Foreigners in the U.S. who want a green card will need to leave and apply in their home country, the Trump administration announced Friday, in a surprise change to a longstanding policy that sowed confusion and concern among aid groups, immigration lawyers and immigrants.
For over half a century, foreign nationals with legal status have been able to apply for and complete the entire process for permanent residence in the United States — including individuals married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, and refugees and political asylum seekers, among others.
The announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said foreigners who are in the U.S. temporarily and who want to apply to become lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, have to return home and apply there, except in “extraordinary circumstances.” USCIS officers would decide whether applicants meet those.
“Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose. 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,” the agency said in a statement.
It is the latest step by the Trump administration making legal immigration more difficult for foreigners already in the U.S. and for those hoping to come here.
Hundreds of thousands apply for green cards from the US each year
“The goal of this policy is very explicit. Senior officials in this administration have said over and over that they want fewer people to get permanent residency because permanent residency is a path to citizenship and they want to block that path for as many people as possible,” said Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS during the Biden administration, who added that about 600,000 people already in the U.S. apply each year for a green card.
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.
In an emailed statement to the Associated Press the agency said people who provide an “economic benefit” or “national interest” could likely stay in the U.S. while others would have to go abroad to apply
The Trump administration has cut legal immigration by 132,000 people per month, far more than the drop in illegal crossings. These are doctors, engineers, workers, and entrepreneurs. Over the last 30 years, legal immigrants reduced the U.S. deficit by $14.5 trillion. And Trump has increased our deficit by another trillion in 2026. With an aging population and shrinking workforce, we need them. This isn’t border security, it is economic suicide. Our kids and grandkids will pay the price for this idiocy.
I don’t think most of the boomers care. They are living a pretty good life for the most part and as will not give one single fuck as long as it doe not touch them and by the time it does they will be dead. I am the very last of the boomers. Nobody I know gives a single shit. I got mine is their motto. It is infuriating. It is like everybody I know pulled off a mask and showed me who they really were. Of course I knew some of them were fucksticks but I really didn’t think it was all of them.
I think the boomers will still suffer the consequences if their still alive and haven’t died yet
They might be counting on the government bailing them out.
Most of the ones I’ve talked to espouse that very view. Even the ones with kids and grandkids. Utterly fucked.
How can my kids pay the price if I can’t afford to have them?!?
It’s easier not to let them back in that way.
Do you want brain drain? Because this is how you get brain drain.
The US brain faucet is already on full and the drain is fully open.
Before anyone comments saying “only the brain damaged would apply for a green card now”, I would like to point out that the timeline for PR takes anywhere from years or decades.
These aren’t people who filed after T-virus got in the White House, these are people who have been betting their lives and savings on living in the US 10-20 years ago. If you pull out now, it may be viewed as a negative factor to bar you from ever seeing your friends and family in the US ever again.
The article is not clear about what specific visas are affected, so I’m not sure what’s changing.
To give two examples, my sister and I are both Canadians living in the US.
My sister met a guy online twenty years ago, did some cross-border trips to visit each other for a year, then he proposed while she was visiting him one time. Since she was now planning to move to the US, she could not move towards getting a green card from a tourist visa. So, she and her new husband traveled to Canada and reentered the US, declaring her intent to become a permanent resident (and probably had a bunch of paperwork, including their marriage certificate). I believe she was allowed to stay in the US while the green card process played out. Maybe this is the part that’s changing?
In my case, I was working for a US company abroad, and transferred to headquarters on an L1 visa (highly skilled internal worker). About six months after moving, the company’s immigration lawyers kicked off the process to get me a green card and I received it a little shy of two years after moving. Changing this process would mess things up, since (by definition) I was in the US for my job and would have had a hard time leaving the country for over a year while the green card process played out.
The distinction is the “intent” of a given type of visa. The tourist visa specifically implies “I’m here to visit, then get the hell out”. The L1 visa (as well as the TN, the H1-B, and a few others) is specifically designated as a “dual intent” visa, meaning “I might plan to stay permanently”. If they’re changing the rules for dual intent visas, that’s messed up. If they’re not, I’m not sure what exactly is changing.
They are picking on graduate students, because duck education!
White people will never have creditability when it concerns immigration going forward, if they ever had it to begin with.
…next in the News: Trump Administration consolidates all U.S. embassy’s to a backroom in Greenland. “Think of all the money we’ll save!” /s
I think most countries do that. I had to get my non-tourist visa for where I’m living now in the US.
I was here on a free visa-on-arrival but they forced me to go to the US and apply at their embassy to stay longer.
This is not for a visa. Green cards are permanent resident cards. You get those when you meet criteria to stay in the country indefinitely (say, they marriage). You always needed to leave the country to renew a temporary visa, but not to get a green card.
Is an embassy ground technically not a foreign country?
