The progress bar for my I-485 (EB-1) disappeared from my USCIS profile. I filed for adjustment of status, everything was fine, and then the bar just vanished. What could this mean — a request for additional documents, a denial, or just a system glitch?
A couple of weeks ago I also had on my I-485 page: “myProgress information is unavailable, we appreciate your patience while we work to restore this service.” It’s a system issue, not specific to your case. The lawyer explained that the real red flag is a request to change status in the U.S.—that is, filing the I-485 while you’re here—but that has nothing to do with the progress display.
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Thanks, that calmed me down a bit. So just wait and don’t panic.
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Two people on our team filed I-485s under EB (employment-based) at the beginning of the summer — one got approved in 2 months, the other has been waiting 7 months. The progress bar here doesn’t mean anything at all.
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The estimate really fluctuates — when I applied I had biometrics within a month, and over a couple of months it dropped from 18 to 9. The progress bar is definitely not about your case specifically; it’s systemic.
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EB-1A is currently “current” on the bulletin — but that doesn’t mean it’s fast. From what I’m monitoring in a similar batch: out of 12,000 filed, 485 were processed and about 96 approved — that’s 0.8%. The real queue is an order of magnitude longer than the graphs in the portal show.
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By the way, regarding working while the I-485 is pending — when filing you could concurrently file the I-765 for an EAD and the I-131 for advance parole. If you didn’t file them together, you can file them separately now. As soon as the EAD is approved, you can work officially; the status of the main case doesn’t matter.
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If you’re on O-1, the gap between O-1 and EAD isn’t that bad — I-140 doesn’t void your O-1 work authorization; the status remains valid until its expiration date regardless of the petition’s status. I checked this point with my attorney specifically: until the EAD is approved, you work on O-1 as before, and changing the petition doesn’t affect the status.
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I’ll add a note about concurrent filing — there’s a real financial risk. If the I-140 isn’t approved, the I-485 filing fee is forfeited, and that’s a lot. That’s exactly what happened to me — I filed the I-140 with premium processing, got an RFE, then a denial, and the I-485 fee was lost. I extended my O-1 with another sponsor, filed again for EB-1, and after a year and a half without premium processing I got approval, and only then filed the I-485 properly.
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Regarding administrative checks for Form I-485 — there’s a separate mechanism that the progress bar doesn’t reflect at all. USCIS recently released an official two-page document that explicitly states: the applicant must be given the opportunity to respond to any derogatory information before a final decision, if such information exists in the case. That’s why cases sometimes stall with no visible movement — it’s not a system glitch and not necessarily a bad sign. Especially if there was some flag related to a nonimmigrant history — the officer is waiting for the closure of an internal step that’s completely invisible from the outside.
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When I filed everything together — I-485, I-765, I-131 at the same time — the attorney put (c)(9) as the eligibility category on the I-765; that’s standard for a pending I-485. And about the progress bar — it’s really not tied to the actual movement of the case; it disappeared for me several times too.
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The statistic 96 out of 12,000 isn’t surprising if you understand what happened to the category. When the dates for EB-2 NIW started jumping back and forth, some people switched to EB-1A, and the applicant pool grew sharply over a couple of years. “Current” in the Visa Bulletin only means that USCIS can technically accept a case for processing — it doesn’t mean it will quickly reach an officer. The real queue within the category is opaque; there’s no public waiting list.
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Regarding O-1 denials and delays in I-485 — it essentially boils down to two points. First: fraud and misrepresentation during the petition approval. Second: 9 FAM 402.13-9(A) on how an approved petition affects the visa decision: an approved I-140 doesn’t mean the officer can’t place a flag if something in the file doesn’t add up. The same mechanism applies to I-485 — if there’s a flag because of nonimmigrant history, the officer waits before finalizing. That explains why a case can sit with no movement and why the progress bar is basically meaningless.
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Having an I-485 pending without some parallel status is really a risk area, and few people talk about it openly. The USCIS website says that a pending application by itself doesn’t guarantee you won’t be deported. So while your I-485 is in process, it’s important to keep something valid — O-1, F-1, or an already approved EAD. If your O-1 hasn’t expired, that’s good, but if it expires before the I-485 is approved, that’s a whole different story.
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If the O-1 was valid on the date the I-485 was filed, that’s a closed question. USCIS rules explicitly state that a change of status is possible if, at the time of filing, you are in a current, valid nonimmigrant status with no violations. But later, if the O-1 expires while the I-485 is pending, that’s a different matter — that needs to be looked at separately.
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my second filing for EB-1A ultimately got approved - the first had an RFE and then was denied. I waited for the I-140 approval and only then filed the I-485, specifically so as not to risk the filing fee. so it’s really doable, just nerve-wracking and slow.
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This exactly explains the denial‑RFE‑approval pattern people describe here. Under PM-602-0005 there are two separate steps: first the formal criteria, then a separate final merits determination — the officer looks at the totality of the material and assesses sustained national or international recognition. In other words, you can formally satisfy the four criteria, but at the second step the officer decides that, taken as a whole, it doesn’t measure up. That’s why a second filing sometimes succeeds not because the document set changed dramatically, but because a different officer weighed the same totality differently.
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I went through PM-602-0005 when I was putting together my EB-1 packet; my attorney explained the same thing. Having four criteria barely met is a risk specifically at the second stage — there the officer doesn’t follow a checklist but looks at everything as a whole. In the end, six criteria are included in the packet precisely so there’s something to show at the final stage.
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With premium I-140 my approval came on the 14th day, with no RFE. I filed the I-485 after that — I specifically waited for the approval so as not to lose the fee. Almost two months passed between the I-140 approval and filing the I-485 — it was a deliberate choice.
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My RFE was 11 pages long; they didn’t accept any of the three predictions — only the education was accepted. I expected that something would be rejected, but all three? I didn’t think that. At the start of the petition I approached it from afar, bringing the officer up to speed and talking about the industry. That apparently worked against me — when there’s a lot of introduction, at the final step they look at the totality and see padding instead of evidence.
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