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The Donald Trump administration is continuing its strict policies on legal immigration. On Friday, May 22, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that immigrants holding temporary visas must go back to their home countries in order to apply for a green card.
A recent memo from the agency states that officials are only supposed to approve green card applications made from within the US in special situations. This shift in rules, which has been standard for more than fifty years, has created confusion and worries for many foreign individuals aiming to gain permanent residency in the US. The new US policy requires that most immigrants seeking a green card must leave the country and apply at an embassy or consulate in another nation. USCIS confirmed on Friday that officials will follow consular processing, meaning applicants must go back to their home countries and apply through a US embassy or consulate instead of being able to "adjust their status" while still in the US.
“We are going back to the original purpose of the law to make sure immigrants go through our immigration system correctly. From now on, anyone temporarily in the US who wants a green card has to return to their home country to apply, except in special cases,” said USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler. “This policy helps our immigration system work as it was meant to while preventing loopholes. When immigrants apply from their home country, it lowers the chances of needing to find and remove those who try to stay in the US illegally after their requests for residency get denied,” he added. USCIS mentioned in its statement that foreigners coming to the US on temporary visas, like students, seasonal workers, and tourists, are meant to stay briefly and for a specific purpose. “Temporary visitors, such as students, seasonal workers, or tourists, come to the US for a limited time and specific reasons. Our system is meant for them to leave when their visit ends. Their stay should not be seen as the first step in getting a green card,” the statement explained.
Foreigners can pursue green cards in two ways: by applying at a US consulate overseas or by requesting a permanent resident card while already in the US, which is known as an adjustment of status.
At present, foreign nationals who are married to US citizens, those holding student and work visas, and refugees or asylum seekers can apply for green cards while still in the US. The new policy will change this. According to The Guardian, quoting a Cato Institute analyst, over 1 million immigrants are waiting for their green cards in the US. However, it is uncertain whether this new policy will affect green card applications that are already in progress. H-1B visa workers are also included in this new regulation. Many of these workers, including those from India, have faced delays in employment-based green card processes for more than ten years.
The recent change in policy has added more doubt for those individuals, despite having waited for many years to secure permanent residency in the United States. Nicole Gunara, an immigration lawyer, stated to Hindustan Times (HT), “The previous belief — that as long as you kept your status, paid taxes, and fulfilled the criteria, your I-485 application would be approved — can no longer be trusted. ” She added, “Applicants will have to actively earn their green card rather than just meet the qualifications. ”
According to the attorney, simply holding a valid H-1B or L-1 status throughout the green card application process does not ensure a positive outcome. Individuals in the EB-2 and EB-3 waiting lists often face a wait of 10 to 15 years before they receive a visa number. Many of these individuals have established their lives in the US with partners and children. Gunara mentioned that under the new guidelines, their background — including family connections, tax filings, and job advancements — will now be considered key evidence instead of just being taken for granted by officials.
“The most alarming issue is how the memo perceives individuals on work visas. If you arrived in the US on an H-1B, L-1, or O-1 visa, according to this memo, the government expects you to eventually return to your home country, not remain in the US,” stated immigration attorney Rahul Reddy as quoted by Times of India. He continued, “The memo indicates that staying in the US for a green card, rather than returning to your country to apply at a US consulate, should be viewed unfavorably by officers. Although the memo acknowledges that H-1Bs and L-1s can have ‘dual intent,’ it insists that this allowance alone is not enough for approval. ” Foreign students on F-1 visas, which do not allow for dual intent, may also be significantly affected by this policy shift. A dual-intent visa is a temporary visa that enables foreign individuals to seek permanent residency.
“F-1 is not a dual intent visa. When students apply for this status through USCIS or at the consulate, they are indicating to officials that they plan to go back home,” Gunara explained in an article for Manifest OS. “The memo directs officials to consider that statement when these same students later apply for a Green Card. If you are hiring individuals on OPT (Optional Practical Training) who are pursuing permanent residency, it’s important to discuss this with your immigration advisor,” she added. For certain immigrants, returning to the US to obtain permanent residency could become challenging or even unfeasible. Immigration specialists have criticized the new policy as unclear and predicted that it will likely face legal challenges. Michael Valverde, a previous senior official at USCIS, informed CBS that this new policy could “upset the plans of hundreds of thousands of families and employers each year. ”
"This is a mostly unique action that will significantly reduce legal immigration to the US," Valverde mentioned. "Those who have followed the rules diligently are now experiencing great uncertainty. " HIAS, an organization that assists refugees and immigrants, accused USCIS of compelling victims of trafficking and abused or neglected children to go back to the perilous countries they fled in order to apply for US green cards, as reported by The Guardian. Immigration attorneys, politicians, and human rights organizations highlighted that many applicants can’t go back home because it is unsafe. For some, there is no embassy available for them to apply at. For example, the US Embassy in Afghanistan has been closed since the US left the country in August 2021.
In several nations, the US does not handle immigrant visa applications. This could result in applicants being apart from their families in the US for an unknown period. "If families are informed that the family member who isn’t a citizen must go back to his or her home country to handle their immigrant visa, but immigrant visas are not processed there, it becomes a Catch-22. These rules will effectively lead to families being separated indefinitely," World Relief, a humanitarian and refugee resettlement group, stated according to the Associated Press (AP). Immigration lawyer Cyrus Mehta asserted that USCIS is establishing new regulations to prevent non-citizens from obtaining green cards. "Although adjusting status is at the discretion of INA 245, it has never been seen as an extraordinary form of relief, and USCIS is creating a new standard to keep non-citizens from receiving green cards in the US," Mehta mentioned. USCIS has not specified when the change will take effect or if applicants will need to stay overseas for the entire process.
A representative from USCIS informed BBC that as the policy is put into action, "those who submit applications that show an economic benefit or are of national interest will likely be able to stay on their current path. " "Others might need to apply from abroad based on their personal situations," they explained. This new approach is the latest move by the Trump administration to limit legal immigration. The US has restricted or blocked entry for citizens from almost 40 nations. Under a different policy, the Trump administration has stopped issuing visas to immigrant visa applicants from 75 countries.
