New Delhi: The Donald Trump administration has announced a new immigration policy that will require most immigrants seeking permanent residency in the United States to leave the country and apply for a green card from their home country.
The policy, announced Friday by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), states that individuals seeking to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident must now complete the process through a US embassy or consulate outside the country “except in extraordinary circumstances.”
Until now, foreign nationals residing in the US on student, tourist or temporary work visas were able to apply for permanent residency without departing the country through a process known as Adjustment of Status.
Under the new policy, Adjustment of Status is being redefined as an “extraordinary form of relief,” restricting its use to limited and exceptional circumstances.
“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” the USCIS said in a statement on X.
USCIS is applying long-standing law and prior court decisions to require certain aliens with temporary visas who decide they want to permanently reside in the U.S. to return to their home countries to apply for permanent visas through the @StateDept.
We're returning to the… pic.twitter.com/E2AFZkds5m
— USCIS (@USCIS) May 22, 2026
The change is part of Trump’s broader effort to tighten immigration controls and curb what administration officials describe as ‘abuse’ of the legal immigration system.
“From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card for permanent residency must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances,” USCIS said in a statement posted on X. “This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivising loopholes.”
The agency added that when applicants apply from their home countries, “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.”
The new rules will affect nonimmigrants, including international students, temporary workers and tourists, who had previously been able in many cases to apply for permanent residency while remaining in the US through Adjustment of Status.
“Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over,” USCIS said. “Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process.”
The Trump administration has already imposed bans or restrictions on citizens from nearly 40 countries, and another policy implemented earlier this year paused immigrant visa issuances for applicants from 75 countries. Making applicants leave the country for consular processing could effectively block many from completing the green card process.
“The purpose of this policy is exclusion,” Doug Rand, a former USCIS official, said in a statement on LinkedIn. “Remember that Trump has banned people from over 100 countries from returning to the U.S., so forcing them to go abroad for consular processing is no pathway at all.”
The USCIS memo indicates that students, temporary workers and tourists seeking permanent residency must now work through the State Department from outside the United States. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the USCIS, declared on X: “The era of abusing our nation’s immigration system is over.”
An alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply.
This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes.
The era of abusing our nation’s immigration system is over. https://t.co/ofyEYGPDLC
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 22, 2026
It remains unclear whether the new rules will affect the more than one million immigrants currently waiting for approval on adjustment-of-status applications already filed inside the US.
A USCIS spokesperson told the BBC that some applicants whose cases provide “an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest” would likely be permitted to continue through the existing process.
“Others may be asked to apply abroad depending on individualized circumstances,” the spokesperson added.
A green card, formally known as lawful permanent residency, allows immigrants to live and work permanently in the US. Obtaining one often requires a complex, multi-step process that can take months or even years.
According to Rand, roughly one million people apply for green cards each year, and about half do so from within America by adjusting their immigration status while already residing in the country.
Indians in the US
In January 2025, approximately 53.3 million immigrants were living in America— the largest immigrant population ever recorded. But in the months that followed, more immigrants left the US or were deported than arrived. By June, the nation’s foreign-born population had declined by more than one million people, marking the first such drop since the 1960s, according to Pew Research.
As of mid-2023, the latest year with detailed demographic data, more than 11 million U.S. residents were born in Mexico, accounting for 22 percent of all immigrants nationwide. India represented the second-largest immigrant group, with 3.2 million people, followed by China with 3 million, the Philippines with 2.1 million, and Cuba with 1.7 million.
According to a report by Migration Policy institute in 2026, approximately 3.2 million Indian immigrants live in the US, making up 6 percent of the 50.2 million immigrants.
Indians accounted for 71 percent of all H-1B visas issued to highly skilled workers during 2024, and also had the largest number of international students with a majority in STEM fields.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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