Trump Administration Requires Most Green Card Seekers To Apply From Abroad

The Trump administration announced a policy that would require most immigrants seeking green cards to leave the United States first and apply through consular processing abroad, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services directing officers to treat adjustment of status as an "extraordinary" relief and an act of "administrative grace."

USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said, "From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances," linking the change to how the immigration system should function "instead of incentivizing loopholes."

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CBS News reported that the memo published Friday would likely have wide-ranging implications, forcing groups like students, tourists and other temporary visa holders, as well as those who entered legally but overstayed their visas, to leave the country before trying to obtain a green card.

NBC News added that the administration said people with temporary visas seeking to adjust their immigration status to obtain green cards must return to their home countries to "do so through consular processing," marking a major change from current practice.

The policy was described as the latest step in the Trump administration’s campaign to sharply limit legal immigration, with CBS News noting that citizens of 39 countries currently face outright bans or restrictions under the "travel ban" signed by President Trump on national security grounds.

Zach Kahler defended the policy by saying, "When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency," and he said it would "make our system fairer and more efficient."

Former USCIS official Doug Rand said the changes could affect hundreds of thousands of cases, arguing, "The purpose of this policy is exclusion," and he said, "Remember that Trump has banned people from over 100 countries from returning to the U.S."

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World Relief called the policy "cruel" and "anti-family," and its president and CEO Myal Greene said, "This policy, impacting individuals who meet the legal requirements for a green card, will force apart husbands from wives and children from their parents."

The BBC reported that USCIS said people such as students, temporary workers or people on tourist visas need to go through the Department of State from outside the US "except in extraordinary circumstances," while a spokesperson told the BBC that applicants providing an "economic benefit" or serving the "national interest" would likely be able to continue on their current path.

The BBC also said it was unclear whether pending green card applications would be affected, and it noted that obtaining a green card is a multi-step process that can take months to several years.

The Guardian said the green card process had been unchanged for more than 60 years and described the new USCIS policy memo as directing officers to consider relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis when determining whether extraordinary relief is warranted.

The Guardian also warned that with the new USCIS policy, many green card applicants in the US will probably be required to leave while their cases are processed, "particularly affecting mixed-status families nationwide" by forcing green card applicants to leave jobs, homes and relationships for an unknown amount of time.

The BBC reported that there are currently more than a million legal immigrants waiting for approval on their adjustment-of-status green card applications, citing the Cato Institute’s director of immigration studies.

In a separate warning about consequences for families, World Relief wrote that, "If families are told that the non-citizen family member must return to his or her country of origin to process their immigrant visa, but immigrant visas are not being processed there, it’s a Catch-22."

CBS News said Michael Valverde, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services until his departure last year, warned the announcement would "disrupt the plans of hundreds of thousands of families and employers annually" and called it "a largely unprecedented move that will limit lawful immigration to the U.S. greatly."