You can file Form I-130 and Form I-485 together if you are physically in the United States and an immigrant visa is immediately available in your category. For immediate relatives of U.S. citizens — spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents — a visa is always available, so concurrent filing is straightforward. For preference categories, such as siblings or married adult children of U.S. citizens, you can only file both forms at the same time when your priority date is current on the Visa Bulletin. Filing the two together lets USCIS handle the family petition and the green card application as one package, and it opens the door to work and travel authorization while you wait.
Who Qualifies to File Both Forms Together
Visa availability is the first gate. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are exempt from annual visa caps, so a visa counts as immediately available for them every month.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1151 – Worldwide Level of Immigration That group covers:
- Spouses of U.S. citizens
- Unmarried children under 21 of U.S. citizens
- Parents of U.S. citizens, provided the citizen petitioner is at least 21
Everyone else falls into a preference category — married adult children of citizens, siblings of citizens, spouses and children of lawful permanent residents, and so on. For preference cases, the Department of State’s monthly Visa Bulletin sets cutoff dates, and USCIS designates each month whether applicants use the Final Action Dates chart or the Dates for Filing chart.2U.S. Department of State. The Visa Bulletin3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin If your category is not current on the designated chart the month you want to file, you cannot include Form I-485 yet. The I-130 goes in by itself, and the I-485 waits.
Physical Presence and Lawful Entry
Concurrent filing is for people already inside the United States who want to become permanent residents without leaving. USCIS states this plainly: the process is available only to applicants physically present in the country and seeking adjustment of status.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485
The statute also requires that you were “inspected and admitted or paroled” into the United States.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1255 – Adjustment of Status of Nonimmigrant to That of Person Admitted for Permanent Residence In practice, that means you came through a port of entry and an officer processed your arrival. Someone who crossed without going through a checkpoint generally cannot adjust from inside the country.6eCFR. 8 CFR Part 245 – Adjustment of Status to That of Person Admitted for Permanent Residence
There is a narrow historical exception under Section 245(i): if a visa petition or labor certification was properly filed on your behalf on or before April 30, 2001, you may still be able to adjust despite an unlawful entry, on payment of a penalty and other conditions.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7, Part C, Chapter 2 – Grandfathering Requirements The 2001 cutoff makes this relevant to a shrinking group, but it is worth asking about if an older petition ever existed.
Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens also get more forgiveness on certain status violations that would sink a preference-category case. Serious grounds of inadmissibility — some criminal convictions, fraud, security concerns — still bar any applicant regardless of category.
What Goes in the Package
A concurrent filing has a lot of moving parts. Download current editions of every form from uscis.gov; USCIS rejects filings that use outdated editions.
The Core Forms
Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, is filed by the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident petitioner and establishes the qualifying family relationship.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative When the beneficiary is a spouse, that spouse also completes Form I-130A and submits it with the I-130.9USCIS. Instructions for Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, is filed by the person seeking the green card. It asks for a five-year history of addresses, employment, and trips outside the United States, plus the details of your most recent entry from your I-94 record.
Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, is the petitioner’s legally binding promise to support the applicant financially. The petitioner generally must show household income at or above 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or 100 percent if on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces sponsoring a spouse or child.10USCIS. Instructions for Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA Attach the petitioner’s most recent federal tax return or IRS transcript and recent pay stubs.
Proof of Status and Relationship
The petitioner proves U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status with a birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or valid green card. The family relationship is proven with primary documents: a marriage certificate for spouses; a birth certificate showing parental names for parent-child cases. If either party had a prior marriage, include the divorce decree or death certificate that ended it.
For marriage-based petitions, both the petitioner and the spouse beneficiary (if in the United States) submit two identical color passport-style photos taken within 30 days of filing, on a white or off-white background, with the name and A-Number lightly penciled on the back.9USCIS. Instructions for Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
Medical Exam
Most adjustment applicants must include Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, completed by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record USCIS now expects Form I-693 to be filed together with the I-485; leaving it out risks rejection of the whole application. The civil surgeon gives you the form in a sealed envelope, and you submit it — not the doctor’s office.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-693
Since November 2023, a completed I-693 is valid only while the application it was submitted with is pending. If your I-485 is denied or withdrawn, that exam is no longer good for any future filing.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Changes Validity Period for Any Form I-693 Signed on or After Nov. 1, 2023 The exam itself typically runs $200 to $500 before vaccinations, and insurance rarely covers it.
Any document in a foreign language must include a full English translation and a signed certification from the translator.
Fees and How to Pay
The fees add up. As of 2026, the main charges on the USCIS fee schedule are:
- Form I-485: $1,440 for applicants age 14 and older, with biometrics services included
- Form I-130: $675 on paper, or $625 if filed online separately
Both figures come from the current fee schedule.14USCIS. G-1055 Fee Schedule Since April 2024, the I-485 fee no longer bundles in Form I-765 (work permit) or Form I-131 (travel document); each is its own fee if you want them.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
Payment rules changed too. In late 2025 USCIS stopped accepting personal checks, money orders, and cashier’s checks for paper-filed forms outside a narrow exemption.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees For a mailed package, that leaves a credit or debit card via Form G-1450 or an ACH bank transfer via Form G-1650.17U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Modernize Fee Payments with Electronic Funds If you pay by card, place the G-1450 on top of the package and use a separate G-1450 for each form to avoid rejection.18U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Pay With a Credit Card by Mail
Adding Work and Travel Authorization
The main practical reason to file concurrently is that you can request work authorization and a travel document while the green card is pending. These are separate applications with separate fees, and they don’t happen automatically.
Form I-765 gets you an Employment Authorization Document, which allows you to work for any U.S. employer while the I-485 is pending. As of December 2025, USCIS reduced the maximum validity period for initial and renewal EADs in this category from five years to 18 months, so a renewal may be needed if your I-485 runs long.19U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Reduced Validity Periods for Newly Issued Employment Authorization Documents
Form I-131 produces an advance parole document, which lets you leave and reenter the United States without abandoning the pending I-485. Traveling without it will generally cause USCIS to treat your application as abandoned.20U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While Your Green Card Application Is Pending with USCIS Even with an approved advance parole, a Customs and Border Protection officer at the port of entry makes the final call on reentry.21U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travel Documents
Both forms can go in the concurrent package so everything travels together.
After You Mail the Package
The whole package goes to a USCIS Lockbox facility. Which one depends on your state, and USCIS keeps a chart of filing locations for family-based adjustment applications.22U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Lockbox Filing Locations Chart for Certain Family-Based Forms The address differs between USPS and private couriers like FedEx or UPS, so verify before shipping.
Once the Lockbox accepts your package, USCIS sends a Form I-797C receipt notice for each form.23U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action Each receipt carries a unique case number you can use to track status online. Keep them; you’ll need those numbers for every follow-up.
USCIS then schedules a biometrics appointment for fingerprints and a photograph. The fee is already inside the I-485 charge, so nothing extra is owed at that step.
Many applicants are scheduled for an in-person interview at a local field office. Marriage-based cases almost always get one. USCIS has discretion to waive interviews for some categories, including unmarried children under 21 of U.S. citizens and parents of U.S. citizens, but the waiver depends on the facts and cannot be requested.24U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 5 – Interview Guidelines
After the interview, or after reviewing the evidence if the interview is waived, USCIS issues a written decision. If the agency needs more, it sends a Request for Evidence with a deadline. Family-based adjustment cases generally take somewhere between 6 and 18 months from filing, though that range varies widely by field office and category.
If the I-130 Is Denied
The I-485 stands on the I-130 underneath it. If the petition is denied or withdrawn, USCIS denies the adjustment application too, and any EAD or advance parole document issued becomes invalid the same day. If the I-130 is rejected for a fixable issue such as a missing signature after the I-485 has already been receipted, you may be able to refile a corrected I-130 and ask USCIS to link it to the pending I-485 rather than start over. Move fast in that situation.
Conditional Green Cards for Recent Marriages
If your green card is based on marriage and you’ve been married less than two years when USCIS approves the I-485, you get conditional permanent resident status for two years rather than the standard 10-year card.25U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Removing Conditions on Permanent Residence Based on Marriage In the 90-day window before that status expires, you must file Form I-751 to remove the conditions, usually jointly with your spouse. Miss it and the conditional status expires along with your lawful permanent resident status. Concurrent filing feels like the finish line, but for a marriage under two years old at approval, one more step is waiting.