The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced a major change to American immigration procedures that could significantly affect thousands of Indians currently living in the United States on temporary visas while waiting for permanent residency.
Under the new policy guidance issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), migrants seeking a Green Card through adjustment of status will generally no longer be allowed to remain inside the United States during the application process.
Instead, applicants will now typically be required to leave the US and apply for permanent residency from their home countries unless they qualify under what the administration described as “extraordinary circumstances.”
A Green Card is an official US permanent residency document that allows foreign nationals to live and work in America permanently. Green Card holders can reside anywhere in the country, work for most employers, pursue education, travel internationally, subject to immigration rules, and eventually apply for American citizenship if eligible.
Explaining the change, USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler stated that migrants who are temporarily present in the US and wish to obtain permanent residency would now generally have to return to their countries of origin to complete the process.
According to Kahler, the administration was attempting to restore what it views as the “original intent” of American immigration law and ensure that migrants follow the system through proper channels instead of using temporary visas as a pathway to long-term settlement.
The decision is expected to particularly impact international students, H-1B visa holders, temporary workers,s and even tourists currently residing in the US who had hoped to transition to permanent residency without leaving the country.
Under the earlier system, many visa holders could apply for “adjustment of status” while remaining physically present inside the United States. That process often allowed applicants to continue working and living in the country while waiting for their Green Card applications to be processed.
However, under the new guidance, adjustment of status inside the US will now reportedly be treated as an exceptional measure rather than the standard pathway.
Immigration officers have reportedly been instructed to examine such requests individually on a case-by-case basis, making approvals considerably more restrictive.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) publicly defended the policy by arguing that temporary visas are meant only for short-term purposes such as education, tourism, sm or temporary employment and should not automatically evolve into permanent residency pathways.
In an official statement shared online, the department stated that non-immigrants such as students, tourists, and temporary workers come to the United States for limited purposes and that their stay should not effectively become the first step toward obtaining a Green Card.
The administration further argued that requiring applicants to leave the US and apply from abroad would help reduce visa overstays and discourage individuals from remaining unlawfully inside the country after denial of immigration benefits.
According to DHS, the change is intended to prevent abuse of the immigration system and close what the administration considers loopholes in existing procedures.
The policy shift is expected to have a particularly significant impact on Indians because Indian nationals represent one of the largest groups navigating long-term employment-based Green Card backlogs in the United States.
Large numbers of Indian professionals currently work in the US under H-1B visas while waiting years, and in some cases decades, for employment-based Green Card approvals due to country-specific quotas and processing delays.
According to official figures cited by the administration, nearly 49,700 Indian-born immigrants became US citizens through the Green Card pathway during fiscal year 2024, making Indians the second-largest immigrant group obtaining American citizenship after migrants from Mexico.
Indians reportedly accounted for approximately 6.1 per cent of all naturalisations in the United States during that period.
The Trump administration also claimed that shifting Green Card processing to American consulates abroad would allow USCIS to redirect resources toward other immigration priorities, including citizenship applications and visas involving victims of violent crime or human trafficking.
Immigration experts, however, are expected to closely scrutinise the legal and practical implications of the policy because many applicants already living and working legally in the United States could now face disruptions involving employment, family arrangements, visa renewals, and international travel.
The move is also likely to trigger widespread concern among Indian students, technology professionals, and skilled workers, many of whom rely on adjustment-of-status procedures while navigating America’s lengthy employment-based immigration system.
