ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The applicant must have been:

• Inspected and admitted into the United States; or
• Inspected and paroled into the United States.
• physically present in the United States at the time of filing and adjudication of an adjustment application.
• eligible to receive an immigrant visa.
• has an immigrant visa immediately available when he or she files the adjustment of status application and at the time of final adjudication.
• is not subject to any applicable bars to adjustment of status.
• is admissible to the United States or eligible for a waiver of inadmissibility or other form of relief.
• The applicant merits the favorable exercise of discretion.

1. Inspected and Admitted or Inspected and Paroled

SIJs are not exempt from the general adjustment requirement that applicants be inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled¹. However, the INA expressly states that SIJs are considered paroled into the United States for purposes of adjustment under INA 245(a). Accordingly, the beneficiary of an approved SIJ petition is treated for purposes of the adjustment application as if the beneficiary has been paroled, regardless of the beneficiary’s manner of arrival in the United States².

2. Eligibility to Receive an Immigrant Visa

An applicant must be eligible to receive an immigrant visa to adjust status.³ An adjustment applicant typically establishes eligibility for an immigrant visa through an approved immigrant petition. An SIJ can establish eligibility for an immigrant visa by obtaining classification from USCIS by filing an SIJ-based Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Form I-360) (SIJ petition)⁴.

Therefore, in order for an SIJ-based adjustment applicant to be eligible to receive an immigrant visa, he or she must be one of the following:

• The applicant is the beneficiary of an approved Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Form I-360) classifying him or her as an SIJ;
• The applicant has a pending Form I-360 (that is ultimately approved); or
• The applicant is filing the adjustment application concurrently with the Form I-360 (and the Form I-360 is ultimately approved).

The SIJ petition should already be adjudicated and approved when the officer adjudicates the adjustment application. USCIS does not re-adjudicate the SIJ petition at the time of the adjudication of the adjustment application but the officer will ensure that the applicant remains classified as a special immigrant juvenile and thus is eligible to adjust based on that petition.

Revocation of Approved Petition

USCIS may revoke an approved SIJ petition upon notice for what it deems to be good and sufficient cause, such as, if the record contains evidence or information that materially conflicts with the evidence or information that was the basis for petitioner’s eligibility for SIJ classification. 

Automatic Revocation of Approved Petition

USCIS automatically revokes an approved SIJ petition, as of the date of approval, if any one of the circumstances below occurs before a decision on the adjustment application is issued:

• Reunification of the petitioner with one or both parents by virtue of a juvenile court order, where a juvenile court previously deemed reunification with that parent, or both parents, not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis under state law; or
• Reversal by the juvenile court of the determination that it would not be in the petitioner’s best interest to be returned (to a placement) to the petitioner’s or the petitioner’s parent’s country of nationality or last habitual residence.

3. Bars to Adjustment

An applicant classified as an SIJ is barred from adjustment if deportable due to engagement in terrorist activity or association with terrorist organizations. There is no waiver of or exemption to this adjustment bar if it applies. Therefore, if the terrorist-related bar to adjustment applies, an SIJ is ineligible for adjustment of status.

4. Admissibility and Waiver Requirements

An applicant who is inadmissible to the United States may only obtain LPR status only after obtaining a waiver or other form of relief, if available. SIJS Applicants for adjustment are exempt from several grounds of inadmissibility and do not require a waiver for those grounds.

Inadmissibility Grounds that Do Not Apply to Special Immigrant Juveniles
INA 212(a)(4)	Public Charge
INA 212(a)(5)(A)	Labor Certification
INA 212(a)(6)(A)	Present without admission or parole
INA 212(a)(6)(C)	Misrepresentation
INA 212(a)(6)(D)	Stowaways
INA 212(a)(7)(A)	Documentation Requirements for Immigrants
INA 212(a)(9)(B)	Unlawful Presence

Inadmissibility Grounds that Apply to Special Immigrant Juveniles
INA 212(a)(1)	Health-Related
INA 212(a)(2)	Crime-Related
INA 212(a)(3)	Security-Related
INA 212(a)(6)(B)	Failure to Attend Removal Proceedings
INA 212(a)(6)(E)	Smugglers
INA 212(a)(6)(F)	Subject of Civil Penalty
INA 212(a)(6)(G)	Student Visa Abusers
INA 212(a)(8)	Ineligibility for Citizenship
INA 212(a)(9)(A)	Certain Aliens Previously Removed
INA 212(a)(9)(C)	Aliens Unlawfully Present After Previous Immigration Violations
INA 212(a)(10)	Practicing Polygamists, Guardians Required to Accompany Helpless Persons, International Child Abductors, Unlawful Voters, and Former Citizens who Renounced Citizenship to Avoid Taxation

An applicant found inadmissible based on any of the above applicable grounds may be eligible for an SIJ-specific waiver of these inadmissibility grounds for:

• Humanitarian purposes;
• Family unity; or
• When it is otherwise in the public interest.

Inadmissibility Grounds that Cannot Be Waived
INA 212(a)(2)(A)	Conviction of Certain Crimes
INA 212(a)(2)(B)	Multiple Criminal Convictions
INA 212(a)(2)(C)	Controlled Substance Traffickers
INA 212(a)(3)(A)	Security and Related Grounds
INA 212(a)(3)(B)	Terrorist Activities
INA 212(a)(3)(C)	Foreign Policy Related
INA 212(a)(3)(E)	Participants in Nazi Persecution, Genocide, or the Commission of Any Act of Torture or Extrajudicial Killing

Documentation and Evidence

An applicant should submit the following documentation to adjust status as an SIJ⁵:

• Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (Form I-485); 
• Copy of the receipt or approval notice (Form I-797) for the applicant’s SIJ petition (unless the applicant is filing the petition together with Form I-485);
• Two passport-style photographs;
• Copy of government-issued identity document with photograph (if available);
• Copy of birth certificate or other evidence of birth;
• Copy of passport page with nonimmigrant visa (if applicable);
• Copy of passport page with admission or parole stamp (if applicable);
• Copy of Arrival/Departure Record (Form I-94) or copy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) admission or parole stamp on the travel document (if applicable);
• Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record (Form I-693);
• Certified police and court records of juvenile delinquency findings, criminal charges, arrests, or convictions (if applicable);
• Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Form I-601) or other form of relief (if applicable); and
• Documentation of past or present J-1 or J-2 nonimmigrant status, including proof of compliance with or waiver of the 2-year foreign residence requirement under INA 212(e) (if applicable).

AUTHORITY

INA §245(h) [link]

Application with respect to special immigrants

In applying this section to a special immigrant described in section 1101(a)(27)(J) of this title-

(1) such an immigrant shall be deemed, for purposes of subsection (a), to have been paroled into the United States; and

(2) in determining the alien’s admissibility as an immigrant-

(A) paragraphs (4), (5)(A), (6)(A), (6)(C), (6)(D), (7)(A), and (9)(B) of section 1182(a) of this title shall not apply; and

(B) the Attorney General may waive other paragraphs of section 1182(a) of this title (other than paragraphs (2)(A), (2)(B), (2)(C) (except for so much of such paragraph as related to a single offense of simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana), (3)(A), (3)(B), (3)(C), and (3)(E)) in the case of individual aliens for humanitarian purposes, family unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest.

The relationship between an alien and the alien’s natural parents or prior adoptive parents shall not be considered a factor in making a waiver under paragraph (2)(B). Nothing in this subsection or section 1101(a)(27)(J) of this title shall be construed as authorizing an alien to apply for admission or be admitted to the United States in order to obtain special immigrant status described in such section.

8 CFR 245.1(e)(3) [link]

Special immigrant juveniles —

(i) Eligibility for adjustment of status. For the limited purpose of meeting one of the eligibility requirements for adjustment of status under section 245(a) of the Act, which requires that an individual be inspected and admitted or paroled, an applicant classified as a special immigrant juvenile under section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Act will be deemed to have been paroled into the United States as provided in § 245.1(a) and section 245(h) of the Act.

(ii) Bars to adjustment. An applicant classified as a special immigrant juvenile is subject only to the adjustment bar described in section 245(c)(6) of the Act. Therefore, an applicant classified as a special immigrant juvenile is barred from adjustment if deportable due to engagement in terrorist activity or association with terrorist organizations (section 237(a)(4)(B) of the Act). There is no waiver of or exemption to this adjustment bar if it applies.

CLASS OF ADMISSION

Special Immigrant Juveniles are typically admitted with the Admission Code SL6.

ADJUDICATION BY USCIS

The USCIS Policy Manual explains the process at Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6.⁶

General Guidelines for Adjudication of Adjustment of Status Application
Verify underlying basis
Determine ongoing eligibility
Verify visa availability (if applicable)
Determine admissibility
Determine if favorable discretion is warranted (if applicable)

FOOTNOTES

1. See INA 245(a). See 8 CFR 245.1(e)(3). See Part B, 245(a) Adjustment, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements, Section A, “Inspected and Admitted” or “Inspected and Paroled” [7 USCIS-PM B.2(A)]. ↩︎
2. See INA 245(h)(1). See 8 CFR 245.1(e)(3)(i). ↩︎
3. See Part A, Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures, Chapter 6, Adjudicative Review [7 USCIS-PM A.6] and Part B, 245(a) Adjustment, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements, Section C, Eligible to Receive an Immigrant Visa [7 USCIS-PM B.2(C)]. See also INA 245(a)(2). ↩︎
4. To see what requirements applicants must meet to obtain such classification, see Volume 6, Immigrants, Part J, Special Immigrant Juveniles, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements [6 USCIS-PM J.2]. ↩︎
5. For information about limitations on additional evidence, see Volume 6, Immigrants, Part J, Special Immigrant Juveniles, Chapter 3, Documentation and Evidence, Section B, Limitations on Additional Evidence [6 USCIS-PM J.3(B)]. ↩︎
6. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7, Part a, Chapter 6. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-a-chapter-6 ↩︎