Trump Changes Green Card Rules
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
Trump Changes
Green Card Rules
St. Croix Times Staff
Washington, D.C. - In the latest significant move by the Trump Administration on immigration policy, and what amounts to a monumental shift from the past, U.S. Green Card applicants will now have to return to their home countries to apply. The new rule, reported by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS), which has already been widely criticized by aid groups, policy analysts and immigration attorneys, states that foreigners seeking to adjust their immigration status in the U.S. to secure Green Cards will have to do so from outside the country via the State Department.
USCIS announced the move in a policy memo, which directed officers to consider relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis when determining whether extraordinary relief is warranted.
The Green Card process had been unchanged for 60 years. Reportedly, more than one million immigrants in the U.S. are waiting on their Green Cards.
“An alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply,” said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has oversight over USCIS.
“The policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes,” said USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler. “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.”
People apply for Green Cards in two separate ways: by applying at a U.S. consulate abroad, or by applying for a Green Card while already in the U.S., which is called an “adjustment of status.”
“The new rule affects every person within the U.S. that is seeking an adjustment of status,” said an immigration attorney. “It affects students, it affects temporary protected status holders, it affects business visa holders.”
With the new USCIS policy, many Green Card applicants in the U.S. 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.
It is unclear how currently pending Green Card cases will be affected. But if implemented without a so-called “grandfather clause,” the new policy may very well force survivors of human trafficking, and abused and neglected children to return to the dangerous countries they fled in order to process their applications for Green Cards granting them permanent residency in the U.S.
The USCIS did not say when the change would come into effect, whether individuals would be required to remain in another country throughout the entire process, or whether the policy impacts foreigners whose Green Card applications are already underway.