Adjustment of status (AOS) and consular processing (CP)

01

Defining the two paths

Adjustment of status means applying for permanent resident status while physically present inside the United States, without returning to one's home country. Someone outside the United States instead goes through consular processing, where the State Department issues an immigrant visa and the person becomes a permanent resident upon entry.

Either way, most people need at least two documents: an immigrant petition (for example Form I-130, I-140, I-526, I-730, or I-360), and a green card application (Form I-485 for adjustment of status).

02

The basic sequence for adjustment of status

The official sequence is: confirm the eligibility category → an immigrant petition is filed by someone else (or, in certain cases, the applicant) → check visa availability → file Form I-485. Most categories require an already-approved immigrant petition first, but some categories allow "concurrent filing."

Some categories require no underlying immigrant petition at all, such as under the Cuban Adjustment Act. In general, Form I-485 cannot be filed until a visa number is available; specific exceptions follow each category's own page.

03

How this shows up in the codes

Among the statistical codes this site tracks, the same category often has both a "consular entry" and an "adjustment of status" version, for example E11 (extraordinary ability · consular entry) and E16 (extraordinary ability · adjustment of status), or IR1 (citizen's spouse · consular entry) and IR6 (citizen's spouse · adjustment of status). These are working labels used in this site's data, based on each code's own source — the pattern should not be assumed to apply to every code.