Immigration: Adjustment to Permanent Resident Status Under Section 245(i) Page: 4 of 12
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Immigration: Adjustment to
Permanent Resident Status
Under Section 245(i)
Obtaining Legal Permanent Residence
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended,' immigrants are
aliens who are lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. They
are also referred to as legal permanent residents (LPRs). They either arrive in the
United States with immigrant visas issued abroad (and become LPRs upon
admission), or they adjust their immigration status to permanent resident status in the
United States. Adjustment of status is the process under immigration law by which
an eligible alien in the United States obtains LPR status without leaving the country.
Most aliens who become LPRs are eligible for that status on the basis of a close
family relationship to a U.S. citizen or LPR (family-sponsored immigration), job
skills needed by a U.S. employer (employment-based immigration), or humanitarian
circumstances. Family-sponsored and employment-based permanent immigration are
both subject to a complex set of numerical limits and preference categories.2 Among
family-sponsored immigrants, only the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens - minor
children, spouses, and parents if the citizen is at least age 21 - are admitted outside
the preference system and are not subject to direct numerical limits. Within the
family-sponsored preference system, there are four preference categories. First
preference, for example, is given to the unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S.
citizens. Employment-based immigration is subject to a similar ranked system with
five preference categories. Within the employment-based preference system, aliens
who are members of the professions with advanced degrees and aliens of exceptional
ability, for example, may petition under the second preference category.
The process of becoming an LPR on the basis of either a family relationship or
job skills has multiple steps. In the case of a prospective family-sponsored
immigrant, the sponsoring family member must first file an immigrant visa petition
on behalf of the alien with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). If the
petition is approved, the State Department then must determine if a visa number is
immediately available to the alien. Because of the numerical limits and their
allocation among the various preference categories and countries of origin, it can take
Act of June 27, 1952, ch. 477; 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq. INA is the basis of current
immigration law. For background, see: CRS Report RS20916, Immigration and
Naturalization Fundamentals, by Ruth Ellen Wasem.
2 Humanitarian immigrants will not be covered in this report because 245(i) does not apply
to them.
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Bruno, Andorra. Immigration: Adjustment to Permanent Resident Status Under Section 245(i), report, January 15, 2003; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc810294/m1/4/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.