When an immigrant visa is current, you are allowed to file the I-485 adjustment at the same time as an EB-1A or national interest waiver self-petition. Immigration attorney Charles Kuck’s warning is that “allowed” and “smart” are no longer the same thing, because these categories are now denied far more often than they used to be.
mic What the Attorney Says
“If at the end of EB1A, if you’re denied and you don’t have status, they’re going to put you in deportation proceedings and then you’re screwed. And certainly never ever file an adjustment of status application with an EB1.”
The mechanism is simple. Your nonimmigrant status is what keeps you lawfully present. If you file the I-485 and then abandon or run out of that status while the self-petition is pending, a denial leaves you with nothing underneath. A denial with no status is what triggers a Notice to Appear and removal proceedings.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Always keep your underlying status until that EB1 is approved.”
The safer sequence is to file the petition alone, wait for the approval, and only then adjust, while keeping a valid H-1B, O-1, or other status alive the whole time as a floor you can land on. That is the same logic behind keeping H-1B status running while an I-485 is pending and getting the EB-1/H-1B filing order right off STEM OPT. It is also the flip side of the harder question of whether you can still adjust once you have already fallen out of status, and it pairs with the reality of rising self-filed NIW denials.