By Michael Williams, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration will now require people seeking green cards to leave the United States during the application process — a sweeping change that could upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of people seeking the right to legally and permanently live and work in the US.
In a new rule announced Friday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said green card applicants would have to return to their home countries to apply for permanent visas. The rule provides exemptions for “extraordinary circumstances,” USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement.
“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the US illegally after being denied residency,” Kahler said.
Applying for a green card is already a notoriously arduous process that can take several months to years to complete. The new rule could force hundreds of thousands of immigrants to leave their jobs, families and communities while their application is processed.
About 1.4 million people obtained lawful permanent residence in fiscal year 2024, according to public data posted by the Department of Homeland Security.
The new rule is likely to face legal challenges.
While cracking down on illegal immigration has been a top priority for the Trump administration, the new rule represents just the latest example of how the administration is also attempting to curb legal forms of immigration.
The administration has made efforts to significantly reduce asylum claims; ended the temporary protected status for several countries, which allowed those fleeing natural disasters, wars or other dangerous conditions to live in the US without fear of being deported; halted refugee admissions except for White South Africans; and restricted work and student visas.
Following last year’s shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, DC, the administration announced it was reexamining all green cards issued to people from 19 countries “of concern.”
However, the alleged perpetrator of that shooting, an Afghan national, applied for asylum — a different process than the green card applications process — in 2021, and it was granted in 2025.
The-CNN-Wire
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