Green Card Seekers No Longer Can Apply From Inside US

Most foreigners applying to become permanent residents of the US will have to leave the country to do it from now on, under a Trump administration policy shift announced Friday that breaks with longstanding practice. A memo from US Citizenship and Immigration Services directs most green card applicants to apply through State Department consulates abroad, instead of seeking to "adjust" their status from inside the US, the Washington Post reports. The agency cast the move as returning to the original design of immigration law, saying temporary visitors are supposed to depart when their authorized stay ends, not use that visit as a first step toward permanent residency.

"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," an agency spokesman said in a statement, per the New York Times. Exceptions could apply to holders of "dual intent" visas, which explicitly allow pursuit of permanent status, and to some immigrant visa categories. But the agency described such approvals as "extraordinary" and said, as a rule, people should leave once the purpose of their temporary admission has been met, per the Post. More than 1 million green cards are issued annually, and federal data indicate that over half have gone to applicants already living in the US.

Immigration attorneys said the change could affect hundreds of thousands of people, including professionals such as doctors, academics, and executives, and predicted court challenges. Lawyers also questioned the policy's impact on nationals of countries like Iran and Afghanistan, where the US has no consular presence, and on those from nations covered by Trump-era travel bans or visa suspensions who could be unable to return if they depart. Advocacy groups and policy analysts said the rule is part of a broader push to constrict legal immigration and dismantle long-standing pathways for people who are already in the country legally to become permanent residents.