05/22/2026
From Grok:
Congressional intent regarding departure for legal (lawfully admitted) nonimmigrants adjusting status under INA § 245 (8 U.S.C. § 1255) was to eliminate any requirement that they leave the United States.
uscis.gov
Prior to 1952, the Immigration Act of 1924 required all intending immigrants to obtain an immigrant visa through consular processing abroad. An alien physically present in the U.S.—even a lawful nonimmigrant—had to depart the country, apply for the visa at a U.S. consulate (often in Canada or elsewhere), and then reenter as a lawful permanent resident (LPR). This created significant expense, inconvenience, family disruption, and administrative burdens.
congress.gov
To address this, Congress enacted INA § 245 as part of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (Pub. L. 82-414, the McCarran-Walter Act). The original version of § 245(a) applied specifically to aliens “lawfully admitted … as a bona fide nonimmigrant” who continued to maintain that status. It allowed them to adjust to LPR status inside the United States without departing, provided they were otherwise eligible for an immigrant visa, admissible, and a visa number was immediately available.
mikebakerlaw.com
USCIS’s Policy Manual (Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 1) explains the background explicitly:By 1935, the legacy INS had created an administrative “pre-examination” workaround: aliens were pre-screened in the U.S., traveled abroad briefly for the visa, and returned promptly as LPRs. Over 45,000 cases were processed this way from 1935–1950.
In 1952, Congress replaced this with statutory adjustment of status under § 245 precisely “to make the pre-examination process unnecessary” and allow eligible aliens to obtain LPR status without leaving the United States.
Congress indicated that adjustment should be used for purposes of family unity or otherwise in the public interest (citing H.R. Rep. 82-1365).
The statutory title of § 245—“Adjustment of status of nonimmigrant to that of person admitted for permanent residence”—reflects this original focus on lawful nonimmigrants. The 1960 amendments broadened eligibility to anyone “inspected and admitted or paroled” (removing the strict “bona fide nonimmigrant” maintenance requirement for some categories), but the core no-departure benefit for lawfully admitted nonimmigrants remained intact.
mikebakerlaw.com
Later provisions (e.g., § 245(i) added in 1994) extended a similar no-departure pathway to certain out-of-status or unlawfully present individuals (with a penalty fee), but the foundational intent for legal nonimmigrants was always to avoid forced departure and reentry.
fwd.us
In short, Congress’s clear purpose in 1952 (and as consistently interpreted since) was to remove the departure requirement for lawfully admitted nonimmigrants adjusting status, replacing cumbersome pre-1952 processes with a streamlined domestic procedure. This has been the unbroken understanding in legislative history, agency policy, and case law.
