USCIS Memo Targets Green-Card 'Loophole,' Threatening to Force More Applicants to Leave the U.S.

A new policy memorandum from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is alarming immigration lawyers and advocates, who warn it could force more people seeking permanent residency to leave the United States to complete their applications — disrupting a process that for years has allowed many to remain with their families while they wait.

The memo, designated PM-602-0199 and issued on May 21, 2026, addresses applications for adjustment of status, the procedure by which noncitizens already in the country apply for a green card without departing. The Trump administration has characterized the document as a "reminder" to USCIS officers about existing law, while simultaneously promoting it as closing a "loophole" that could compel more applicants to pursue their cases from abroad through consular processing.

That distinction matters enormously in practice. Applicants who must leave the country to obtain an immigrant visa can become subject to multi-year bars on reentry triggered by prior unlawful presence, potentially separating families for years. Advocates say that even the threat of being pushed into consular processing could deter eligible immigrants from coming forward at all.

After an initial wave of alarm, USCIS sought to temper expectations. The agency said the policy would be implemented on a case-by-case basis rather than applied uniformly to most green-card applications, implying that many immigrants will still be able to remain in the United States while their cases are adjudicated. But the case-by-case framing has done little to reassure attorneys, who note that discretionary standards leave wide room for inconsistent and unpredictable outcomes.

Legal organizations including the American Immigration Council argue the memo represents a substantive change in policy dressed up as a routine clarification, and contend it is at odds with the law as written by Congress. They have signaled that the policy is likely to draw court challenges, in part because the agency appears to have shifted long-standing practice without the advance notice and rulemaking they say such a change requires.

The memo is the latest in a series of immigration actions this spring. Deferred action and work permits for certain young immigrants with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status waiting for green cards ended on May 10, and in early May the United States revoked the visas of five board members of a Costa Rican newspaper without explanation. Together, advocates say, the moves reflect an effort to narrow pathways to legal status and increase the number of people who must navigate the immigration system from outside the country's borders.