Visa and More

US consulate or adjustment of status in the US? There are two ways of securing yourself a permanent residence status in the US as soon as your immigration status has been confirmed, e.g. if you have won the green card lottery.

One way is the Consular Processing, the other one the Adjustment of Status. The difference are your whereabouts. If you are in your home country, you should use the consular processing. If you are in the US when you receive your winner's notification, you may choose between both options.

If you choose the adjustment of status, US immigration services BCIS will forward your documents to the National Visa Center that will compile an application package for you. This is the same package this year's winners received from us together with the winners' notification.

For the consular processing, the Kentucky Consular Center will inform the appropriate US consulate abroad - in Germany this would be Frankfurt on Main - with which it will coordinate the interview. They will later send you the application package for the interview with information for the necessary medical check-up and the list of physicians who may do this. The consular processing used to be the fastest way of getting a green card issued.

When adjustment of status was introduced as an alternative, it became popular in quite a short time. At the moment we are observing a development rather to the contrary. Due to the long processing times in the US at immigration services, but also because of one other technical reason that we will explain below.

Adjustment of status The adjustment will be done with form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status). Together with this you must submit documents such as the results of your medical check-up in the US, maybe an Affidavit of Support, your immigration permit and a copy of your passport. In case your family is supposed to receive green cards as well, you will have to provide documentation of your family relationships. This option has the advantage that you can use your green card status immediately after approval and thus don't have to leave the country. Until your status is approved you may already legally work in the US. You do not have to visit the US consulate in your home country and the process is also cheaper than the consular processing. You will rarely have to show up for an interview if your choose this option, in contrast to the consular processing where they are compulsory, mostly only for family-based immigration.

However, there are also some obvious disadvantages - while your application is pending, you have to apply for an advance parole if you want to leave the US. With a stay of less than one year the processing of the Travel Document as Advance Parole may overlap the actual necessary period of absence. After your adjustment of status has been approved, it may take a few months until the green card will be sent to you. If you will have to show up for an interview - contrary to expectations - you will get a stamp in your passport afterwards documenting your status. In case you don't need to show up for an interview you will receive a written notification that you can present to your local US immigration office. There you will get a stamp in your passport and a few months later you will receive your green card.

Spoilt for choice? It can be difficult to decide which of the two options makes most sense. The main advantage of the consular processing is that it is comparatively quick. Six to twelve months sounds better than one to three years depending on the respective office in the US. Since green cards won in the green lottery have to be issued within one year, it makes sense especially for green card lottery winners to return to their home country to visit the US consulate.

It is controversial whether both options might be used at the same time (and you can just accept the first approval). Formally, US immigration does not have special regulations prohibiting this procedure. However, in such cases it will often point out that you have formally cancelled the adjustment of status procedure. This will happen if, during the adjustment process the office gets a request to fax an approval notice to the US consulate in order to start the consular processing.

ATTENTION: ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS IS NOT A VISA

As we have mentioned above, you may immediately start working in the US after you have submitted the adjustment of status application and received the stamp in your passport. However, if you want to leave the US, e.g. to visit your home country you will have to apply for a US visa at your local US consulate. Otherwise you might not be admitted if you try to re-enter the US. The reason is that every non-American must have a valid visa irrespective of their actual status or purpose of stay. In case you are planning to visit your home country frequently you should probably choose the consular processing, because otherwise you will have to start two application processes for the same purpose. How ever, in that case the consular process is available in a simplified version.