I-797 Says I can apply for GC through Adjustment of Status but nothing about Visa

[Warhawk1987]

Hello all,

I am on an F1-Student visa here in the USA, over 21 years of age, unmarried, and a citizen of the Czech Republic. My mom is a US citizen and we filed an I-130 form with a PD of 7/11/2019. We got it approved and got an I-797 approval form that states the following,

"The above petition has been approved. The petition indicates that the beneficiary is in the United States and wishes to apply for an adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident. He or she should submit a copy of this notice, along with a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Then it just gives some basic info on where to find the form but then the next paragraph says this,

"If the beneficiary decides to apply for an immigrant visa outside of the USA based on this petition, you should file form I-824. Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition, to request we send the petition to NVC."

So my question is, based on the wording from paragraph one, can I apply for adjustment of status now or do I have to wait for the NVC? I have read several cases where they say people can go ahead and apply based on the wording, and then others where the wording says that the petition has approved the individual cannot apply for a green-card yet due to their visa.

Thanks

[newacct]

You cannot do Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing until a visa number is available for your category and priority date. If your mother filed the I-130 after you turned 21, you are in the F1 category (unmarried over-21 child of US citizen). According to the current visa bulletin https://www.immihelp.com/april-2021-visa-bulletin/
assuming you were not born in Mexico or the Philippines, a visa number is available for F1 category priority dates before September 2014. So it will still be a few more years until a visa number is available for you. If at the time a visa number becomes available a few years later, you are in the US and in status, you can file Adjustment of Status (I-485). Otherwise, you will have to do Consular Processing abroad at that time. Since your mother indicated that you will do AOS on the I-130, if you want to switch to Consular Processing, she will have to file I-824 to have USCIS send it to NVC. Since this is a category with a long wait, she should have indicated Consular Processing on the I-130 in the first place.