The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that most applicants for permanent residency must return to their home countries to apply, ending a decades-old practice of adjustment of status inside the United States.
On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security and USCIS issued a policy memo directing officers to treat adjustment of status as an extraordinary act of administrative grace. Applicants must now show unusual equities beyond clean records and eligibility.
The change particularly affects Indian nationals, who face long backlogs in EB-2 and EB-3 categories. The State Department also announced that EB-2 visas for Indians were exhausted for the fiscal year ending September 2026.
Immigration attorneys Rajiv Khanna and Asel Williams warned that the shift could create appointment backlogs and job losses. Democratic lawmakers Grace Meng and Greg Stanton criticised the move as reckless.
USCIS said the policy returns to the original intent of the law and frees resources for other priorities. It remains unclear when the guidance takes full effect.
