Green Card Seekers Must Leave US to Apply, Trump Admin Rules

The Trump administration announced on Friday a sweeping change to US immigration policy, requiring most foreigners seeking a green card to leave the United States and apply for permanent residency from their home countries. The policy, issued via a USCIS memo, effectively ends the practice of “adjustment of status” that had been in place for over 60 years, allowing individuals already in the US on temporary visas to complete the green card process without leaving.

The change could impact hundreds of thousands of immigrants annually, including students, temporary workers, H-1B visa holders, and even spouses of US citizens. According to NPR, approximately 600,000 people already in the US apply for a green card each year.

The Policy Change

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memo (PM-602-0199) directing that noncitizens in the US who have applied for a green card must leave the country indefinitely and apply through consular processing via the US State Department from their home country. USCIS said it will grant “adjustment of status” only in “extraordinary circumstances,” on a case-by-case basis.

“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement, as reported by Fox News. “From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a green card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances.”

Confusion and Clarification

Shortly after the announcement, a USCIS spokesperson clarified to Semafor that H-1B visa holders and high-skilled workers “might not be affected in the near term.” The spokesperson added that “people who present applications that provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path while others may be asked to apply abroad depending on individualized circumstances.”

The administration did not specify when the change would take effect, whether individuals must remain abroad throughout the entire process, or whether pending applications are affected.

Legal Challenges Expected

Immigration attorneys and legal experts have sharply criticized the policy, arguing it exceeds executive authority. Attorney Todd Pomerleau told ABC News: “You can’t, through a stroke of a pen, overturn a statute. It’s illegal, and it’s going to get shut down in court.”

Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS during the Biden administration, told NPR that “the goal of this policy is very explicit. Senior officials in this administration have said over and over that they want fewer people to get permanent residency because permanent residency is a path to citizenship and they want to block that path for as many people as possible.”

Humanitarian and Economic Concerns

Aid organizations warned of severe consequences for vulnerable populations. The Guardian reported that HIAS, a refugee aid group, said USCIS was forcing survivors of trafficking and abused children to return to dangerous countries they fled. World Relief warned of a “Catch-22” situation where families face indefinite separation if immigrant visas are not being processed in applicants’ home countries.

The tech industry also expressed alarm. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman called the move “harmful for tech, business, and America broadly,” according to Semafor. Critics argue the policy could disrupt scientists, AI startups, and other high-skilled workers essential to the US economy.

Broader Immigration Crackdown

This policy is the latest in a series of aggressive immigration enforcement actions by the second Trump administration. In January, the State Department announced it had revoked more than 100,000 visas. The administration has also shortened visa durations for students and cultural exchange visitors, imposed travel bans on dozens of countries, and launched large-scale deportation operations.

What’s Next

Legal challenges are expected to be filed quickly, potentially resulting in injunctions that delay implementation. The policy’s ultimate fate will likely be determined in the courts. Key unanswered questions include how pending green card applications will be handled, how “economic benefit” and “national interest” will be defined for exemptions, and what happens to applicants from countries with no US embassy or active travel bans.

For the hundreds of thousands of immigrants currently in the US on temporary visas who had planned to apply for green cards through adjustment of status, the immediate impact is uncertainty — forcing many to choose between leaving their established lives in the US or abandoning their path to permanent residency.