When exactly does the 180 days start?

From the receipt date of your properly filed adjustment application, shown on the Form I-797 notice. The application must have been pending 180 days or more at the time USCIS receives your porting request.

Do the SOC codes of the two jobs have to match?

No. USCIS states it does not use a simple numerical comparison of SOC codes and that no particular number of matching digits is required. It weighs the evidence in the totality of the circumstances to decide whether the jobs are the same or similar.

Which form do I use to port?

Form I-485 Supplement J, for any porting request made on or after 17 January 2017, with evidence that the I-485 has been pending 180 days or more and that you are the principal beneficiary of an approved or pending I-140.

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OfficialUSCIS Policy Manual — Job Portability after Adjustment Filing · Last verified 17 Aug 2026

Changing jobs without losing your place in the green card line

Once your adjustment application has been pending long enough, you can move to a new employer and keep the case — and the priority date — you already have. The two conditions are a length of time and a likeness between the jobs.

What portability is for

Section 204(j) of the Immigration and Nationality Act lets certain adjustment applicants with employment-based petitions in the first, second and third preference categories change jobs and employers without the underlying petition being withdrawn out from under them. It exists because Congress recognised that people should not be tied to one employer for the length of a queue, and the queue is long. This matters more for applicants from countries with the longest backlogs, for the plain reason that a decade is a long time to be unable to change jobs.

Source: USCIS Policy Manual — Job Portability after Adjustment Filing · in effect from 2005-05-12

The first condition: 180 days

Your properly filed adjustment application must have been pending with USCIS for 180 days or more at the time USCIS receives the request to port. The count is measured from the receipt date on your Form I-797 notice, and it is measured at the moment the request arrives rather than at the moment you accept the new offer. That distinction is the one worth being careful about: signing an offer letter is not the event the rule turns on.

Source: USCIS Policy Manual — Job Portability after Adjustment Filing · in effect from 2005-05-12

The second condition: same or similar

The new job offer must be in the same or a similar occupational classification as the job described in the underlying petition. USCIS says explicitly that it does not decide this by a simple numerical comparison of SOC codes, and that there is no rule about how many digits of two codes must match. It reviews the evidence in the totality of the circumstances. So the question is not whether two codes line up — it is whether the work is genuinely alike, and the evidence you provide is what answers it.

Source: USCIS Policy Manual — Job Portability after Adjustment Filing · in effect from 2005-05-12

The form that makes the request

A request to port made on or after 17 January 2017 is made on Form I-485 Supplement J, Confirmation of a Valid Job Offer or Request for Job Portability Under INA Section 204(j). Supporting it means showing the I-797 receipt notice establishing that the I-485 has been pending 180 days or more, and showing that you are the principal beneficiary of an approved or still pending Form I-140.

Source: USCIS Policy Manual — Job Portability after Adjustment Filing · in effect from 2005-05-12

A pending I-140 can still be enough

The documentation USCIS describes covers being the principal beneficiary of an approved or still pending I-140. This surprises people who assume nothing can move until the petition is approved. It does not make an unapproved petition safe to rely on casually — a petition that is later denied takes the adjustment with it — but the rule is not written as approved-only, and it is worth knowing which of those two situations you are actually in.

Source: USCIS Policy Manual — Job Portability after Adjustment Filing · in effect from 2005-05-12

Official

Frequently asked questions

When exactly does the 180 days start?: From the receipt date of your properly filed adjustment application, shown on the Form I-797 notice. The application must have been pending 180 days or more at the time USCIS receives your porting request.
Do the SOC codes of the two jobs have to match?: No. USCIS states it does not use a simple numerical comparison of SOC codes and that no particular number of matching digits is required. It weighs the evidence in the totality of the circumstances to decide whether the jobs are the same or similar.
Which form do I use to port?: Form I-485 Supplement J, for any porting request made on or after 17 January 2017, with evidence that the I-485 has been pending 180 days or more and that you are the principal beneficiary of an approved or pending I-140.