US green card applicants will now have to return to their home countries to apply
2026-05-23 08:59:47
TiranaPost
Foreigners seeking to adjust their immigration status in the United States to obtain green cards will have to do so from abroad through the State Department, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, said Friday.
USCIS announced this action in a policy memo, which instructed officers to consider relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis when determining whether extraordinary relief was warranted.
The green card process had remained unchanged for more than 60 years, marking the last significant move by the Trump administration in immigration policy.
"A foreign national who is temporarily in the U.S. and desires a Green Card must return to his or her country of origin to apply," said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees USCIS.
“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended, rather than fostering legal loopholes.”
According to an analyst at the Cato Institute, more than 1 million immigrants in the US are waiting for their green cards.
People apply for green cards in two different ways: by applying at a U.S. consulate abroad, or by applying for a green card while already in the U.S., which is called “adjustment of status.”
With the new USCIS policy, many green card applicants in the U.S. will likely be forced to leave while their cases are processed — particularly affecting mixed-status families across the country by forcing green card applicants to leave their jobs, homes, and relationships indefinitely. The agency is already dealing with a huge backlog of visa and green card cases.
It is unclear how pending green card cases will be affected. HIAS, an aid group that provides services to refugees, among other immigrant groups, said USCIS was forcing survivors of trafficking and abused and neglected children to return to the dangerous countries they fled in order to process their applications for green cards that grant them permanent residency in the United States.
Friday's policy change is the latest in a series of steps taken by Donald Trump over the past year to tighten immigration to the United States. Last year, the Trump administration took steps to shorten the length of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors and members of the media.
In January, the State Department announced that it had revoked more than 100,000 visas during the second Trump administration. The administration has also cracked down on other immigrants with legal status in the U.S., such as refugees and other protected immigrants.
