U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjusted its policy on May 22 to require immigrants seeking green cards to apply in their home country.

“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement.

“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes. 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 U.S. illegally after being denied residency.”

Kahler said foreign nationals have been using temporary visas—intended for work, education, or travel—as a “first step” in seeking a green card. The new policy is intended to close that loophole, he said.

It will also allow the State Department overseas to handle those requests, allowing USCIS to focus on more urgent cases, such as victims of violent crime or human trafficking.

Around 1.36 million people were granted green cards in 2024.

A USCIS policy memo, dated May 21, clarifies that acquisition of a green card is normally done through a U.S. consulate in the green card-seeker’s home country.

In 1952, Congress allowed bypassing that process under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, approving permanent U.S. residence by “adjusting” a visa into a green card. But that is supposed to be “extraordinary,” and an “administrative grace,” the document says.

“With limited exceptions, the statutory scheme suggests that Congress expects aliens paroled into the United States or admitted into the United States as nonimmigrants to depart rather than pursue adjustment of status,” the memo says.

The American Immigration Lawyer’s Association criticized the new policy on X, calling it “legally questionable and needlessly chaotic.” The group said it’s meant to target immigrants who entered the U.S. legally.

“Congress created adjustment of status precisely to allow eligible individuals to become permanent residents without uprooting their families, jobs, and communities,” the group said.

“Today’s announcement follows a familiar pattern of travel bans, denaturalization efforts, and growing backlogs designed to gum up the system and choke off legal immigration.”