What is the difference between the immigration visa procedure of the consulate and the I-485 status adjustment?

As we all know, American green card application is generally divided into two stages. The first stage is called immigration application, that is, relatives I- 130 or professional immigrants I- 140 or I-526, and the corresponding supporting materials are submitted. The second stage is called identity adjustment, that is, non-immigrant status (such as F- 1, H- 1, L- 1, etc. ) adjusted to immigration status (that is, green card). Therefore, it can be said that identity adjustment is the last step of the entire American green card application. These two stages are more obvious in those immigrant categories with a scheduled period, and the consulate immigrant visa procedure should also start here.

Free study abroad assessment, free immigration assessment and free visa assessment.

First of all, identity adjustment is divided into two modes:

First, if the applicant has an immigrant visa quota after the immigration application is approved, and the applicant has legal status in the United States or meets some special conditions without legal status, he can adjust his status by submitting the I-485 form. As we know, for immigration categories without schedules (such as EB- 1, EB-2 in some countries, immediate family members of American citizens), if applicants apply in the United States, they can submit their immigration applications and I-485 at the same time.

Secondly, especially for the scheduled immigration category, the applicant is likely to leave the United States or submit an immigration application outside the United States before the immigration visa is available, because he has no legal status. In any case, if the applicant cannot return to the United States to adjust his status after obtaining the immigrant visa, then he needs to go through the immigration visa formalities at the consulate. For China applicants, after the application materials are approved, they will go to the US Consulate General in China for an interview and get an immigrant visa. Consular immigrant visa procedure refers to the procedure for immigrant beneficiaries to apply for immigrant visas at consulates outside the United States after their immigration applications are approved and the number of immigrant visas is complete.

So, what's the difference between the immigration visa procedure of the consulate and the I-485 status adjustment?

Consular immigrant visa procedures are different from I-485 status adjustment.

The need for consular procedures means that foreigners have reached the last step to get a green card. Once the green card application is approved through the consulate procedure, the foreigner will obtain permanent resident status in the United States. Compared with the application for identity adjustment, one advantage of the consulate processing procedure is that the processing time is short. Generally, the processing procedure of the consulate only takes 5 to 13 months, while the processing of the application for adjustment of identity generally takes/kloc-0 to 2 years.