{"id":19964,"date":"2026-05-29T11:22:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/trump-green-card-policy-shuns-decades-of-legal-immigration-norms-bloomberg-law-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:22:39","slug":"trump-green-card-policy-shuns-decades-of-legal-immigration-norms-bloomberg-law-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/trump-green-card-policy-shuns-decades-of-legal-immigration-norms-bloomberg-law-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Green Card Policy Shuns Decades of Legal Immigration Norms – Bloomberg Law News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A new Trump policy declaring approval of green cards within the US an exceptional benefit upends legislative history and court precedent, making it a likely target of legal challenges.
The guidance outlined in a US Citizenship and Immigration Services memo<\/a> released last week targets a process that\u2019s been a keystone for the legal immigration system in the US for decades. Adjustment of status allows foreign nationals with a temporary status\u2014like H-1B workers\u2014to apply for lawful permanent residency without having to leave the country. But USCIS now says green card seekers would be required to return to their home countries except in extraordinary circumstances.
The memo is the latest measure to restrict access to immigration benefits under the Trump administration, which has repeatedly found itself in court defending departures from long established policy. The Department of Homeland Security is fighting multiple lawsuits in district and appellate courts over a $100,000 charge to admit H-1B workers, the Trump gold card program, and mandatory detention for migrants detained in the US.
\u201cYou don\u2019t create a roadway, and expand it and expand it, and then suddenly turn it into a one lane highway with an off-ramp to nowhere,\u201d said Angelo Paparelli, a partner at Vialto Law (US) PLLC.
While it\u2019s unclear how broadly USCIS officers will apply the memo, many immigration attorneys say it won\u2019t change their approach to pursuing adjustment cases.
It\u2019s \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d for major common employment-based categories like H-1B holders, said Caroline Tang, a shareholder at Ogletree Deakins. Still, she and other attorneys expect more agency scrutiny of whether employment-based applicants have maintained the terms of their status when they apply.
More than half of new green card holders each year are approved through adjustment of status, rather than processing applications through a consular office abroad. That means businesses don\u2019t experience disruptions to the work of key employees already in the country and US citizens aren\u2019t separated from immediate family members for long periods.
The process can be lengthy for applicants, taking years because of annual per-country visa caps. The USCIS memo deems that established, if often arduous, routine as an \u201cextraordinary\u201d form of relief.
The agency\u2019s position applies the original intent of the law, USCIS said in its announcement of the policy. Attorneys say, however, that Congress first authorized adjustment of status as a path to permanent residency in 1952 and lawmakers have repeatedly amended the law to make allowances for the process.
That includes a 1990 reauthorization of the Immigration and Nationality Act explicitly allowing for H-1B and L-1 visa holders to pursue permanent residency without affecting their temporary status\u2014what\u2019s known as dual intent. A later update allowed H-1B workers to switch employers, assuming they would pursue permanent residency in the US. And another provision granted the possibility of adjustment of status even with up to 180 days of violations for employment-based applicants.
\u201cThe standard they\u2019re seeking to apply is inconsistent with the message that Congress has sent over many years,\u201d said Louis Massard, a partner at Corporate Immigration Partners.
The agency is basing its position that consular processing should be the default for green card applicants on circuit court cases and Board of Immigration Appeals decisions involving significant adverse factors\u2014among them, marriage fraud and grand theft. In doing so, immigration attorneys say it ignored a key decision finding that adjustment should ordinarily be granted as a matter of discretion.
That decision, Matter of Arai<\/em><\/a>, makes clear that without any negative factors, \u201cthe presumption is someone should be approved for adjustment of status,\u201d Vialto\u2019s Paparelli said.
Efforts to challenge denials of individual requests to adjust status could face hurdles, however, in the wake of a 2022 Supreme Court ruling<\/a> limiting court jurisdiction over decisions involving discretionary relief. But the high court justices\u2019 subsequent decision gutting deference to agency interpretation of unclear laws <\/a> in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo<\/em> means USCIS won\u2019t get that deferral from courts on a major departure from past policies, attorneys said.
The guidance marks an abrupt change from its established policies without explanation, Paparelli said. \u201cUltimately this will get to the courts.\u201d
Another likely argument against USCIS is that the agency can\u2019t add criteria for adjusting status without formal rulemaking, and new criteria must still comply with the INA, said Amy Nice, a fellow at Cornell Law School and counsel at the Institute for Progress.
Requiring applicants demonstrate eligibility for extraordinary relief circumstances to avoid consular processing contradicts the statute, she said.
\u201cThat\u2019s illegal and they can\u2019t do that,\u201d she said. \u201cDiscretion means you exercise judgment as to whether an applicant has satisfied the regulation that implements the statute. Discretion doesn\u2019t mean \u2018I don\u2019t feel like it.\u2019\u201d
DHS applicants providing an economic benefit to the US would be allowed to continue the immigration process in the US. The memo won\u2019t have any \u201cnoticeable impact on highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law,\u201d the agency said.
While many are waiting to see how the memo is carried out by individual officers, several attorneys said they\u2019ll still advise clients to continue with plans to adjust status if they\u2019re eligible.
\u201cDon\u2019t overreact,\u201d Massard said. \u201cThe laws haven\u2019t changed.\u201d
The unpredictability of what may happen in the interview room, however, makes the process fraught for even the most law abiding applicants, said Jeff Robins, a partner at business immigration firm BAL.
\u201cIt has the potential to be devastatingly broad,\u201d he said.
Mike Watkins, an immigration attorney and former USCIS supervisor, said he\u2019ll spend more time establishing why adjustment in the US is critical in applications\u2014including showing hardship to companies if a worker\u2019s employment is disrupted.
The memo\u2019s biggest practical impact could be discouraging applicants broadly from pursuing legal permanent residency, he said.
\u201cI think it\u2019s mostly a scare tactic,\u201d Watkins said.
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