If you are a derivative spouse or child of a principal applicant whose I-485 has been approved, but yours is still pending, you may now ask CIS Ombudsman to look into your case. His office will investigate whether your cases have been separated incidentally.

Usually dependents’ adjustment of status (green card) applications are approved together with the primary application, or within a short period of time. Sometimes, however, there may be a significant delay of several months or more. This could be caused by additional processing of RFE, prolonged security checks, etc. If this is the case there is not much you can do rather than waiting.

However, sometimes the delay is caused by the separation of your AOS application from your spouse’s or parent’s I-485. In this case you really want to contact USCIS and bring up the matter with the service center.

The CIS Ombudsman is now looking into this issue. In an update posted today, the Ombudsman asks that if 30 days have passed after a principal’s I-485 was approved, and your derivative I-485 is still pending, you may send a request to his office for investigation. To do so, you should submit the following evidence to cisombudsman.publicaffairs@dhs.gov:

• DHS Form 7001,
• A scanned copy of the principal applicant’s I-485 approval notice,
• A scanned copy of the Form I-485 receipt notice for the derivative,
• A scanned copy of the I-140 immigrant petition approval notice (if employment-based), and
• Any other evidence that is pertinent to the case.

In your email, please note in the subject line: “Unapproved Derivative I-485.”

If the Ombudsman does help you obtain I-485 approval, please leave a comment below or send us an email.