Trump administration to force foreigners in the U.S. to apply for a green card abroad

USCIS Directs Temporary Visa Holders Seeking Green Cards to Apply Abroad

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that most foreign nationals present in the United States on temporary visas who seek lawful permanent resident status must depart the country and complete the immigrant visa process at a U.S. consulate in their home country, with exceptions permitted only in extraordinary circumstances determined by USCIS officers.

The policy applies to individuals in nonimmigrant categories such as students, temporary workers, and visitors who wish to adjust status to permanent residency. For more than five decades, many foreign nationals already in the United States, including spouses of U.S. citizens, holders of employment or student visas, and certain refugees or asylees, have been permitted to complete the adjustment-of-status process domestically under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

USCIS stated that the change aligns processing with the statutory framework under which nonimmigrants enter for defined, limited purposes and are expected to depart at the conclusion of their authorized stay. The agency described the prior practice as a loophole that allowed temporary visits to serve as an initial step toward permanent residency. In a statement, USCIS said the system is not intended to function that way.

The announcement did not specify an implementation date, whether applicants must remain abroad for the full duration of processing, or how pending applications would be handled. In a subsequent email to the Associated Press, the agency indicated that individuals whose presence provides an economic benefit or serves the national interest could receive case-by-case permission to remain in the United States during processing.

Approximately 600,000 people already present in the United States file applications for adjustment of status each year, according to Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS. The new guidance forms part of a broader set of administrative measures that have lengthened or restricted visa processing for nationals of dozens of countries, including outright entry suspensions in some instances.

Immigration attorneys and organizations that assist applicants noted that return to certain countries could trigger bars on reentry or indefinite processing delays. World Relief stated that where immigrant visas are not being processed in an applicant’s country of origin, the requirement could result in prolonged family separations. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has remained closed since August 2021, eliminating a local processing option for Afghan nationals.

Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the memo applies broadly to adjustment-of-status cases and reverses decades of established procedure. Categories potentially affected include spouses of U.S. citizens, employment-based visa holders such as physicians and other professionals, students, religious workers, and individuals granted humanitarian protections who later seek permanent residency.

Current wait times for immigrant visa appointments at some U.S. consulates exceed one year, according to Dalal-Dheini. Attorneys reviewing the memo on Friday said its scope remained unclear in several respects, including the criteria USCIS officers would use to grant exceptions.

Jessie De Haven, senior staff attorney at the California Immigration Project, said organizations providing legal services were receiving inquiries from clients and that the guidance could discourage some eligible individuals from filing applications. USCIS described the measure as restoring the original statutory design rather than creating a new restriction.

The change does not alter eligibility criteria for permanent residency itself, only the location where the final stages of the process must occur for most temporary visa holders.