USCIS November Green Card Changes Could Affect Form I-485 Grace Period

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) changed the mailing locations for Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, on October 7, 2026. Applicants sending paper applications must use the address that matches their reason for filing.

The agency is allowing a 30-day grace period for applications sent to earlier locations. It will accept those filings if they were postmarked on or before November 9, 2026.

The transition covers mailed applications. Applicants filing online, where eligible, use a USCIS Online Account rather than a mailing address.

After the transition, sending an application to an old location risks rejection or relocation at the agency’s discretion. A rejected filing does not keep its original filing date.

Mailed applicants must match the address to their filing basis

Applicants should check the agency’s direct filing-address page and select the address based on the basis for adjustment. The correct destination can differ by filing category.

The agency’s filing policy requires an application to reach the correct location or be submitted through an online account. A rejected application is returned and does not retain a filing date. That can affect when an applicant is considered to have filed.

The current form edition and medical packet have separate requirements

The address transition does not extend the acceptance of older form editions. The current edition is dated 09/18/26; the agency rejects the 01/20/25 and 09/04/26 editions when submitted on or after September 18, 2026. There is no edition grace period.

Applicants printing the form must ensure the edition date and page numbers appear at the bottom of every page, and that all pages come from the same edition. The revised form followed a final rule on the public-charge ground of inadmissibility.

The required medical form also depends on the filing method. Mail applicants must include the civil surgeon’s original sealed Form I-693 envelope. Online applicants must open that envelope and upload the completed medical form with the application, then keep both the original form and envelope until a decision. The agency may request them or review them at an interview.

Online filing remains limited to certain applicants and representatives. A law-firm guide says that, as of April 23, 2026, some employment-based applicants could file online; many family-based applicants and people filing with an initial petition still use mail.

The listed 2026 filing fee is $1,440 by mail or $1,390 online for applicants 14 and older. Each derivative family member needs a separate application and fee; the form instructions allow lower fees or waivers in some situations.

November filing eligibility largely holds steady

The November 2026 Visa Bulletin’s Dates for Filing chart governs whether employment-based applicants may file now, including for employment authorization and advance parole eligibility. Applicants who qualified to file in October remain eligible the following month.

There was no movement from October in the filing chart except EB-3 Other Workers for all chargeability and Mexico. Those categories advanced to July 1, 2022. The Final Action Dates chart, by contrast, determines when a case can receive final approval.

Public-charge and injunction rules explain the edition change

A final Department of Homeland Security rule rescinding the 2022 public-charge regulations took effect on September 18, 2026. Under Policy Alert PA-2026-09, applications submitted from December 23, 2022, through the day before that change are adjudicated under the 2022 regulations.

For cases reviewed under the newer approach, officers consider age, health, family status, assets and financial status, and education and skills. They may also weigh other relevant circumstances, including means-tested benefits such as cash assistance, housing assistance, food stamps or college financial aid.

Benefits received before the rule’s effective date count only if they were cash assistance for income maintenance or long-term institutionalization at government expense. For benefits received on or after the change, officers may consider any means-tested public benefit. Decisions turn on the totality of circumstances. Priority workers, professionals with advanced degrees and people with exceptional ability, including national interest waiver applicants, remain subject to public-charge review unless exempt.

An earlier form revision had a separate legal obstacle. On September 4, 2026, the agency published an interim final rule concerning permanent residence for children born in the United States to foreign government employees, along with the 09/04/26 form edition. In Casa Inc. v. Trump, No. 8:25-cv-00201 (D. Md. Sep. 2, 2026), a preliminary injunction bars implementation against members of the certified class and any action that conflicts with the order, unless the government obtains relief.

A May 2026 policy memorandum, PM-602-0199, separately directed officers to treat adjustment under INA Section 245 as discretionary and “extraordinary.” It calls for heightened scrutiny and weighing positive and negative factors across the circumstances. The memo did not repeal the statute or eliminate the application. It places dual-intent visa holders, including H-1B and L-1 workers, in a comparatively stronger position than applicants in single-intent categories or with prior status issues. The agency’s adjustment guidance is primarily in Volume 7 of its Policy Manual.

Applicants should also distinguish filing eligibility from approval. The agency generally uses the Final Action Dates chart unless it determines visas are available for additional filings and allows the Dates for Filing chart instead. Premium processing is not available for the adjustment application, and an approval alone does not deliver a green card until the priority date is current under the Final Action Dates chart.