Updated May 24, 2026.

5 Positive Factors USCIS Weighs in Discretionary Adjustment of Status After PM-602-0199

After the May 2026 policy memorandum reframed adjustment of status under INA section 245 as a discretionary benefit rather than a near-automatic step after eligibility, five categories of positive equity carry the heaviest evidentiary weight in an I-485 file: long-term lawful presence, U.S.-citizen and lawful permanent resident family ties, consistent federal tax compliance, steady employment and community ties, and humanitarian care-giving responsibilities. Each category needs primary-source documentation, not declarations.

What Changed in May 2026 — and Why Positive Factors Now Matter More

USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199, issued May 21, 2026, directs adjudicating officers to weigh the totality of positive and negative discretionary factors at the Form I-485 stage rather than treating statutory eligibility as the end of the analysis. The shift is from an eligibility-driven posture to a discretion-driven posture. Applicants who previously assumed a clean Form I-130 chain plus a pending Form I-485 would resolve favorably are now expected to affirmatively build an equity record. For background on the memorandum itself and why filing remains possible, see our explainer on whether you can still file adjustment of status in 2026. For the operative case-law terminology adjudicators will use, see the unusual outstanding equities explainer.

The 5 Positive Factors

The five categories below are ordered roughly by the weight adjudicators historically credit, but stronger documentation in a lower-ranked category can shift the balance. No single factor is treated as decisive. The list is drawn from BIA case law, USCIS adjudicator training, and contemporary law-firm analyses of PM-602-0199.

Factor 1: Long-Term Lawful Presence in the United States

Sustained lawful presence is the equity that adjudicators tend to weigh first because it is the easiest to document with primary-source records and the hardest to fabricate. An applicant who has maintained valid nonimmigrant status across multiple visa categories — for example, F-1 student status followed by H-1B specialty occupation status followed by a pending adjustment of status — presents a record of compliance that an officer can verify against USCIS systems.

The primary-source documentation pattern here is straightforward. Order a complete I-94 travel history from the CBP I-94 website, gather every prior approval notice (Form I-797) for nonimmigrant petitions and extensions, assemble every EAD card issued, and pull SEVIS records where applicable. Length of presence matters, but continuity of status matters more. A ten-year record with no gaps weighs differently than a ten-year record with two periods of unauthorized presence. An attorney can advise how to characterize any gap in the record.

Factor 2: U.S.-Citizen or LPR Immediate Family Ties

Immediate family relationships to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents — spouse, parent, minor children — are weighed heavily because they go to the question of whether removing the applicant would impose hardship on people the immigration system is designed to protect. This category is also the underlying basis for many adjustment filings, so the equity record and the petition record often overlap.

Primary-source documentation includes certified birth certificates for U.S.-citizen children, the marriage certificate plus joint financial records (joint tax returns, joint bank statements, jointly held leases or mortgages, shared health insurance enrollment), and naturalization certificates for any U.S.-citizen relatives. Photographs and declarations support but do not substitute for these records. This factor is also the central topic of the marriage-based green card explainer, which covers the bona-fide-marriage evidentiary pattern in more detail.

Factor 3: Consistent Federal Tax Compliance

Multi-year federal tax compliance is the equity that adjudicators read as a structural signal of good moral character and sustained economic contribution. The pattern officers look for is filing every year required, filing accurately, and filing under the correct taxpayer identification number whether that is a Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

The primary-source documentation here is the IRS account transcript and the IRS wage and income transcript, both of which can be ordered through the IRS online portal or by Form 4506-T. Original W-2 and 1099 forms support the transcripts. An applicant who transitioned from ITIN filing to SSN filing should preserve records of both periods to demonstrate continuity. State tax records and any sponsor-support records (Form I-864 history) round out the picture. An attorney can advise on how to address any unfiled year, late-filed year, or amended return in the equity record.

Factor 4: Steady Employment and Community Ties

Steady employment, particularly in critical-need sectors such as healthcare, education, skilled trades, and STEM occupations, contributes to the equity record both as evidence of economic self-sufficiency and as evidence of contribution to the U.S. economy. Community ties — religious congregation membership, civic-organization involvement, volunteer service, professional association membership — extend the picture beyond paid work.

Primary-source documentation includes verification-of-employment letters on employer letterhead with dates, title, and salary; pay stubs spanning the relevant period; professional licenses and continuing-education certificates; and dated letters from clergy, civic organizations, volunteer coordinators, and professional associations describing the nature and duration of involvement. References from civic institutions weigh more than personal-character references because they are harder to obtain and reflect a public record of participation.

Factor 5: Humanitarian and Care-Giving Responsibilities

Humanitarian factors — care responsibilities for U.S.-citizen children, care for elderly U.S.-citizen or lawful permanent resident parents, ongoing medical-care obligations for a qualifying relative — are weighed because they speak directly to the hardship analysis embedded in discretionary adjudication. This category overlaps with the extraordinary discretionary relief framing that PM-602-0199 reinforces.

Primary-source documentation includes school enrollment and medical records for U.S.-citizen children, physician letters describing ongoing care needs for an elderly relative, caregiver-arrangement documentation, and any state-level guardianship or conservatorship records. Where care for a relative with a serious medical condition is the central equity, a physician letter that describes the condition, the prognosis, and the specific role the applicant plays in care management carries materially more weight than a general declaration. An attorney can advise on how to present this category without over-disclosing protected medical information.

How to Document Each Factor Before Meeting an Attorney

Per the USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part A guidance reaffirmed in May 2026, primary-source records carry materially more weight than declarations. The most useful preparation an applicant or family can do before an attorney consultation is to assemble the documentary record for each of the five categories above — I-94 history, approval notices, marriage and birth certificates, tax transcripts, employment verification, community-tie letters, and care-giving records — organized chronologically and labeled by category. Our intake walkthrough maps each category to a checklist of documents to gather, and the policy chatbot answers follow-up questions about the memorandum. For the operative case-law terminology adjudicators will use in any Request for Evidence, the unusual outstanding equities explainer covers the BIA framework in more detail.

Next Steps

The five positive factors above are the categories most consistently cited by immigration law firms analyzing PM-602-0199. Whether and how each factor applies to a specific situation requires attorney assessment. Start by organizing the documentary record using the intake, then bring follow-up questions about the memorandum to the policy chatbot.

Updated May 24, 2026.