Can I Still Apply for Adjustment of Status After DACA and Advance Parole in California?

Attorney Answer

Advance parole can potentially open the door to adjustment of status, but only if you also have an underlying basis to adjust — and on your facts that basis has to be an immediate-relative petition from a U.S. citizen family member. Reentering on advance parole solves the entry problem, not the separate question of whether you qualify at all.

Adjustment of status under INA section 245(a) generally requires that you were inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States. Because you originally entered without inspection, that requirement was not met at first. However, when you left on advance parole and were inspected and paroled back in during 2024, immigration law generally treats that reentry as satisfying the inspection and parole requirement, even though your very first entry did not meet it. This is one of the most common reasons DACA recipients use advance parole.

Being paroled back in only resolves one piece of the puzzle, though, and the next piece is where your history matters. Under INA § 245(c)(2), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(c)(2), someone who has not maintained a lawful status continuously since entry cannot adjust status inside the United States unless he is an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen. You entered without inspection at 6, and DACA is not a lawful status, so that bar applies to you and the immediate-relative route is the one that gets around it: a petition from a U.S. citizen spouse, or from a U.S. citizen son or daughter who is at least 21 petitioning for you as a parent. A petition from a U.S. citizen parent would place you in a preference category rather than the immediate-relative category, so it would not lift the bar. An employer petition will not lift it either. The employment-based escape hatch, INA § 245(k), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(k), applies only to someone present in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission, and 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(B) provides that a person paroled into the country has not been admitted. There is one narrow exception to all of this: if an immigrant petition or labor certification was filed for you or for a parent on or before April 30, 2001, INA § 245(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(i), can let you adjust despite these bars on payment of a penalty fee ($1,000 as of publication) — worth having an attorney check, given when your family arrived. You also need to be admissible, meaning no unresolved issues like certain criminal history or old immigration violations that could still block approval even after a valid parole entry, and a visa needs to be currently available in your category.

What you can do

1. Gather your immigration history: original entry date, DACA approval, the advance parole document, and your 2024 reentry record. 2. Identify whether you have a qualifying immediate relative — a U.S. citizen spouse, or a U.S. citizen son or daughter who is at least 21 — who can file a petition for you, if one isn't already pending. 3. Have an immigration attorney review whether any prior travel, unlawful presence, or other issues could affect admissibility. 4. File Form I-485 only after confirming both the petition basis and your admissibility with counsel.

Because the interaction between advance parole and adjustment of status is technical and mistakes can be costly, please consult a local immigration attorney before filing anything. This is general legal information, not legal advice, and a California immigration lawyer can review your full history and advise you on your specific situation.