Cuban Adjustment Act Requirements for a Green Card

To get a green card under the Cuban Adjustment Act, you must be a native or citizen of Cuba, have been inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States at any point after January 1, 1959, have been physically present in the country for at least one year before filing, and be admissible for permanent residence or eligible for a waiver. Those are the Cuban Adjustment Act green card requirements at their core. The rest of the work is documenting each piece, filing the right forms with the right fees, and avoiding the mistakes that sink otherwise strong cases.¹

Who Qualifies

Three requirements decide whether you can file at all:

You are a native or citizen of Cuba.
You were inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States after January 1, 1959.²
You have been physically present in the United States for at least one year at the time you file Form I-485.¹

You also need to be admissible to the United States for permanent residence, or eligible for a waiver of any ground of inadmissibility that applies to you. That admissibility screen is where a lot of applicants run into trouble, so it is worth understanding what the Cuban Adjustment Act waives and what it does not.

Spouses and Children

The Act extends to the spouse and unmarried children under 21 of the qualifying Cuban applicant, even when those family members are not Cuban citizens themselves.³ Stepchildren, adopted children, and children born outside marriage can qualify if the parent-child relationship meets the Immigration and Nationality Act’s definition of “child.”

Family members must satisfy the same three core requirements the principal does, plus two extras: the marriage or parent-child relationship must still exist when USCIS decides the case, and the family member must be residing with the principal in the United States.⁴ The one-year physical presence clock runs for each person individually.

One boundary worth flagging: if you are a spouse or child who experienced abuse or extreme cruelty by the Cuban principal, VAWA amendments to the CAA relax the “still married” and “living together” rules. You may still qualify after divorce or the principal’s death within the past two years, and you do not have to currently reside with the abuser. Any credible evidence of the abuse can support the claim.⁵

What the Act Waives, and What It Does Not

Every green card case gets screened for inadmissibility: criminal history, health conditions, prior immigration violations, and more. CAA applicants are subject to nearly all of those grounds, but the statute exempts three:¹

Public charge. USCIS will not deny your application based on the likelihood you would use government benefits.
Labor certification. You do not need a job offer or Department of Labor certification.
Immigrant visa documentation. You do not need to present the immigrant visa documents other categories require.

If a different ground of inadmissibility applies to you, such as certain criminal convictions or a prior removal order, you can apply for a waiver using Form I-601 or, for prior removals, Form I-212. A granted waiver does not guarantee approval. USCIS still has to decide that your case warrants a favorable exercise of discretion.

What You File

The application centers on Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.⁶ Everything else in the package exists to prove what the form asserts. An incomplete package gets rejected before an officer looks at the merits.

Proof of Cuban Nationality and Lawful Entry

To show you are a native or citizen of Cuba, submit a valid Cuban passport or a Cuban Civil Registry birth certificate. To show lawful entry, submit your Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, which you can pull from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s online system.⁷

Proof of One Year of Physical Presence

Cover the full twelve months before your filing date with overlapping records: leases, utility bills, employment records, school transcripts, bank statements. Gaps invite questions from the reviewing officer.

Medical Exam and Photos

As of December 2, 2024, USCIS requires Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, to be filed together with Form I-485. Filing the I-485 without the I-693 can get the whole package rejected.⁸ Only a USCIS-designated civil surgeon can complete the exam. Include two recent identical passport-style color photos.⁹

Fees

The Form I-485 filing fee is $1,440 for applicants 14 and older, and $950 for children under 14 in certain conditions. Biometrics is now bundled into the filing fee rather than charged separately.¹⁰ If you plan to file Form I-765 for work authorization or Form I-131 for a travel document alongside the I-485, check current fees for those forms on the USCIS fee schedule before mailing anything. Fees change.

After You File

USCIS mails a receipt notice with a case number after it accepts your filing. That receipt is proof your case is in the system. Next comes a biometrics appointment for fingerprints and a digital photo. Some CAA applicants are called in for an interview and some are not, but prepare as if you will be. USCIS then issues a written decision by mail. Keep your address updated the entire time. A decision sent to an old address can cause real problems.

Working and Traveling While Your Case Is Pending

A pending I-485 by itself does not let you work or travel abroad. For work authorization, file Form I-765 under category (c)(9), either with the I-485 or while it is pending. An EAD based on a pending I-485 can be valid for up to five years.¹

Travel is where applicants make the costliest mistakes. If you leave the country while your I-485 is pending without first obtaining advance parole through Form I-131, USCIS generally treats the application as abandoned.¹¹ File the I-131 and wait for approval before you book any international flights.

The 30-Month Rollback

The CAA does something no other green card category does: it backdates your permanent residence. The effective date of your lawful permanent resident status is set at 30 months before whichever is later, the filing date of your I-485 or the date of your last arrival in the United States.¹²

That matters for citizenship. Naturalization normally requires five years as a permanent resident, and the rollback can shave up to 30 months off that clock. The rollback covers derivative family members too, not just the Cuban principal.

The 2026 Discretion Memo

In May 2026, USCIS issued a policy memorandum reminding officers that adjustment of status under the INA is “extraordinary discretionary relief” and that consular processing abroad is the default path for immigrant visas.¹³ Officers are told to weigh that framing when deciding whether an applicant deserves a favorable exercise of discretion.

The Cuban Adjustment Act runs on its own statutory authority, not the general INA adjustment provision, and the memo does not mention CAA cases. But the CAA text still gives USCIS discretion to approve or deny. How much of the new emphasis officers carry into CAA decisions is not yet clear. If you are filing now, build the record as though discretion matters: documented ties, clean history where possible, and a clear explanation for anything that might raise a question. Talking with an immigration attorney about the discretionary standard before you file is worth the time.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for a Cuban Native or Citizen
2
GovInfo. Public Law 89-732 – To Adjust the Status of Cuban Refugees to That of Lawful Permanent Residents
3
Office of Refugee Resettlement. State Letter 07-14 – Cuban Parolee and Non-Cuban Spouse or Non-Cuban Child
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjudicators Field Manual – Chapter 23 Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Resident
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. VAWA Amendments to the Cuban Adjustment Act
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
7
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Website
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Now Requires Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record to Be Submitted
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While Your Green Card Application Is Pending with USCIS
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Alert – Effective LPR Date
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 – Adjustment of Status and Discretion