How the SIJS Green Card Works After I-360 Approval

An approved Form I-360 is a classification, not a green card. The young person still has to apply for adjustment of status on Form I-485, and that application cannot be filed, or cannot be approved, until a visa number is available in the employment-based fourth preference category, known as EB-4. For nationals of some countries that wait has stretched for years. This post explains how the SIJS green card process runs from approval to permanent residence, which inadmissibility grounds fall away, and the one permanent tradeoff every family should understand before the first filing.

Why the SIJS green card runs through the EB-4 category

Congress placed special immigrant juveniles in the EB-4 category along with religious workers and certain other special immigrants. The category has an annual limit, and each country is also subject to a per-country cap. When demand exceeds supply, the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin sets a cutoff date, and only applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cutoff can move forward. For an SIJS beneficiary, the priority date is the date USCIS received the I-360.

The Visa Bulletin has two charts: Final Action Dates, which govern when a green card can be approved, and Dates for Filing, which USCIS sometimes allows applicants to use to submit the I-485 earlier. USCIS announces each month which chart applies. Our explainer on priority dates versus filing dates covers how to read the charts. Our SIJS adjustment of status practice tracks the bulletin for every approved client so the I-485 goes in the first month it can.

Filing Form I-485 as a special immigrant juvenile

When the priority date is current under the applicable chart, the young person files Form I-485 with USCIS. If the date is current on the day the I-360 is filed, the two forms can be filed together. The adjustment package includes the I-360 approval notice (or the pending receipt if filing concurrently), proof of identity and birth, the medical examination on Form I-693, passport photos, and evidence of any arrests or court involvement with certified dispositions. USCIS fee rules have treated SIJS adjustment applicants differently from most employment-based applicants, so confirm the current fee requirement on the form page before filing rather than assuming. The applicant may also file Form I-765 for work authorization and Form I-131 for advance parole while the I-485 is pending. Our general guide to completing Form I-485 covers the mechanics that apply to every adjustment applicant.

Inadmissibility grounds that do not apply

INA 245(h) is what makes SIJS adjustment different. The statute deems the special immigrant juvenile to have been paroled into the United States, which removes the usual requirement of a lawful admission. It then lists inadmissibility grounds that do not apply at all: public charge, the labor certification requirement, presence without admission, misrepresentation, stowaway status, lack of valid entry documents, and unlawful presence. A young person who crossed the border without inspection at age twelve, or who used a false document at entry, does not need a waiver for those facts.

For most other grounds, USCIS may grant a waiver for humanitarian purposes, family unity or the public interest, a standard that is more forgiving than the extreme hardship test used in family cases. The exceptions are the criminal and security grounds: most criminal inadmissibility grounds cannot be waived, with a narrow exception for a single simple possession offense involving a small amount of marijuana, and the security and terrorism grounds cannot be waived at all. A juvenile delinquency adjudication is generally not a conviction for immigration purposes, but an adult conviction, even a minor one, needs careful analysis before the I-485 is filed.

Keeping eligibility alive during the wait

The wait for a visa number is where cases quietly fall apart. The young person must remain unmarried until the I-360 is decided; talk to counsel before marrying at any point before the green card is issued. Travel outside the United States without advance parole can abandon a pending I-485 and can trigger problems at reentry, so we advise against it. Every address change must be reported to USCIS within ten days on Form AR-11, or notices about the I-485 may never arrive. Any arrest, even one that ends in dismissal, must be disclosed with certified records.

Work authorization during the wait is the open question. From 2022, USCIS considered deferred action and employment authorization for approved SIJS petitioners who could not yet adjust. That policy changed in 2025 and is in litigation as of this writing. We review each client’s options, which may include work authorization through a pending I-485 if the Dates for Filing chart allows an early filing.

The permanent tradeoff: no petition for parents

The statute provides that a person who obtains a green card through SIJS can never file a family petition for a natural parent or a prior adoptive parent. The bar covers the parent who abused or abandoned the child and the parent who did not. It does not lift when the SIJS recipient becomes a U.S. citizen. Families sometimes assume the non-offending mother in the United States can be sponsored later; under SIJS she cannot. Where that mother has another route, such as a petition from a different relative or her own humanitarian claim, we map it before the I-360 is filed. The bar does not affect petitions for a spouse, children or siblings, and it does not affect a parent’s ability to get status on her own through family-based immigration or another category.

After the green card

Permanent residence through SIJS is unconditional. The young person can work for any employer, travel with the green card and a passport, and apply for naturalization after five years as a permanent resident, subject to the usual residence and good moral character rules. The steps that led here are described from the beginning in our post on filing the Form I-360 SIJS petition.

If your child’s I-360 has been approved and you are watching the Visa Bulletin, or you want to understand the parent bar before filing, we can map the full path to the green card. Schedule a consultation.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this communication.

Attorney Sena Sahin. Clear advice for individuals, families, and business owners.

Need help with this topic? See our SIJS green card page or schedule a consultation.