Form I-485 AOS Inventory Analysis

USCIS has released a schedule of the inventory of pending Form I-485, Application to Adjust Status.   The statistics are fairly recent - as of August 25, 2009 - and are very helpful to understanding the relative queue positions for adjustment of status applicants.

How Can I Determine My Place in the AOS Queue?

An AOS application’s preference category, priority date, and country of origin determine its place in line for a visa.  The earlier your priority date is, the closer you are to the front of the line.     The “Pending Employment-Based Form I-485 Report” displays the total number of pending adjustment of status applications, per preference classification. The report shows how many pending adjustment of status (green card) applications in each preference classification have priority dates in a given month and year.  You can use this chart to determine how many applicants in your preference classification have priority dates in the same month and year as your own.  Also, you can determine how many applicants in your preference classification are ahead of you in line for a visa number by adding together the number of cases with an earlier priority date than your own.

 Ensure That You Use The Report Relevant to Your AOS

All applicants for an employment-based green card may use the pending Form I-485 report to determine their place in line for a visa.  Because certain countries experience higher demand than others, applicants in these “oversubscribed” countries may move forward in line more slowly than applicants in countries experiencing less demand.  In other words, in order to obtain a visa, applicants in oversubscribed countries may need to have earlier priority dates than applicants in countries experiencing less demand.  Applicants in oversubscribed countries may therefore want to also refer to the report for their specific country of chargeability to determine where they stand in line with other applicants from that country.

Conclusion

We are pleased with USCIS’ efforts to provide more transparency by compiling and releasing the I-485 inventory data.  While we realize that for some of our clients and readers the inventory information will show that there is still a significant wait, the fact that AOS applicants can obtain some empirical estimate of their relative place in the processing queue is important.