USCIS Says Most Green Card Applicants Must Apply From Abroad
The policy could affect hundreds of thousands of applicants a year and may force many family-based and work-based seekers to use consular processing.
- On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that foreigners seeking permanent residence must return to their home countries to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances, reversing decades of policy allowing applicants to adjust status within the United States.
- For more than half a century, foreign nationals with legal status—including spouses of U.S. citizens, work visa holders, and refugees—have been able to adjust status domestically, a practice Trump's administration is now targeting as part of a broader pivot to restrict legal immigration pathways.
- Applicants are facing unprecedented scrutiny, with one person married to a U.S. citizen questioned about why they did not apply abroad, and another required to prove they would not become a 'public charge' using 2025 tax returns and employer documentation, the American Immigration Lawyers Association reported Tuesday.
- Immigration attorney Flavia Santos Lloyd said the policy has a chilling effect, with some cases she planned to proceed with now on hold, while attorney Charles Kuck called it an attempt to 'limit and scare people away from the legal immigration process' and predicted legal action.
- Uncertainty persists about which applicants qualify for exceptions, with Kevin Miner of immigration law firm Fragomen expecting employment-based visa holders like H-1Bs to remain exempt under dual-intent provisions mentioned in the policy memo, though implementation details remain unclear.
54 Articles
54 Articles
Washington green card hopefuls face new questions about legal status
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a new federal policy that requires most green card applicants to submit their requests to obtain permanent legal status from their home countries. Applications from within the U.S. will only be considered under extraordinary circumstances, the policy says.
What Green Card Applicants Need To Know About Trump’s New Immigration Guidance
A Trump administration immigration guidance could require some green card applicants to leave the United States and complete the process abroad, prompting concerns from attorneys and legal scholars who say the policy may create new hurdles for immigrants seeking permanent residency. How could the new policy affect immigrants in the United States? Immigrants seeking green cards through marriage, family sponsorship or employment have long been abl…
The change of criteria in the Immigration Service requires certain applicants for permanent residence to carry out the Green Card procedure in their countries of origin. Lawyers warn that the measure is subject to the discretion of the officers and provide for lawsuits to stop the directive. The opinion raises the uncertainty of the families, who already face delays in the adjustment of status with waits that exceed five years. Shows La Voz de l…
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