How does an EB-5 investor”s family member adjust their status after I-526 approval?

The parents can proceed with the U.S. consulate in order to obtain their conditional permanent residency visas. Concurrently, you can file for adjustment to conditional permanent residency while in the United States and you are maintaining legal F-1 status in the United States.

You may be able to adjust your status in the United States, but it may be more straightforward to follow the U.S. consular process.

Upon I-526 approval, the petition file is sent to the U.S. embassy or consulate in the principal investor''s home country. The file is processed first at the National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, NH before being sent abroad. As a dependent, you may process with your family abroad, which will probably be faster. You may also wait until they are approved and enter the United States before you file your I-485 adjustment of status application.

You may process together with your parents through the consular process when the IV interview is scheduled or you may file for an adjustment of status in the United States after your mother''s approval. It is generally best to process together. Your mother''s attorney should be able to guide on this issue.

Once your mom receives I-526 approval, the U.S. State Dept. takes over from the consulate in her country. They send her a packet with documentation needed for her interview. If you are in the United States, you could process here. The question is since your F-1 visa was issued as a non-immigrant visa and you stated you had no intent to seek permanent residency, will they give you a hard time? When the approval comes through I would engage immigration counsel to advise you.

If you are under 21 years old and you are in the United States, you could file Form I-485 within the U.S. once your mother''s I-526 is approved. There are no separate forms for your mother to complete. You can apply directly. No need to join your mother in consular processing. However, if you are over 21, your mother''s I-526 approval would not bring immediate benefit to you. You would have to wait until your mother''s conditional green card is approved, then she could file a separate petition for you.

Your attorney who helped your mother with her I-526 should be able to explain this to you. As your mother is the principal investor and petitioner, if she is outside of United States and requested the consular processing in her petition, her immigrant visa application should be approved before you, as a derivative beneficiary, could file for I-485 adjustment. Since this immigrant visa through consulate processing will take time (at least six months), it may be faster for you to submit the immigrant visa application with your parents and go out to be interviewed with them and enter back.

You can stay in the United States and submit an I-485 adjustment of status petition, but only after your mother''s consular process is completed and her application is approved. Alternatively, if your mother travels to the United States, the two of you can submit I-485 together. The second approach is obviously the faster one. You will need proof of the approval of your mother''s consular process in your I-485 application.

Unless you process with your mom at the consulate (fastest), then you will need to wait until their process is complete and your mom is in the United State and then apply to adjust status. Best to process together although you can stay here until shortly before the interview is scheduled if you have legal status and are attending school.