Washington: The U.S. government has issued new instructions that could sharply change how many immigrants apply for green cards, directing most temporary visa holders to leave the United States and complete the process through U.S. consulates abroad.
The policy, announced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, says foreign nationals in the country temporarily — including students, temporary workers and visitors — should generally not use their stay as a direct route to permanent residence. Instead, they may be required to go back to their home countries and apply there, unless USCIS decides their case involves “extraordinary circumstances.”
For decades, many people already living legally in the U.S. have used a process known as “adjustment of status” to apply for lawful permanent residence without leaving the country. That route has been especially common for spouses of U.S. citizens, employment-based applicants, students who later became eligible for residency, refugees and asylum seekers, and some temporary workers. The new guidance turns that long-standing practice into something USCIS describes as a discretionary exception rather than the normal path.
USCIS said the move is meant to restore what it called the original intent of immigration law. In its statement, the agency said nonimmigrant visas are issued for a limited purpose and a limited period, not as the first step toward a green card. Officers will now have broader room to decide whether an applicant deserves to adjust status inside the U.S.
But the announcement has already triggered confusion — and, frankly, quite a bit of anxiety — among immigrant families, lawyers and employers. USCIS has not clearly explained when the change will take effect, whether it applies to cases already pending, or whether applicants sent abroad would have to remain outside the U.S. for the entire process.
Immigration attorneys say the biggest concern is family separation. A spouse of a U.S. citizen, for example, could be told to leave the country for consular processing and then face months or even years of delays before being allowed back. That risk becomes even sharper for people from countries where U.S. consulates are closed, visa services are limited, or travel restrictions are in place. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, for instance, has remained closed since the American withdrawal in 2021.
The change could also hit skilled workers. People on H-1B, L-1 and other work visas are often sponsored for green cards by U.S. employers after years of living and working in the country. Legal analysts say the memo suggests that simply maintaining lawful status may no longer be enough to guarantee approval for adjustment of status inside the U.S.
According to the Associated Press, about 600,000 people already in the United States apply for green cards each year. Other reporting has put the number of affected pending applicants even higher, with estimates reaching more than one million.
The administration has left one possible opening. USCIS told AP that people whose applications provide an “economic benefit” or serve the “national interest” may be more likely to remain eligible to apply from inside the U.S. Still, that language is broad, and for now applicants do not have a clear test for who qualifies.
Immigration groups argue the guidance will not simply change paperwork. They say it may discourage people from applying at all, especially if leaving the U.S. could expose them to travel bans, safety risks, job losses or long separations from children and spouses.
The policy is expected to face legal scrutiny, partly because adjustment of status has been built into the U.S. immigration system for generations. For now, though, the practical message from USCIS is blunt: for many green card hopefuls, the safest assumption is no longer that they can complete the process from inside America.
