Adjustment of status cost - the full I-485 price to budget for in 2026

The adjustment of status cost is more than the single I-485 filing fee most applicants have in mind. Adjustment of status is the process of applying for a green card, and permanent residence, while you're already inside the United States, and the true out-of-pocket for that stage stacks up a government filing fee, a medical exam, optional work and travel permits, and professional help. If you're already in the employment-based green card pipeline and you want one honest number to plan around, this breakdown separates the fixed government fees from the costs that vary, line by line.

The short version: the fixed piece is the $1,440 Form I-485 filing fee, and the variable pieces are the medical exam, the optional work and travel permits, and any attorney support you choose. When people search for the I-485 cost, they usually mean this whole stage, not just that one government charge. Everything below builds the I-485 application fee and its companion costs into a realistic total, and every fee here was checked against the current USCIS fee schedule before publishing.

This post prices the I-485 stage only. If you're still budgeting the earlier steps of an employer-sponsored case, the PERM labor certification and the Form I-140 immigrant petition, those costs live in a separate breakdown that we link below. And if you want to understand what the form itself does rather than what it costs, our guide to Form I-485 walks through that.

Adjustment of status cost at a glance: government, medical, and professional

The adjustment of status cost splits cleanly into three buckets: fixed government fees paid to USCIS, a medical exam paid to a private doctor, and professional fees if you use an attorney. Sorting the bill this way is the fastest way to see which numbers you can't change and which ones depend on your choices.

The government bucket is the most predictable because USCIS publishes every figure. The medical exam sits in its own bucket because USCIS charges nothing for it, yet you still pay a doctor directly. Attorney and professional costs are the widest-ranging bucket, since they depend on how much of the case you want handled for you and, in many packages, on how many applicants are filing together.

Here's how the pieces line up before we walk through each one.

Fees and processing times are current as of July 2026. USCIS updates these periodically, so check the official USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) for the latest figures.

The I-485 filing fee and what it includes

The Form I-485 filing fee is $1,440 for most applicants age 14 and older who file by mail, or $1,390 if you file online, and biometrics is now bundled into that amount. That single I-485 application fee is the backbone of the adjustment of status cost, and for the first time in years it covers the fingerprinting appointment without a separate line item. When you hear people quote the I-485 cost, this is usually the number they mean, and you can confirm it on the official USCIS Form I-485 page.

Biometrics is the step where USCIS collects your fingerprints, photo, and signature at an Application Support Center so it can run background checks. Under the older fee structure, that appointment carried its own $85 charge on top of the I-485. Since the 2024 fee rule, the biometrics services fee folds directly into the $1,440 I-485 fee for most applicants, so you don't budget for it separately.

Two smaller variations are worth knowing so the number matches your household. An applicant under 14 who files at the same time as a parent's I-485 pays $950 instead of $1,440. And filing online rather than by mail shaves $50 off the fee, bringing it to $1,390.

The I-485 fee is the same whether your green card sits in the EB-2 or EB-3 employment category, so your job category doesn't change this line. What changes the total is what you file alongside the I-485, which is where the next set of costs comes in.

The costs that ride along with the I-485: medical exam, work permit, and advance parole

Alongside the I-485, three costs commonly ride along: the required medical exam, an optional work permit, and an optional travel permit. The medical exam is required for almost every applicant, while the work permit and travel permit are choices you make based on whether you need to work or travel while your green card is pending.

The medical exam is documented on Form I-693, the Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, and USCIS charges nothing for the form itself. What you pay goes to a civil surgeon, a doctor that USCIS has designated to perform immigration medical exams, and that fee is set privately so it varies by provider and location. The exam covers a physical, a review of your vaccination record, and tests such as a tuberculosis screening, and missing vaccines or repeat tests can push the price up. Because this line varies the most, it's worth pricing on its own.

The work permit is Form I-765, the Application for Employment Authorization, which produces an EAD (Employment Authorization Document) so you can work while your I-485 is pending. When you file Form I-765 together with your I-485 (or while the I-485 stays pending) and your I-485 was filed on or after April 1, 2024, the fee is $260, which is half the standard rate you'll see on the USCIS Form I-765 page. Our Form I-765 guide covers how the EAD works in detail.

The travel permit is Form I-131, the Application for Travel Document, which produces advance parole so you can leave the United States and re-enter while your I-485 is pending without abandoning the application. Form I-131 carries a $630 filing fee, and under the 2024 USCIS fee rule that fee applies even when you request advance parole concurrently with your I-485, so it's a real add-on rather than a free companion to the I-485. The same $630 applies again if your advance parole expires before your green card is approved and you file a standalone I-131 to renew it.

How much does your green card cost?Get a personalized price and timeline estimate based on your visa type and nationality.

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Attorney and professional costs for an adjustment of status

Attorney fees for the I-485 stage vary by case, and a common range runs from roughly $1,500 to $4,000 for the adjustment package, depending on complexity and how much the firm handles. That range is separate from the government fees above, and it reflects the professional work of preparing the I-485, assembling the supporting documents, and filing the accompanying forms correctly.

What sits inside that range depends on the case. A straightforward employment-based adjustment with clean documents sits toward the lower end, while a case with a complex work history, prior status issues, or a spouse and children filing together sits higher because there are more forms and more evidence to prepare. Some providers quote a flat fee for the whole package, while others bill per form or per hour, so the pricing model matters as much as the headline number.

A related cost that catches people off guard is how firms treat a Request for Evidence, or RFE, which is a USCIS notice asking for more documentation before it decides the case. Some firms include the RFE response in their original fee, while others bill it separately when one arrives. It's a fair question to ask upfront, since an RFE response can add several hundred dollars if it isn't already covered. For a fuller look at how legal fees are structured, our immigration lawyer cost guide breaks down the common pricing models.

Whether you use an attorney at all is your call, and plenty of applicants weigh handling the filing themselves against having it prepared for them. The decision usually comes down to case complexity and how comfortable you are managing forms and deadlines. Our guide on when to hire an immigration lawyer lays out the trade-offs so you can decide where your case falls.

What you actually pay: a realistic adjustment of status total and no hidden costs

For a single employment-based applicant, a realistic adjustment of status cost runs from about $2,500 to $6,500 all in, once you add the fixed government fees, the medical exam, and any professional help. The lower end reflects a self-filed case with the travel permit, a modestly priced medical exam, and no attorney, while the upper end reflects an attorney-prepared package that also adds the work permit and a higher medical bill.

Here's how that total comes together for one applicant, so you can see exactly which lines are fixed and which move with your choices.

There are no surprise government charges hiding in this stage: the I-485 fee is published, biometrics is already inside it, and the optional work and travel permits are fixed published add-ons ($260 for the I-765 and $630 for the I-131) if you choose to file them. The two lines that genuinely vary are the medical exam, because a private doctor sets it, and the attorney fee, because it depends on the case and the firm.

The cost that surprises people most is the medical exam, since it doesn't appear on any USCIS fee schedule. That line has its own factors, from base exam pricing to whether you need catch-up vaccines, and we price it separately in a dedicated breakdown.

At Tukki, the way we price a case is to quote one end price that already includes the government filing fees and any RFE response the case needs, rather than billing each piece as it comes up. Law firms that price per service bill those separately, so the contrast is worth understanding before you commit. You can see the number for your specific situation, and how the steps behind it work, using our pricing tool and process page.

Tukki is a U.S. immigration provider that helps skilled professionals through the green card process, from the earlier PERM and Form I-140 steps to the I-485 adjustment of status stage, with dedicated attorney support and full case visibility at every step. If you want a clear picture of your adjustment of status cost and timeline before you file, our team can walk you through it.

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