Trump’s green card changes could force hundreds of thousands of people to leave the United States. Here’s what you need to know

Most people applying for a green card from the United States will have to leave the country and apply through consulates abroad, under sweeping changes announced by the Trump administration this week.

The move will significantly complicate the process for hundreds of thousands of people who seek permanent residency in the United States each year, and has sparked a backlash from immigration advocates.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the new policy in a May 21 memo, stating that green cards would only be issued in the United States for “extraordinary circumstances” and directing immigration officials to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Daniel Kanstroom, a professor at Boston College Law School and founder of the university’s Immigration and Asylum Clinic, told TIME that the main goal of the memo is likely to reduce the number of green cards approved.

“This administration is trying to make it as difficult as possible for as many people as possible to gain permanent resident status,” he says.

“We are now focusing on the group of people who potentially have the strongest reason to legitimately remain in this country,” he said, referring to spouses and family members of U.S. citizens or legal residents.

It’s unclear how the agency will determine who can apply for a green card in the country and who can apply for one outside the country, but in its broadest sense, this policy could affect more than 500,000 people who apply for green cards each year while living in the United States on temporary visas.

Usually, those seeking permanent residency in the United States can apply in two ways: for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate abroad or for a green card while already in the country, usually on a temporary visa. Those who apply from within the country have their immigration status changed to permanent resident status. Now they could be forced to leave the country for months or even years while they wait for their applications to be processed, immigration experts said, even if they have jobs, families and entire lives in the United States.

“This policy allows our immigration system to operate as intended by law instead of enabling loopholes,” USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement. “When foreigners apply from their home countries, it reduces the need to track down and deport those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the United States illegally after being denied residency.”

While Kahler calls the decision a loophole, Congress specifically authorized the adjustment of residency status in Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Several work visas, like the H-1B category, are also specifically designed for “dual intent,” meaning workers can apply for a green card without jeopardizing their current status.

Changes will affect half of all green card applicants

Of the 783,000 people who received a green card in the United States between October 2023 and September 2024, 53% were spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens and green card holders, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Twenty-eight percent were people who had adapted from refugee or asylum status, and 15 percent had obtained a green card through employment.

“HALF of all green cards go to people…here in the United States, who applied for a green card through ‘adjustment of status,'” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said on social media in reaction to the change. “This group covers everyone from spouses and children of U.S. citizens to qualified professionals obtaining a green card through an employer.”

Reichlin-Melnick said the new policy could “force people to leave their jobs, homes and families for weeks or months, all at their own expense,” worsen already backlogged green card applications and place those seeking legal residency at the mercy of consulates, whose decisions are “virtually unquestionable.”

According to Kanstroom, this lack of overseas recourse means that, despite the memo, most lawyers will likely advise their clients to continue seeking adjustment of status in the United States instead of leaving the country.

“What this administration is saying is ‘if you have doubts, you should leave and try your luck at the consulate,’ but most lawyers won’t advise their clients to do that, because then a client could be stuck, and even in cases that are granted, you could be stuck for months or years,” he says. “In a marriage matter, this could be very difficult.”

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, called the move an expansion of the Trump administration’s “quiet move away” from legal immigration, pointing to how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has cut green card approvals in half over the last year, according to USCIS data.

“This decline comes primarily from the failure to process applications. Now, the new USCIS memorandum details a plan for mass denials,” he wrote in an analysis for Cato. “USCIS went from ‘quietly withdrawing’ to withdrawing 1.2 million green card applicants.”

Here’s who the changes will have the most impact on.

What do these changes mean for skilled workers?

The memo directs immigration officials to “consider all relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis” when determining which applicants warrant in-country “extraordinary form of relief.” But skilled workers in the United States on employment visas seeking permanent residency could be particularly hard hit.

Many highly skilled workers apply for a green card after obtaining an H-1B visa.

Business and technology entrepreneurs have expressed concern that the new policy could disrupt their employees’ lives and prevent them from recruiting new skilled workers.

Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, called the new policy a “capricious attack on legal immigration” on X.

“It will hurt families, leave us with fewer doctors, teachers and scientists, and hurt America’s competitiveness in AI,” he said.

Michael Clemens, an economist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, said on social media: “For high-skilled Indian workers seeking EB-2/3 visas, a major source of STEM talent and innovation in the U.S. workforce, this will typically mean *years* of waiting overseas for consular processing. »

“Clearly, many will drop out and the United States will lose its talent for good,” he wrote.

After initial backlash against the policy, USCIS spokesperson Kahler issued a new statement saying that “individuals applying that provide an economic benefit or are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path while others may be invited to apply overseas based on individual circumstances.”

Kanstroom suspects the administration may try to reduce the number of noncitizens obtaining a green card through their employment in order to free up more jobs for U.S. citizens.

“But it’s a very indirect way of trying to do something like that,” he adds.

What will be the impact on spousal and family visas?

Adjustment of status is the most common path to a green card for spouses and family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents already residing in the United States, including those on the K-1 visa, designed for fiancés and fiancées of U.S. citizens coming to the United States to get married.

World Relief, a Christian humanitarian organization that provides immigration legal services in the United States, said the policy was “anti-family” and would “force the separation of husbands from their wives and children from their parents” during a waiting process that could last months or even years to obtain consular services abroad.

“There is simply no compelling reason for this cruel, anti-family policy change, and I hope and pray that it is reversed, whether through administrative review, congressional action, or the courts,” Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, said in a statement.

Families from countries previously hit by the Trump administration’s travel ban will also likely find it even more difficult to return to the United States in practice.

“If they leave, it might be decades before they can come back,” Reichlin-Melnick said.

This is especially true for citizens of the 39 countries currently facing bans or restrictions on entry into the United States under the Trump administration’s expanded December 2025 “travel ban,” which Trump announced would “permanently suspend migration from all third world countries.”

USCIS previously announced that it would review the immigration statuses of lawful permanent residents and green card holders already in the United States from the 19 restricted countries in June 2025, most of which are in Africa and Asia. The State Department has also significantly reduced visa processing, halting processing of immigrant visa applications for people from 75 countries in January.

Students may also be affected

The USCIS announcement states that non-immigrant residents, such as students, come to the United States for a specific purpose and must leave shortly thereafter.

The Cato Institute’s Bier says the policy “ignores the reality of life.”

“People come as students, then they get a permanent job offer. People come to visit friends, then they get a marriage proposal,” he wrote. “People come for whatever reason, and their country is taken over by someone who is going to persecute them. »

People, such as students who arrived on a visa and have “overstayed,” will be among the most affected by this new policy, Kanstroom says. Indeed, in most cases, people like students who have overstayed their visas and lived in the United States illegally for a period of time will be barred from re-entering the country for several years if they leave the country.

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