I-140, a prior I-140, and a Supplement J, without describing their contents
- Index an evidence pack against the categories the lawyer has already named
AI must not
- Must not write or outline any answer, including inadmissibility, public charge, work history or address history
- Must not decide that a visa is immediately available, that section 245(i) applies, or that Supplement J is or is not required
- Must not open, describe or summarise a civil surgeon's medical report
- Must not state a fee or tell the applicant to send original documents
The lawyer checks
- A filing postmarked or submitted electronically on or after 18 September 2026 is the 09/18/26 edition. The page says USCIS will reject the 01/20/25 and 09/04/26 editions filed on or after that date. There is no grace period for this edition change
- The 4 September 2026 interim final rule and the 09/04/26 edition, about children born to foreign government employees, are a separate alert from the public-charge edition. The page cites the injunction in Casa Inc. v. Trump, No. 8:25-cv-00201 (D. Md. 2 September 2026)
- Form I-693 is submitted with I-485. Online filing: open the sealed envelope, upload I-693, and keep the original and the envelope. Mail filing: submit I-693 in the original sealed envelope
- The page says not to file until an immigrant visa is immediately available in the category. Eligibility and any exception live in the instructions and the visa-availability guidance the page links. Those instructions were not opened line by line
- Supplement J is not required when I-485 is filed together with an I-140 that names the applicant as principal. It is required for a previously filed I-140, or for job portability under INA section 204(j)
- Section 245(i) adjustment uses Supplement A. The fee is on G-1055. A representative files Form G-28, at no expense to the United States government
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer. Licence: Link only. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form. Download the current form from uscis.gov each time; do not copy or adapt it..
Read the full text
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- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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All precedents for Immigration & Migration Law · Tasks and AI use in this area