Edition 01/20/25Verified July 2026Not a law firm · Not legal advice

Form I-485 · Part 1, Item 14

I-485 Current Immigration Status (Part 1, Item 14): What Goes in the Box (2026)

What “current immigration status (if it has changed since your last arrival)” is asking, and where the answer lives for the common marriage green card cases.

Summary

Part 1, Item 14 of Form I-485 asks what your immigration status is today, at the moment you sign the form, not what it was when you last entered the United States. You are the applicant here: the immigrant spouse applying for the green card. If your status has not changed since your last arrival, it is whatever your most recent Form I-94 (the arrival record the U.S. government creates when it admits you) shows, such as B-2, F-1, or H-1B. If USCIS approved a change or extension of status after you arrived, your current status is the one on that approval notice (Form I-797A). If you came on a K-1 fiancé(e) visa and married your petitioner (the U.S. citizen spouse who filed for you) within 90 days, your class of admission (the category you were let in under) is still K-1. If your authorized stay has expired or you are out of status, this field carries legal consequences, and an immigration attorney should look at your case before you answer it.

Status unchanged since your last arrival	It is the one on your most recent Form I-94, such as B-2, F-1, or H-1B. Since the field only asks about a change, the instructions' rule for a question that does not apply is to write "N/A" (I-485 Instructions, page 5). Repeating your I-94 status tells USCIS the same thing.
USCIS approved a change of status after you arrived	Your current status is the new one, shown on the Form I-797A approval notice with the replacement I-94 at the bottom. Example: you arrived as B-2 and USCIS approved a change to F-1; your current status is F-1.
USCIS approved an extension of the same status	The status itself did not change, only its expiration date (which belongs in Item 15). The I-797A shows the new date.
You were admitted as a K-1 fiancé(e)	K-1. Federal law does not allow a K-1 to change to another nonimmigrant status or extend the 90-day stay (8 CFR 248.2, USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 2, Part A, Chapter 4), so K-1 remains the class of admission on your paperwork.
Your stay expired, or you are out of status	This page does not answer that case; talk to an immigration attorney before completing the field. Some good news, though: an overstay usually does not close the door on applying for the green card from inside the U.S. (called adjustment of status), because spouses of U.S. citizens are exempt from those filing bars. Details and citations are in the walk-through below.

Who this page is for

This page covers Part 1, Item 14 for an applicant whose status is intact: unchanged since the last admission, changed or extended through a USCIS approval documented on a Form I-797A, or a K-1 admission where the marriage to the petitioner happened within 90 days (the K-1 case is covered below even when the 90-day window has passed, because the K-1 rules are their own case). If your authorized stay has otherwise expired, you worked without authorization, you violated the terms of your status, you entered without inspection (crossed the border without being admitted by an officer), or you are not sure your status is still valid, consult an immigration attorney before completing this field.

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What the form asks

Form I-485, Part 1 (current immigration status), Items 13 through 15 as they appear on edition 01/20/25 — Form I-485, Part 1. Edition 01/20/25. Source: USCIS.

Verbatim · Form I-485, edition 01/20/25, page 3, Part 1, Item 14
“What is your current immigration status (if it has changed since your last arrival)?”

The instructions’ general completion rules supply the convention for a question that does not apply:

Verbatim · Form I-485 Instructions, edition 01/20/25, page 5, How To Complete Form I-485, rule 3
“Answer all questions fully and accurately. If a question does not apply to you (for example, if you have never been married and the question asks, "Provide the name of your current spouse"), type or print "N/A," unless otherwise directed. If your answer to a question which requires a numeric response is zero or none (for example, "How many children do you have" or "How many times have you departed the United States"), type or print "None," unless otherwise directed.”

One thing worth knowing: the I-485 Instructions (edition 01/20/25) contain no item-specific guidance for Item 14. The numbered guidance under "How To Complete Form I-485" skips from the Social Security questions (Item 19) straight to Part 9. What applies is the form text itself, plus the general completion rules on page 5 of the instructions, which is where the "N/A" convention above comes from.

Which answer applies to you?

Four situations cover most marriage-based filers. Find yours.

The status on your most recent I-94

Nothing changed since you last entered

Your status was set when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer admitted you at the border, and it is recorded on your most recent Form I-94 (downloadable at i94.cbp.dhs.gov for air and sea entries). The field's parenthetical, "if it has changed since your last arrival," makes the question conditional. Under the general rule on page 5 of the instructions, a question that does not apply gets "N/A", so "N/A" fits the instructions here; restating your I-94 status gives USCIS the same fact either way.

The new status on your I-797A

USCIS approved a change of status after you arrived

A change of status approved on Form I-797A replaces the status from your arrival. The bottom of the I-797A contains a new I-94 with the new class and its expiration date. Example: admitted as B-2, changed to F-1; the current status is F-1, and the F-1 grant is what Item 15 keys off.

K-1

You were admitted on a K-1 fiancé(e) visa

A K-1 admission lasts 90 days and cannot be extended or changed to another nonimmigrant category (8 CFR 248.2; USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 2, Part A, Chapter 4). If you married your petitioner within those 90 days, K-1 remains your class of admission, and a K-1 may adjust status only on the basis of that marriage (USCIS, Green Card for Fiancé(e) of U.S. Citizen). Filing the I-485 after the 90-day window has passed is common in K-1 cases; the immediate-relative exemption described below is the reason it still works.

Attorney review first

Your stay expired, you worked without authorization, or you entered without inspection

How to describe an expired or violated status on a signed federal form is a legal judgment, and getting it wrong can affect your case in ways that are hard to undo. This page explains what the question asks; it does not tell you what to write in this situation. One piece of general context: spouses of U.S. citizens are immediate relatives, and the adjustment bars for unlawful status and unauthorized work in INA 245(c)(2) and (c)(8) do not apply to immediate relatives (USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, Chapters 3 and 6). That exemption is about eligibility to adjust; it does not answer what belongs in this box. An immigration attorney needs to review your facts first.

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Common wrong choices on this field

Three answers that look right and are not.

Copying the visa category from your passport stamp after a change of status

The visa in your passport is a travel document for asking to enter the United States; your status is what CBP or USCIS most recently granted. If you arrived as B-2 and USCIS approved a change to F-1, the B-2 visa stamp does not describe your current status. The I-94 or I-797A does.

Writing "adjustment applicant" or "pending I-485"

That answer belongs to forms you file after the I-485 is in the system, such as a later Form I-765 renewal. On the I-485 itself there is no pending adjustment application yet; the form you are completing is the one that creates it.

Reading Item 14 as asking about your status at arrival

Item 14 asks what your status is today. The arrival-time record belongs to the Item 12 block, which asks about your most recent Form I-94. When USCIS approves a change of status, it issues a replacement I-94 at the bottom of the I-797A, so the newest I-94 and Item 14 end up describing the same status.

What USCIS does with this field

The officer uses Items 13 through 15 to reconstruct your status history: what you were admitted as, what you are now, and when your permission to stay runs out. That history feeds two checks. The first is whether any filing bars apply: some applicants who let status lapse or worked without permission cannot adjust, but spouses of U.S. citizens are exempt from those two bars (INA 245(c); USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, Chapters 3 and 6). The second is a cross-check against the government's own arrival records. An answer that conflicts with the I-94 database or a prior USCIS approval is the kind of mismatch that produces a Request for Evidence (an RFE, a USCIS notice asking for more information) or a longer review.

Common mistakes

The ones that show up most often around Item 14.

1
Leaving Item 14 blank without noticing the parenthetical
The field is conditional on a change, and the instructions' general rule directs "N/A" for questions that do not apply. A blank box invites a completeness question at intake; "N/A" or a restated status does not.
2
Answering with the visa expiration date logic in mind
Status and visa are different clocks. A visa can expire while you remain in valid status, and a status can end while the visa stamp still looks current (the State Department's visa expiration page says exactly this). Item 14 is about status.
3
Contradicting Item 15
Item 14 and Item 15 describe the same status: what it is, and when it expires. If Item 14 says F-1 after an approved change of status, Item 15 should reflect the F-1 grant (D/S, short for Duration of Status, for most students), not the expiration of the old B-2 stay.
4
Guessing when the honest answer is complicated
If you genuinely cannot say what your status is, that uncertainty is itself the signal to stop and get an attorney's eyes on the case before signing. The form is signed under penalty of perjury, and status questions are exactly where guessing costs the most.

Frequently asked questions

What do I write in Item 14 if my status has not changed since I arrived?

The field's own text is conditional: "if it has changed since your last arrival." If nothing changed, the question does not apply, and the rule on page 5 of the I-485 Instructions for a question that does not apply is to write "N/A." Restating the status from your most recent I-94 (for example, F-1 or H-1B) tells USCIS the same thing. Either way, your current status is the one on your most recent Form I-94.

My I-94 says B-2, but USCIS later approved my change to F-1. What is my current status?

F-1. A change of status approved on Form I-797A replaces the status from your arrival, and the bottom of that notice contains a replacement I-94 with the new class of admission; that becomes your most recent I-94. Item 14 asks for the status you hold today, which is F-1.

I entered on a K-1 visa and the 90 days passed before we filed. What is my current status?

Your class of admission is still K-1: federal law does not let a K-1 change to another nonimmigrant status or extend the 90-day stay (8 CFR 248.2(a)(2); 8 CFR 214.1(c)(3)(iv)). If you married your petitioner within the 90 days, a K-1 may adjust status based on that marriage even when the I-485 is filed after the window closed, because spouses of U.S. citizens are immediate relatives and exempt from the INA 245(c)(2) bar (USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B). If you did not marry within 90 days, or you are unsure how to describe your situation on the form, consult an immigration attorney.

Is my current immigration status what my visa stamp says?

No. The visa in your passport is a travel document used to request admission at the border; your status is what CBP granted when it admitted you, or what USCIS granted afterward, and it is recorded on your I-94 or I-797A. The two can differ, and their expiration dates can differ too, as the State Department's own guidance on visa expiration explains.

What if I overstayed or I am out of status? Can I still adjust through marriage?

Those are two separate questions. On eligibility, spouses of U.S. citizens are immediate relatives, and the bars for unlawful status and unauthorized work in INA 245(c)(2) and (c)(8) do not apply to immediate relatives (USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, Chapters 3 and 6). On what to write in Item 14, this page does not answer that: describing an expired or violated status on a signed federal form is a legal judgment an immigration attorney should make with your full facts in front of them.

What is the difference between Item 12's "Immigration Status on Form I-94" and Item 14?

Item 12 asks about your most recent Form I-94, which is the arrival record from your last admission or the replacement I-94 that comes with an approved change or extension of status. Item 14 asks what your status is right now. For most filers the two describe the same status, and the paper trail (the I-94, then any I-797A) is what keeps them consistent from admission to filing.

Key takeaways

✓
Item 14 asks for your status today, not your status at entry; the two differ exactly when USCIS approved a change of status after you arrived.
✓
If nothing changed, your status is the one on your most recent Form I-94, and the instructions' general rule (page 5) directs "N/A" for a question that does not apply.
✓
After an approved change of status, the Form I-797A (with the new I-94 at its bottom) is the document that states your current status.
✓
A K-1 admission cannot be extended or changed (8 CFR 248.2(a)(2); 8 CFR 214.1(c)(3)(iv)); K-1 remains the class of admission, and adjustment rests on the marriage to the petitioner.
✓
Expired stay, unauthorized work, or entry without inspection: stop and get an immigration attorney. The immediate-relative exemption (INA 245(c), USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 7, Part B) covers eligibility to adjust, not what to write in this box.
✓
Your visa stamp is not your status. Status lives on the I-94 and I-797A.

This page is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Green Card Genius is self-help immigration software, not a law firm, and does not provide legal representation. Immigration law and USCIS policy change frequently. For advice on a specific case, consult a licensed immigration attorney. Form I-485, edition 01/20/25. Last verified July 2026.

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