GoKawiilThe Trump administration Friday announced it would require most foreigners seeking green cards to apply from outside the United States, a shift in long-standing practice that immigration lawyers said could affect hundreds of thousands of people who file applications each year while living in America on temporary visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services described the changes in a six-page policy memo as a return to the original intent of federal immigration law. The guidelines instruct foreign visitors to apply for a permanent status through U.S. State Department consulate offices in their home countries “except in extraordinary circumstances.”
“Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose,” USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement. “Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process.”
Certain visa holders can apply to “adjust” their statuses by petitioning for permanent legal residency, also known as a green card. The United States authorizes more than 1 million green cards each year, of which more than half of the applicants are already living in the country, according to federal data. The new guidelines come as President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to sharply restrict legal immigration pathways to the country.
“This is going to affect thousands and thousands of people,” said Elizabeth Goss, an immigration attorney and board member at Immigrants’ List, an immigrant rights advocacy organization. “There’s no true policy reason behind this. It’s not a security issue — these people have already been vetted for temporary, nonimmigrants visas. This will affect doctors, professors, researchers, CEOs.”
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow stipulated that there could be exceptions to the new guidance for people in the United States on “dual intent” visas that allow them to pursue a permanent legal status while residing in the country temporarily. Exceptions would also be granted for those with immigrant visas, for whom a green card could provide a pathway to permanent residency.
But he wrote that “as a general matter the discretionary approval of such a request is extraordinary given Congress’s intent that aliens should depart once the purpose for which they sought parole or nonimmigrant admission from [the Department of Homeland Security] has been accomplished.”
Immigration lawyers said the measure is likely to face legal challenges, and details on specific visa categories were not immediately available.
In a response to questions from The Washington Post about how many green-card applicants would be affected by the new guidelines and which groups would be afforded an exception, Kahler said applicants who “provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest” would continue to be permitted to apply from inside the country.
He did not elaborate on what kinds of economic benefits would be considered sufficient or say how such determinations would be made.
Attorney Ben Osorio said the new guidelines appeared to target individuals who enter the country legally but overstay their visas and then later apply for a green card. Such cases make up a large number of the applications for green cards from foreigners already in the United States, he said. Many involve immigrants who apply to become permanent residents after marrying a U.S. citizen.
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