Adjustment of status or consular processing: what changes in cost and time
Choose family or employment and the number of people immigrating to compare the government fees of the two routes.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and past error
Fees: adjusting in the U.S. or going through a consulate
Consular route saves
$1,650
| Adjustment of status (with work and travel permits) | $3,005 |
| Consular processing | $1,355 |
Travel, the medical exam and time away from work are not counted.
A green card can be finished in two ways. Adjustment of status means filing Form I-485 with USCIS from inside the United States, usually with a work permit and travel document while it is pending; consular processing means an immigrant visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad, then entry as a permanent resident. In government fees the consular route is cheaper: for one person in a family case, adjustment with the work and travel permits costs $3,005 on paper under the G-1055 fee schedule, against $1,355 for the I-130, the State Department fees and the USCIS Immigrant Fee abroad. Time is harder to compare. USCIS publishes its processing times, about 12.4 months on average for a family I-485 in the Invalid Date report to Congress, and a range for each field office. The State Department does not publish a consulate-by-consulate interview wait that can be read as a number, so any total for the consular route has a blank in it.
Same petition, two endings
Both routes start the same way, with an approved I-130 or I-140 and, in a preference category, a priority date that has to reach the cutoff. The split comes at the end. In adjustment of status the applicant files Form I-485 with USCIS, gives fingerprints, may be interviewed at a USCIS field office, and receives the card by mail. In consular processing the approved petition goes to the State Department’s National Visa Center, the applicant files Form DS-260 online and sends civil documents, then interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate in the home country. The State Department’s immigrant visa process lays out those steps.
The fees, line by line
All amounts below come from our fee engine, which reads the USCIS G-1055 fee schedule and the State Department visa fees. Adjustment figures assume paper filing with the work permit (I-765) and advance parole (I-131); the family of three is two adults and a child under 14.
| Route | One person | Family of three | Paid to USCIS (one person) | Paid to the State Department (one person) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family, adjustment of status | $3,005 | $7,175 | $3,005 | $0 |
| Family, consular processing | $1,355 | $2,475 | $910 | $445 |
| Employment, adjustment of status | $3,645 | $7,815 | $3,645 | $0 |
| Employment, consular processing | $1,895 | $3,055 | $1,550 | $345 |
For one person in a family case, the consular route saves $1,650 in fees. Much of that gap is the work permit and travel document: an adjustment applicant who skips them pays $2,115, still more than abroad, because the I-485 fee is larger than the State Department fees plus the USCIS Immigrant Fee. The gap grows with family size on paper, but the consular column hides a cost per traveler: flights, a stay near the consulate, the panel physician and days away from work. For a family of three, those costs can erase the saving. Employment rows include the I-140 and its Asylum Program Fee, which the employer usually pays.
The time that is published
USCIS publishes how long it takes. In its report to Congress for Invalid Date, the average was 12.4 months for a family I-485, 11.8 months for an employment I-485 and 18.1 months for an I-130. Field offices differ widely; the range below is the one USCIS shows for a family I-485, the upper end being the time within which it says it completes 80% of cases.
| USCIS field office | Family I-485, months |
|---|---|
| Houston, TX | 18.0 to 36.0 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 15.0 to 37.0 |
| Chicago, IL | 18.5 to 40.5 |
| New York City, NY | 14.5 to 33.5 |
| Miami, FL | 21.5 to 40.0 |
| Harlingen, TX | 11.0 to 23.0 |
The full list is on the family I-485 processing time page, with the open data behind it.
The time that is not published
For consular processing two waits stack up after the priority date is current: the National Visa Center’s review of the file, and the consulate’s scheduling of the interview. The State Department does not release either one consulate by consulate as a figure that can be compared, month after month, the way USCIS does. We do not estimate it and we do not borrow numbers from forums. Our calculator therefore shows, for the consular route, where the priority date stands and what the fees are, then leaves the interview wait blank with a note. A site that prints a consulate wait in months is showing a guess.
How the bulletin works on each side
The approval follows the Final Action Date on both routes. The waiting room differs. Inside the United States, USCIS designates each month on its filing charts page which chart it accepts for the I-485: in October 2026 it is the Dates for Filing chart for family cases. An applicant who files early gets a pending I-485, a work permit and permission to travel, and waits at home and at work. Abroad, the Dates for Filing chart tells the National Visa Center when to collect documents, but the interview waits for the Final Action Date, and life goes on in the home country. See the two charts for the monthly detail.
Children close to 21 and the one-year step
For a son or daughter protected by the Child Status Protection Act, the route changes the act that counts. The Policy Manual accepts a properly filed I-485 inside the United States, or, abroad, a completed Part 1 of Form DS-260, payment of the immigrant visa fee or payment of the affidavit of support review fee to the State Department. Any of these must happen within one year of the date the visa became available. Families who plan to interview abroad sometimes wait for the National Visa Center to write first, and lose months they did not have. The CSPA guide explains the age calculation.
Employment cases: a job change in the middle
An employment applicant whose I-485 has been pending 180 days can, under the AC21 portability rule, move to a same or similar job without starting over; the portability guide covers the conditions. Abroad there is no pending application to carry, so the offer from the sponsoring employer has to hold until the visa is issued.
What arrives at the end
An approved adjustment ends with a card in the mail. A consular case ends with an immigrant visa in the passport; before travel the new immigrant pays the USCIS Immigrant Fee, which covers the production of the card, and the card is mailed after entry to the United States.
What the choice does not decide
A family does not always have a choice. Adjustment requires being in the United States and meeting conditions that depend on the category and the person’s immigration history. Leaving for a consular interview can have consequences that also depend on that history. Those are legal questions, not fee questions. Before anyone files an I-485 or books a flight to an interview, a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative should review the case. The fees and times on this page are public data; they are not legal advice, and we are not affiliated with USCIS or the State Department.
The short version, in numbers
- Fees for one family applicant: $3,005 adjusting with permits, $2,115 without them, $1,355 abroad.
- Published wait after the date is current: USCIS family I-485 at your office, from the table above.
- Unpublished wait: the consulate’s interview scheduling.
- Same rule on both routes: no approval before the Final Action Date.
Our consular processing cost page and marriage green card cost page break each total into forms.