On Friday, President Donald Trump’s administration announced a dramatic change to the green card application process, requiring most applicants to leave the United States and complete the process from their home countries.

The shift was announced in a memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which said green cards would only be granted to applicants already living in the United States under “extraordinary circumstances.” The agency said applicants would instead be expected to pursue residency through consular processing abroad.

“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes,” USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement. He added that the policy would reduce the number of people who remain in the country illegally after being denied residency.

The policy is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of immigrants who currently rely on a process known as “adjustment of status,” which allows people already in the United States to apply for permanent residency without leaving the country. The pathway is commonly used by spouses of U.S. citizens, temporary visa holders, and foreign workers.

Immigration attorneys and former Homeland Security officials warned The New York Times that the move could lead to longer waits and more family separations as already-strained U.S. consulates absorb a surge of new cases abroad.

“Our consular processing system through which they would have to apply is already overburdened,” Sarah Pierce, a former USCIS policy analyst who now works at the think tank Third Way, told the paper. “So that means we could have families separated for months or years.”

According to Department of Homeland Security data cited by the Times, about 1.4 million green cards were issued in 2024. More than 820,000 of those approvals went to applicants already inside the United States through the “adjustment of status” process referenced above.

As for immigration lawyers, many reportedly reacted to the outlet with immediate confusion over what the administration will consider “extraordinary circumstances,” and expect the policy to face legal challenges.

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