OAN Staff Jenna Lee
3:12 PM – Friday, May 22, 2026
The Trump administration announced on Friday a policy shift requiring temporary visa holders to return to their home countries to apply for green cards.
The directive targets foreign nationals who enter the U.S. on non-immigrant visas, including students, temporary workers, and tourists, under the expectation that their stay is temporary and for a specific purpose.
Under the new guidance, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will now treat “Adjustment of Status” within the country as an extraordinary form of relief rather than a standard pathway.
“From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances. 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,” said USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler in a statement.
“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,” added Kahler.
In a typical year, roughly 1 million people apply for green cards, with about half seeking to adjust their status while already living inside the U.S., according to former USCIS official Doug Rand.
Critics immediately condemned the move, claiming that it will cause massive disruptions for U.S. businesses and families.
“The purpose of this policy is exclusion. 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,” said Rand in a statement.
The directive marks the Trump administration’s latest effort to restrict legal immigration pathways. However, Kahler emphasized that the shift would ultimately make the immigration system “fairer and more efficient.”
“Following the law allows the majority of these cases to be handled by the State Department at U.S. consular offices abroad and frees up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications, and other priorities,” said Kahler.
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