Trump administration tightens green card path for immigrants in the U.S.

The Trump administration moved to make permanent residency harder to secure from inside the United States, telling immigration officers to treat in-country green card filings as an extraordinary exception rather than the normal path. The policy memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was released on May 21 and publicly announced on May 22, and it directs most applicants to leave the country and finish immigrant visa processing at a U.S. consulate abroad.

That shift could hit the people most exposed to immigration instability: students, tourists, temporary visa holders, people who overstayed their visas, temporary workers and humanitarian parolees. Under the new approach, many of them would have to depart the United States before pursuing family- or employer-based green cards, even if they have already built lives, jobs and households here. For many, leaving could mean losing the ability to return.

USCIS said it was aligning its practice with the “original intent” of the law. Zach Kahler, a USCIS spokesperson, said the agency was returning to that original intent. The memo also tells officers to decide cases individually and to place more weight on discretionary factors, including immigration history, status violations, unlawful employment, false statements and conduct that appears inconsistent with the purpose of a person’s original admission.

Immigration lawyers said that approach gives officers broader room to deny relief and could chill applications from people who would otherwise qualify. Todd Pomerleau, an immigration lawyer, said the policy is likely illegal and will likely be challenged in court. Michael Valverde, a former USCIS official, warned that the announcement could disrupt the plans of hundreds of thousands of families and employers each year.

The consequences could be especially severe for people who entered lawfully but later fell out of status. CBS News reported that many overstayers who leave the United States to process a green card abroad would trigger a 10-year reentry ban, making a temporary departure a potentially permanent separation. Lawyers also warned that the policy could create a specific trap for Afghans who assisted U.S. forces and Ukrainians fleeing war.

The administration is pushing the change while keeping other sweeping restrictions in place, including a travel ban affecting 39 countries and a separate pause on immigrant visas for people from 75 countries. Most of the countries affected by the travel ban are in Africa and Asia, adding another layer of exclusion to a system already being tightened at every step.