What Are Forms I-140 and I-485: Filing Sequence and Fees

In employment-based Green Card sponsorship, Form I-140 and Form I-485 are the two main forms that move a foreign worker from a job offer to permanent residence. The I-140 is the Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, filed by a U.S. employer to prove that a permanent job exists and that the worker qualifies for it. The I-485 is the Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, filed by the worker to actually become a lawful permanent resident without leaving the country. The I-140 costs $715 by paper or $665 online, and the I-485 costs $1,440 for most adults. Total processing can stretch from months to years, largely depending on visa availability.

What the I-140 Does

Form I-140 classifies a foreign national as eligible for an employment-based immigrant visa under Section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.¹ It establishes two things: that a legitimate, permanent job exists, and that the worker meets the qualifications for it.

In most cases the employer is the petitioner and the foreign worker is the beneficiary. Before filing, the employer usually needs a certified labor certification (PERM) from the Department of Labor, confirming that no qualified U.S. workers are available for the position at the offered wage.² Two categories skip that step: EB-1 extraordinary ability and EB-2 national interest waiver.

Which category applies depends on the worker’s credentials and the job. EB-1 covers priority workers: people with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; and multinational executives or managers. Extraordinary ability applicants can self-petition without a job offer.³ EB-2 requires either an advanced degree or exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business; a bachelor’s degree plus five years of progressive experience counts as the equivalent of a master’s.⁴ EB-3 covers skilled workers whose jobs require at least two years of training, professionals whose jobs require a bachelor’s degree, and unskilled workers in positions requiring less than two years of training.⁵

The EB-2 National Interest Waiver is a second self-petition path. If you can show your work has substantial merit and national importance, that you are well positioned to advance it, and that waiving the job offer and labor certification requirements would benefit the United States, you can file the I-140 yourself.⁴ Researchers, entrepreneurs, and STEM professionals without a traditional employer relationship commonly use this route.

The employer’s evidence goes beyond the PERM. It must show a continuing ability to pay the offered wage from the priority date until the worker becomes a permanent resident, typically through annual reports, federal tax returns, or audited financial statements for each year since the priority date. Companies with 100 or more workers can substitute a statement from a financial officer.⁶ The worker contributes educational transcripts, diplomas, and letters from prior employers. Any foreign-language document needs a certified English translation, though the translator’s certification does not have to be notarized.

What the I-485 Does

Form I-485 lets a foreign national already inside the United States apply for a Green Card without leaving.⁷ You must be physically present in the U.S. to file it.⁸

Where the I-140 focuses on the job, the I-485 is personal. USCIS uses it to decide whether you are admissible on a permanent basis, screening for criminal history, health issues, national security concerns, and the public charge ground of inadmissibility. Public charge looks at whether you’re likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance, based on age, health, family situation, assets, and education.⁹ Approval produces the Permanent Resident Card.

The I-485 requires a completed Form I-693 medical examination performed and signed by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon; USCIS will not accept a form completed by any other doctor.¹⁰ Since November 2023, the medical exam is valid only while the I-485 it was submitted with is pending. If your I-485 is denied or withdrawn, a future filing needs a new exam.¹¹ Civil surgeon fees typically run $150 to $400 and are not covered by health insurance, with more on top for vaccinations or lab work.

You’ll also need birth certificates, government-issued IDs, passport-style photographs, and certified police and court records for any arrest or conviction.⁸ Part 8 of the form asks a long series of admissibility questions covering security concerns, public charge, and prior immigration violations. Your Alien Registration Number and priority date must appear accurately.

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can file their own I-485s as derivative beneficiaries riding on your I-140. Each files a separate application with its own fee. A derivative spouse includes a marriage certificate; children include proof of the parent-child relationship. A derivative I-485 generally cannot be approved until the principal applicant receives permanent resident status.⁸ Children who cross 21 during the wait may still qualify under the Child Status Protection Act, which subtracts the days the I-140 was pending from the child’s age when a visa becomes available.¹²

Filing Sequence and the Visa Bulletin

You cannot file the I-485 whenever you want. Employment-based immigrant visas are numerically limited, and when demand outstrips supply for a category and country, applicants wait for their priority date to become current in the Visa Bulletin published monthly by the Department of State.¹³

Your priority date is generally the date your PERM was filed with the Department of Labor, or the date the I-140 was filed if no labor certification was required. It locks in your place in line.

The Visa Bulletin has two charts, Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. Each month USCIS announces which one adjustment applicants should use. When it decides more visas are available than known applicants, it directs filers to the more generous Dates for Filing chart. Otherwise, the Final Action Dates chart controls.¹⁴ For applicants born in India or China, the wait for EB-2 and EB-3 can stretch years or decades.

When a visa number is immediately available, you can file the I-140 and I-485 together. USCIS calls this concurrent filing: both forms go to the same location with all fees and supporting documents.¹⁵ It also counts as concurrent if you submit the I-485 while the I-140 is still pending and a visa number remains available. Filing the I-485 early lets you apply for work authorization and travel documents while you wait, even before the I-140 is approved. If your category is backlogged, concurrent filing isn’t an option; you wait until your priority date becomes current.

Filing Fees and Related Costs

I-140: $715 paper, $665 online.¹⁶
I-485 for applicants over 14: $1,440 per person.
I-485 for children under 14 filing with a parent: $950.
Premium processing on the I-140: $2,965, effective March 1, 2026.¹⁷

For a family of three where two adults and one child under 14 file I-485s, the I-485 government fees alone total $3,830 before the I-140. Add medical exams ($150 to $400 per person), certified translations (commonly $20 to $25 per page), and attorney fees (often $5,000 to $15,000 or more for the full I-140 and I-485), and total out-of-pocket costs frequently reach five figures. Many employers cover the I-140 fee and some or all attorney costs, though that varies by company.

Premium Processing on the I-140

You can pay to speed up USCIS review of the I-140 by filing Form I-907. Premium processing does not apply to the I-485. Guaranteed timeframes depend on the category:

15 business days: EB-1A extraordinary ability, EB-1B outstanding professors and researchers, EB-2 without national interest waiver, EB-3 skilled workers, EB-3 professionals, and EB-3 other workers.¹⁸
45 business days: EB-1C multinational executives and managers, and EB-2 national interest waiver petitions.

Within the timeframe, USCIS will approve, deny, issue a request for evidence, issue a notice of intent to deny, or open a fraud investigation. If it misses the window, it refunds the fee and keeps working the case on an expedited basis. Premium processing accelerates the I-140 decision only; it does nothing to make a visa number available sooner if your category is backlogged.

After You File

USCIS sends an I-797C Notice of Action confirming receipt and giving you a case number for online status checks.¹⁹ The receipt notice is not an approval.

For the I-485, the next step is usually a biometrics appointment at a local Application Support Center for fingerprints, a photograph, and a signature, which feed FBI background and security checks.²⁰ USCIS may schedule an in-person interview, though many employment-based cases are decided without one; the waiver is a case-by-case call.²¹ If USCIS needs more, it issues a Request for Evidence or a Notice of Intent to Deny. You get 30 calendar days to respond to a NOID, plus three more if it was mailed to a domestic address.²² Missing that deadline can be fatal.

Working and Traveling While the I-485 Is Pending

A pending I-485 does not by itself authorize you to work or travel. To work, file Form I-765 under eligibility category (c)(9), the category for adjustment applicants.²³ The resulting Employment Authorization Document lets you work for any employer in any position. If you already hold H-1B status, you can keep working on the H-1B without an EAD, but the EAD adds flexibility.

Leaving the country with a pending I-485 without proper documentation will generally cause USCIS to treat the application as abandoned. To travel safely, you need Advance Parole through Form I-131.²⁴ There is an exception: if you hold valid H-1B or L-1 status with a corresponding valid visa stamp, you can travel and return without Advance Parole as long as you’re returning to work for the same sponsoring employer. H-4 and L-2 dependents get the same benefit.²⁵ For everyone else, get Advance Parole approved before booking a flight.

Changing Jobs and Keeping Your Priority Date

Long backlogs raise a natural fear of being stuck with the sponsoring employer for years. The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21) provides two protections that matter here.

Job portability. If your I-485 has been pending 180 days or more, you can port to a new job in the same or a similar occupational classification as the one listed on the original I-140. The new job can be with a different employer or self-employment. You confirm it by filing Form I-485 Supplement J.²⁶ The original I-140 must be either already approved or approvable at the time of the port. Same or similar is judged against the Standard Occupational Classification system. Software engineering to software engineering at a new company is straightforward; software engineering to restaurant management is not.²⁷

Priority date protection. If your I-140 has been approved for 180 days or more and the employer then withdraws it or goes out of business, the I-140 remains valid for priority date retention. If your I-485 has also been pending 180 days or more at the time of the withdrawal, you may still be eligible for portability under INA 204(j), as long as the petition wasn’t revoked on substantive grounds such as fraud. A new employer can file a fresh I-140, and you carry the original priority date forward.

If the Petition Is Denied

A denial of the I-140 cascades. When USCIS denies the employer’s I-140, it also denies any related pending I-485, EAD, and Advance Parole application that depended on it.²⁸ The worker generally cannot appeal directly because the employer is the petitioner; only the employer can file Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion. The deadline is 30 calendar days from the date USCIS served the denial, or 33 days if it was mailed.²⁹ Late appeals are rejected outright. USCIS may excuse a late motion to reopen if the delay was reasonable and beyond the filer’s control, but that is not something to rely on.

An I-485 denial is equally serious. Any authorized period of stay from your prior visa status still controls when unlawful presence begins to accrue. If you had already overstayed that period, unlawful presence starts accumulating immediately after the denial, which can trigger bars on future reentry.³⁰ Talk to an immigration attorney quickly if you want to preserve your options.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-140, Instructions for Petition for Alien Workers
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration Second Preference EB-2
5
U.S. Department of State. Employment-Based Immigrant Visas
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 4 – Ability to Pay
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-485, Instructions for Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
9
Federal Register. Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-693, Instructions for Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Changes Validity Period for Any Form I-693 Signed on or after Nov. 1, 2023
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)
13
U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin For March 2026
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485
16
USCIS. G-1055 Fee Schedule
17
Federal Register. Adjustment to Premium Processing Fees
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing
19
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797 Types and Functions
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Preparing for Your Biometric Services Appointment
21
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 5 – Interview Guidelines
22
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 6 – Evidence
23
USCIS. Form I-765, Instructions for Application for Employment Authorization
24
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
25
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. FAQs for Individuals in H-1B Nonimmigrant Status
26
USCIS. Form I-485, Instructions for Supplement J, Confirmation of Valid Job Offer or Request for Job Portability Under INA Section 204(j)
27
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 5 – Job Portability after Adjustment Filing and Other AC21 Provisions
28
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition Filing and Processing Procedures for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
29
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-290B, Instructions for Notice of Appeal or Motion
30
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility