Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that foreigners desiring a green card in the U.S. must now leave the country to apply.
This marks an unexpected change in policy, which is causing both confusion and concern among immigrants, immigration lawyers, and aid groups.
For more than 50 years, foreign nationals with legal status have been able to apply for and complete the entire process for permanent residence within the U.S. This includes individuals married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, as well as refugees and political asylum seekers.
The announcement, made by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), stated that foreigners who wanted to apply to become lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, must return home to apply, except in “extraordinary circumstances.” USCIS officers would be in charge of evaluating whether circumstances were “extraordinary” or not.
The agency also stated that individuals who provided an “economic benefit” or “national interest” would likely be allowed to stay in the U.S. to apply.
“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.”
Critics feel that this is just the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration to make legal immigration even more difficult and that it creates unnecessary barriers to legal immigration will only incentivize illegal immigration as a more viable option.
Additionally, many believe it creates a situation making it nearly impossible for immigrants to earn residency in countries if they do not have relatives already living in that country, or if that country does not have a demand for workers who meet education or skill-based criteria.
“The goal of this policy is very explicit,” says Doug Rand, a former senior adviser at USCIS. “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.”
The USCIS did not specify when the change would come into effect, whether individuals would need to remain in another country throughout the entire process, or if the policy would impact foreigners whose green card applications are already underway.
Immigration lawyers and aid groups have already begun to push back, stating that the longstanding practice of allowing groups to adjust their status in the U.S. could not justly be abandoned now. They claimed many people could not return home due to safety concerns, and that many countries had no U.S. embassy from which they could apply.
A senior staff attorney with the California Immigration Project, Jessie De Haven, states that it is “really hard to tell how this is going to be applied,” and that he thinks “it might have a chilling effect on people applying.”