MAY 23, 2026
Trump Administration Requires Green Card Seekers Already in the U.S. to Leave and Apply from Their Home Countries
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that foreigners currently in the United States who seek green cards must return to their home countries and apply through consular processing, except in "extraordinary circumstances." The policy reverses a practice in place for more than fifty years that allowed foreign nationals to complete the entire permanent residency process without leaving the country. USCIS said the change applies to nonimmigrants including students, temporary workers, and tourist visa holders, and that exceptions would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The Trump administration's policy memo, issued by USCIS on Friday, directs that adjustment of status — the process by which someone already in the U.S. converts a temporary visa into a green card — will be reserved for "extraordinary circumstances." All others will be required to go through the State Department's consular processing system abroad. USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement that the change "allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes."
The scope of the affected population is substantial. According to Department of Homeland Security data reported by the New York Times, more than 820,000 of the approximately 1.4 million green cards granted in 2024 were approved for people already inside the country. Doug Rand, a former senior USCIS advisor during the Biden administration, told the Associated Press that roughly 600,000 people already in the U.S. apply for green cards each year.
USCIS did not specify when the policy would take effect, whether applicants would need to remain abroad for the entire processing period, or how it would apply to applications already underway, according to NPR and the AP. The agency indicated that people who provide an "economic benefit" or are in the "national interest" could likely remain on their current path, but did not define which visa categories would qualify. It was unclear, the New York Times reported, whether that exemption would extend to skilled workers on H-1B visas.