USCIS Green Card Memo Directs Temporary Visa Holders to Apply Abroad, With Exceptions

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memo directing temporary visa holders seeking green cards to apply abroad, except in extraordinary circumstances. Students, temporary workers and tourist-visa holders are named examples. The directive changes the agency’s approach.

The agency announced the memo on May 21, 2026. It says temporary visitors seeking permanent residence should use a U.S. consulate rather than apply from inside the country. The memo is not legislation.

The policy describes the overseas route as a requirement grounded in existing immigration law and court decisions. The agency characterizes it as a return to longstanding law, not a new statute. An enforcement start date remains unclear, and the agency has not specified which circumstances qualify for an exception.

Zach Kahler, an agency spokesman, described the directive this way:

“From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances.”

Students, workers and tourists are directed to apply from abroad

The memo addresses nonimmigrants seeking permanent residence while temporarily in the United States. It identifies students, temporary workers and people on tourist visas as examples, rather than setting out a complete list of every temporary status that could be covered.

Under the guidance, those applicants are expected to return to their home countries and seek a green card through a Department of State office abroad. The process is commonly called consular processing. The agency says the temporary visit should serve its stated purpose, rather than become the first step toward permanent residence.

That distinction is central to the agency’s stated rationale. Kahler said temporary visitors come for a limited period and a specific purpose, and should leave when that visit ends. The agency says handling these cases through consular offices would also free its staff to work on other matters.

Those priorities include visa applications for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications and other agency work. The memo frames the shift as a way to direct more cases to the State Department, which processes applications at U.S. consular offices abroad.

In-country green-card requests receive individual review

An applicant who files from inside the United States is not automatically denied under the memo. Officers must review each request individually and weigh relevant factors before deciding whether an exception applies. Each case gets its own assessment.

The agency’s announcement describes the exception as extraordinary relief. It does not set out specific qualifying circumstances in the supplied policy description. Applicants therefore cannot assume that a particular personal situation will qualify based on the examples named in the announcement.

The memo also does not turn the announced policy into a new law. Instead, the agency says it is reaffirming its reading of existing immigration law and court decisions. Its stated reasoning is that temporary visitors should depart after their authorized visit, while permanent-residence applications should generally proceed through the overseas route.

Applicants planning to leave should seek legal advice first

People who plan to depart the United States to complete a green-card application abroad should seek trusted immigration legal advice before leaving, the National Immigration Law Center advises. Departure is a consequential step in the application route described by the memo.

The advice applies to temporary-status holders considering an overseas application, including the student, worker and tourist groups named by the agency. A qualified legal provider can help applicants assess their circumstances before they leave. The agency’s case-by-case review does not itself guarantee an exception.

The memo supplies no separate enforcement start date. The agency’s announcement is dated May 21, 2026, but that date is not identified as the start of enforcement.