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USCIS Memo Restricts Green Card Adjustment of Status for Most Foreigners

USCIS Memo Restricts Green Card Adjustment of Status for Most Foreigners
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Most foreigners in the United States who want green cards would have been required to leave the country and apply from abroad under a sweeping Trump administration policy announced Friday, a change advocates said could disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of families and workers.pbs +1 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said “adjustment of status” — the process of obtaining permanent residency without leaving the country — would be granted only in “extraordinary” cases.courthousenews

The policy was laid out in a May 21 memo, PM‑602‑0199, which redefined adjustment of status as an act of “administrative grace” that lets applicants bypass the “ordinary” route of consular processing at U.S. embassies abroad.courthousenews A USCIS news release on May 22 said that, except in rare circumstances or where applicants provide “economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest,” people in the U.S. on temporary visas should return to their home countries to seek immigrant visas.courthousenews +1

What Changed and Who Would Have Been Affected?

For decades, adjustment of status has been a routine pathway: in 2024, roughly 58% of new green card holders — about 783,000 people — became permanent residents without leaving the United States.ms The new memo instructed officers to treat that route as the exception rather than the rule, directing them to weigh “adverse factors” such as visa overstays, unauthorized work or prior fraud heavily when deciding cases.courthousenews +1

The shift primarily targets people already in the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas — including students, H‑1B and L‑1 workers, and many family-based applicants — who would now be told to finish their green card process at consulates overseas.pbs +2 While USCIS emphasized that applicants deemed to offer an “economic benefit” or to be in the national interest may still adjust inside the U.S., officials did not specify clear criteria, leaving corporations, universities and individuals unsure who qualifies.stateline +1

Legal, Human and Economic Fallout

Immigration lawyers and advocacy organizations immediately warned of lawsuits, arguing the memo effectively rewrites immigration practice without going through formal rulemaking and may conflict with the statute governing adjustment of status.ms +1 They also flagged that many applicants forced to depart could trigger three‑ and 10‑year re‑entry bars tied to unlawful presence, potentially shutting them out of the country unless they secure hard‑to‑obtain waivers.ms

Humanitarian groups said the policy could compel trafficking survivors, abused children and other vulnerable applicants to return to the countries they fled, with HIAS saying it would force them “to return to the dangerous countries they fled.”forbes Business and economic analysts warned that shifting cases to already backlogged consulates — in some countries, visa appointments already stretched into 2027 — would strand workers abroad and push talent to competitor nations.ms +1 “It will drive talented people to other countries and make America a less competitive place for business,” said David Bier of the Cato Institute.miamiherald

The Bigger Picture

The memo marked one of the most far‑reaching steps yet in a broader Trump-era project to constrict legal as well as unauthorized immigration, joining earlier actions tightening student and work visas and pausing benefits for nationals of dozens of “high‑risk” countries.theguardian Whether courts ultimately allow the government to treat in‑country green card applications as a rare privilege rather than a common pathway will shape family unity, corporate hiring and the United States’ appeal to foreign talent for years to come.