Foreign students, workers will now be forced to leave US to apply for Green Cards

“Foreign students, workers will now be forced to leave US to apply for Green Cards Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 05/22/2026 - 20:58 The move is a hugely consequential pivot from decades in which foreigners could seek to adjust their US status Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Joseph Edlow testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on 12 February 2026 (Brendan Smialowski/AFP) Off The Trump administration on Friday announced that any foreigners in the US seeking to adjust their visa status must now depart the country first, and then apply through a US embassy abroad. The move is a profound policy shift that could affect tens of millions of visa holders in the US, including international students, temporary workers, refugees on special visas, and even those with American spouses. "We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly. From now on, an alien who is in the US temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances," US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement. It is understood that the policy goes into effect immediately, but it remains unclear what "extraordinary" would entail. Immigration officers, as with customs and border officers, are traditionally given broad discretion to act. "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 US illegally after being denied residency," he added. Applying from abroad, however, typically means far longer wait times that can span years - meaning applicants would miss out on job opportunities they have been offered, and be separated from spouses or other US citizen family members. In some cases, such as Russia, it is unclear how they would proceed, given that all visa and consular services are suspended. "US consular offices abroad [free] up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications, and other priorities. The law was written this way for a reason, and despite the fact that it has been ignored for years, following it will help make our system fairer and more efficient," Kahler explained. US State Department revoked at least 85,000 visas in 2025: Report Read More » Immigration attorneys quickly slammed the decision on social media. "This isn't only about immigrants' rights. It's about US citizens too. Roughly 1 in 5 married couples in the US includes a spouse born abroad. That's not a fringe group, it's 21% of married couple households," Adrian Pandev of the firm Pandev Law LLC wrote on X. "When an American marries someone here lawfully on a visa, adjustment of status is how their spouse gets a green card without leaving the country." Steven Brown, a Texas-based immigration lawyer, pointed to the text of the USCIS policy manual which spells out the reasons why Congress allowed for adjustments of status since the 1950s: "To enable certain aliens physically present in the United States to become legal permanent residents without incurring the expense and inconvenience of traveling abroad... [and to] advance economic growth and a robust immigrant labor force," in addition to the cause of family unity and humanitarian action. The new policy memo is expected to face a court challenge. It is the latest step in the Trump administration's aggressive crackdown on both illegal and legal immigration since it assumed power in January 2025. Reactions The American Immigration Lawyers Association wrote on X that both Republican and Democratic administrations alike "have implemented [the adjustment of status] process for decades, and courts have repeatedly upheld it. Reversing settled law by memo is legally questionable and needlessly chaotic." AfghanEvac, an advocacy organisation for Afghans and their families who assisted the US during its two-decade war in the country, said the timing of the USCIS decision is "not an accident". "It directly targets people who entered on humanitarian parole — the entry status of virtually every Afghan ally who arrived through the 2021 [US] withdrawal," Shawn VanDiver, the organisation's president, said in a statement. "The administration's stated alternative, applying from the home country, does not exist for Afghans. There is no US embassy in Afghanistan," he added, issuing a stark warning: "This memo does not deport anyone today. It starts the chain: denial leads to removal proceedings, removal proceedings lead to deportation orders." Along with Afghanistan, Iran is also a country on President Donald Trump's travel ban list, though both countries have tens of thousands of citizens who are studying or working temporarily in the US, or who are awaiting a decision on an asylum claim. The National Iranian American Council said on Thursday it is "deeply concerned" by the USCIS decision, and called it a "trap". "The administration is telling Iranians who have built their lives here legally: leave. And once you do, you're not coming back," Niac president Jamal Abdi said in a statement. "Does the Trump administration seriously expect that Iranian nationals legally in the US will return to their country in the midst of a war and naval blockade imposed by Trump to apply for an adjustment of status that would likely never come?" US Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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