New Immigration Rule Could Force Green Card Applicants to Leave US

USCIS announced a new rule requiring foreigners currently in the U.S. who want permanent legal residency to return to their countries of origin to apply for a green card. The change ends a decades-old process that previously allowed applicants to obtain green cards without leaving the country. Critics say the policy aims to block pathways to citizenship for many people. Former USCIS officials warned that consular processing is already overburdened, which could delay outcomes and separate families for months or years. The rule may also affect people married to U.S. citizens by forcing them to apply from overseas. Critics also said the policy could require individuals to leave jobs and homes and disrupt family life while they bear the costs of doing so.

"USCIS on Friday announced that foreigners currently in the U.S. who want to establish permanent legal residency must first return to their countries of origin to apply for a green card. This announcement broke with decades of U.S. immigration policy, which made it possible for immigrants in the U.S. to obtain green cards without having to leave the country."

"Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS under President Joe Biden, said in an interview with The Associated Press that "the goal of this policy is very explicit," which is to block a path to citizenship "for as many people as possible.""

"Sarah Pierce, a former USCIS policy analyst, told The New York Times that the rule change could have particularly dire consequences to foreigners who are married to U.S. citizens and will now have to apply for permanent residency from overseas. "Our consular processing system through which they would have to apply is already overburdened," Pierce explained. "So that means we could have families separated for months or years.""

"Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, similarly noted that the new policy "could force people to leave their jobs, homes, and families for weeks or months, all at their own expense" just to stay in a country where they have already established"

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