What is the I-485 for?
It is the filing that ends with a resident card when USCIS grants it. It is long: it asks about your entries into the country, your addresses, your jobs, and dozens of yes-or-no questions about your history.
The official instructions explain the categories that exist, what makes an application not proceed, and the medical exam, done by an authorized doctor and submitted sealed on its own form.
Which petition it goes with, in what order, and whether something in your history is a problem are legal questions. Paso Libre does not answer them: it describes the form and fills in your answers.
Who usually files it?
- According to the USCIS instructions: the spouse, child, or parent of a citizen who is in the United States and has a pending or already-filed I-130 petition.
- According to the USCIS instructions: a person with a family or employment petition whose category has a visa available in the Department of State bulletin.
- According to the USCIS instructions: asylees and refugees one year after receiving that status, and other categories the instructions list one by one.