Green Card Lawyer in San Antonio, TX

Adjustment of status in San Antonio

If you were inspected and admitted at the border or an airport, even on a visa that has long expired, and a U.S. citizen spouse, parent or adult child is petitioning for you, the whole case stays in San Antonio. The I-130 and I-485 are filed together, the biometrics appointment comes at the USCIS Application Support Center, 2000 SE Loop 410, Suite 115, and the interview is at the USCIS San Antonio Field Office, 20760 North US Highway 281, on the far north side. On our review date, USCIS reported that 80 percent of family adjustment cases were completed within 13.5 months at the Dallas field office and 18 months at Houston; the San Antonio figure is posted on the USCIS processing-times page and we check it when we file. Every adjustment filed on or after September 18, 2026 is decided under the public charge rule that took effect that day, on the new edition of Form I-485, so we prepare the affidavit of support and the financial record with that rule in mind and attend the interview with the client.

Two groups of San Antonio clients adjust here who might not expect to. The spouse, parent, son or daughter of an active-duty service member, Selected Reserve member or veteran who entered without inspection can request parole in place from USCIS; approval gives a lawful entry on paper, and in most cases that allows the family member to adjust status at the San Antonio Field Office without going to Juárez at all. With about 33,000 active-duty personnel at Fort Sam Houston, Lackland and Randolph, we see these cases every week, and parole in place remains available as of our review date. The other group is spouses of permanent residents: the F2A category waits for a visa number under the monthly Visa Bulletin, but when the Dates for Filing chart is current the adjustment can be filed in San Antonio before the final action date arrives. Mexican applicants in the sibling and adult-child categories wait many years, and we track the bulletin for every pending client.

Consular processing through Ciudad Juárez

Most of our San Antonio green card clients who entered without inspection cannot adjust here. Their green card comes through an immigrant visa interview at the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juárez, and leaving the country after more than 180 days of unlawful presence triggers a bar on returning unless a waiver is approved first. The I-601A provisional waiver is decided by USCIS while the applicant is still in San Antonio; on our review date USCIS was completing 80 percent of them within about 28 months, after an I-130 that itself can take two years. Only then does the National Visa Center schedule the Juárez interview.

This is where having an office in Juárez matters. The consulate requires a medical exam at an approved clinic, a biometrics visit, and two appearances on separate days, with a minimum of three business days in the city. Our Juárez office meets the client there, prepares them for the interview and stays on the case if the consulate issues a request for more documents. The San Antonio office handles the U.S. side: the petition, the hardship evidence for the waiver, and the affidavit of support. Which path you are on is a legal question. A prior entry, a removal order, a trip abroad after unlawful presence, or a conviction can move a case from adjustment to consular processing, or from the I-601A to the I-601 and I-212, so we read the full history before anyone files a petition.