# Trump administration bars most green card seekers from applying while in U.S.  
**Published:** 2026-05-26T09:35:05.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/26/repub/trump-administration-will-make-green-card-hopefuls-return-to-home-countries-before-applying/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/trump-administration-bars-most-green-card-seekers-from-applying-while-in-u-s

The Trump administration announced a sweeping policy Friday that will require most immigrants seeking green cards to return to their home countries and apply through U.S. consulates instead of adjusting their status while in the United States, according to [the Nebraska Examiner reporting on a Stateline story](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/26/repub/trump-administration-will-make-green-card-hopefuls-return-to-home-countries-before-applying/).

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the change May 22, limiting adjustment of status to "extraordinary circumstances." The policy could affect hundreds of thousands of people annually who file green card applications while living in America on temporary visas, including workers on [H-1B visas](https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1-visa-individuals-with-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement) for highly skilled workers and O-1 visas for those with extraordinary ability.

"An alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply," USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement, adding the change is meant to "allow our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes."

The change applies to multiple groups: workers on temporary visas, students, tourists, and people living in the country illegally but seeking legal status through sponsorship by U.S. citizen relatives such as spouses or adult children. [FWD.us](https://www.fwd.us), an immigration advocacy group, said the new policy "will create chaos and impose massive costs on immigrants who have lived and worked legally in the United States for many years."

Tech industry leaders swiftly condemned the move. Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, called the change "a capricious attack on legal immigration" that will "hurt families, leave us with fewer doctors, teachers and scientists, and hurt American competitiveness in AI." Silicon Valley venture capitalist Nick Davidov noted that H-1B visa holders alone number about 1.3 million and said at least three large startups in his portfolio would be harmed.

The policy presents particular challenges for applicants from certain countries. People from India could face years of backlogs if they returned home to apply, while applicants from Russia would be unable to apply at all since there is no U.S. embassy there. Additionally, citizens of 39 countries facing travel restrictions under the Trump administration's expanded travel ban could be barred from returning to the U.S. if they leave to apply for green cards.

The USCIS memo referenced "extraordinary circumstances" that might allow continued processing inside the United States but did not define the term, leaving significant uncertainty about how the policy will be applied. Legal experts said immigration officers would make [case-by-case determinations](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/PM-602-0199-AdjustmentOfStatusAndDiscretion-20260521.pdf) weighing relevant factors.

Stateline reported that half of all green cards approved annually go to people applying from within the United States, including family-based immigrants, refugees and asylees adjusting status, and employment-based immigrants. The change marks a dramatic shift in policy that has allowed green card applicants to complete the entire process without leaving the country since the 1950s.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/26/repub/trump-administration-will-make-green-card-hopefuls-return-to-home-countries-before-applying/)
- [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official announcement of the green card policy change](https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/us-citizenship-and-immigration-services-will-grant-adjustment-of-status-only-in-extraordinary)
- [USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 on adjustment of status and discretion](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/PM-602-0199-AdjustmentOfStatusAndDiscretion-20260521.pdf)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/26/repub/trump-administration-will-make-green-card-hopefuls-return-to-home-countries-before-applying/.