Introduction and summary
Although the Trump administration has since tried to downplay the potential impacts of the memo, the new guidance represents the administration’s latest attack on the legal immigration system. Depending on how the memo is implemented, it could have major negative impacts on legal immigration by further burdening U.S. consular officials and by separating immigrants in the United States from their jobs and families for long periods of time while they apply for lawful permanent residency from outside of the country.
Contrary to the memorandum’s claim that adjustment of status is an “exception,” the process is actually an established component of the legal immigration system that was written into law by Congress in 1960 and, in recent years, has accounted for more than half of all immigrants who became lawful permanent residents. Given the importance of adjustment of status to legal immigration, if the memorandum is implemented as written, it could virtually eliminate the path by which a majority of green card applicants become permanent residents. Furthermore, by issuing the memorandum unilaterally, USCIS effectively changed policy without following federal “notice-and-comment” rulemaking procedure, disrupting a long-standing process and perpetuating the Trump administration’s hostility to legal immigration. As of the publication of this report, the memorandum has not been withdrawn or amended, meaning that unless subsequent guidance is issued, the administration could try to use this memorandum to ensure as few immigrants as possible qualify for the “exception” of adjustment of status.
Regardless of how broadly it is implemented, the new memorandum is merely the latest in a series of cruel and harmful immigration policies, supported by billions of dollars in slush funding, executed by the Trump administration as its officials aim to shape a more restrictionist immigration system. Administration officials claim such restrictions will create greater economic opportunity for Americans, but in fact, the Trump administration’s immigration policies are already poised to have negative impacts on the U.S. economy. Public polling demonstrates that instead of harmful actions, a majority of Americans support policies that would modernize the outdated legal immigration system by expanding pathways for workers, entrepreneurs, and families. This support demonstrates that America needs a new immigration system that bolsters the economy and keeps families together, not policies that could overwhelm the consular system, further hurt the economy, and force families apart.
What is adjustment of status?
Adjustment of status is the process by which eligible noncitizens in the United States can apply to become lawful permanent residents from within the country. Lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, are legally allowed to permanently live and work in the United States. People can apply to become lawful permanent residents through their family or their job, among other pathways. With a few exceptions, obtaining a green card is a necessary step for noncitizens to become eligible for U.S. citizenship. In the past several years, more than half of LPRs have received green cards via adjustment of status within the United States, including more than 740,000 people in fiscal year (FY) 2025. These data demonstrate how adjustment of status is a major component of the legal immigration system.
As of this report’s publication, it remains to be seen how many applicants for permanent residency may effectively be required to leave the United States as a result of the memorandum. A week after the memo was released, and following backlash from various interests including business groups, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that “highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law … will continue to merit the favorable exercise of discretion,” but it did not give details on which specific categories of applicants, if any, would qualify for this discretion. This lack of clarity could lead fewer people to apply for adjustment of status, and some of those people may even end up at risk of deportation if they cannot maintain lawful presence as a nonimmigrant.
Risks of processing more permanent residency applications abroad
Requiring individuals who are legally eligible to apply for green cards in the United States to instead leave the country to apply for permanent residency could place significant burdens on the already overtaxed consular system and potentially compel applicants to remain abroad for lengthy periods of time.
Applicants could have an increased risk of being stuck overseas
Consular processing—applying for a visa outside the United States—is a lengthy process that requires prospective immigrants not only to submit an immigrant visa application and extensive supporting documentation to the Department of State but also to eventually attend an interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad to determine their eligibility for a visa. These interviews are conducted by consular officers, diplomats employed by the State Department who adjudicate visas, among other functions. If the consular officer approves the visa, the individual will be issued an immigrant visa that allows them to come to the United States and be admitted as a permanent resident. If the consular officer denies the visa, there is no option for applicants to challenge the denial except in rare circumstances.
By contrast, if a USCIS officer denies an adjustment of status application, and the applicant believes it was in error, they may request that the government reopen or reconsider the decision. Additionally, if a person is placed in removal proceedings by the government, they can typically apply for adjustment of status before an immigration judge. Because consular processing does not provide for a similar review process, green card applicants who are required to return to their home countries to apply for permanent residency could lose access to this potentially critical step and be placed at greater risk of being stuck overseas if their application is denied.
In addition to lacking an option to challenge erroneous denials, immigrants who leave the United States to apply for permanent residency could become ineligible to return if they have previously been unlawfully present in the country. Currently, in order to promote family unity, certain family members of U.S. citizens may qualify to adjust status even if they have been in the United States without legal immigration status. However, if a person with prior unlawful presence in the United States leaves the country, it can trigger yearslong bars that prohibit them from obtaining a visa and returning to the United States unless they qualify for a waiver, a complex process that takes months. In addition to this risk, the Trump administration has suspended immigrant visa processing indefinitely in 75 countries. This action, combined with the guidance in the new policy memo, places applicants for permanent residency from these countries in an “impossible situation,” since if they return to their home country, there would be no avenue for them to apply to return lawfully to the United States.
Each of these examples shows why increased consular processing of permanent residency applications could negatively affect applicants coming from the United States by amplifying the risk that they could have to remain stuck overseas for indefinite periods of time.
U.S. consulates could face further increased workloads and wait times
Consular officers are U.S. diplomats whose jobs involve adjudicating visas, helping U.S. citizens who find themselves in emergencies while abroad, and performing various other duties. Since March 2025, these officers have had an increased workload due to a Trump administration requirement to vet the social media presence of many visa applicants. This policy began with foreign students and exchange visitors applying for visas before being expanded to other visa categories, leading to lengthy delays for new visa appointments. U.S. embassies and consulates have seen unpredictable wait times as this vetting and other interview requirements have taken effect, with waits for visa appointments lasting more than a year in some countries as of June 2026. Requiring consular officers to handle an influx of additional permanent residency applications could further increase this workload and could lead to even longer wait times for applicants to have their interview, exacerbating challenges for an already overburdened consular system.
Along with their duty to adjudicate visa applications, consular officers are in charge of providing emergency assistance to U.S. citizens abroad. This assistance includes help for lost or stolen passports, medical emergencies, and other potential crises such as natural disasters and situations requiring evacuation. By increasing the potential number of permanent residency interviews that need to be conducted abroad, the policy memorandum could strain consulates’ abilities to efficiently provide consular services and further increase wait times for applicants’ interviews.
The additional work and wait times that the new memorandum could add to the consular system demonstrate yet again how the Trump administration is focused on squeezing the legal immigration process both inside and outside of the country. America does not need this misguided policy that could exacerbate burdens on the consular system, visa applicants, and their families; it needs new, modern immigration policies that would fully resource the entire legal immigration system and help immigration officials, at home and abroad, to effectively perform their jobs so legal immigrants can continue to help strengthen the country’s economy.
How the memo could affect families and the economy
By requiring green card applicants who are in the United States to leave the country and apply for an immigrant visa abroad, the Trump administration could cause great personal and economic harm by separating immigrants from their family members—including U.S. citizens—for uncertain lengths of time, and by forcing many applicants for permanent residency to leave their jobs in the United States.
The memo could put immigrants at increased risk of family separation
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the memorandum, the new guidance could have a major impact on immigrants applying for permanent residency through family sponsorship, putting them at increased risk of family separation. This greater risk is due to two factors. First, people who apply for adjustment of status through a family member are less likely to have an alternative way to legally live and work in the country, such as an employment-based visa. Second, a majority of adjustment of status cases occur through family members. For example, data from DHS show that in FY 2025, more than 740,000 people received their green card while in the United States, and more than half of this total (421,820) were the foreign-born spouses, children, or parents of U.S. citizens.
Further analysis of previous adjustment of status data reveals how changes to the adjustment of status process could have a major impact on immigrants applying for permanent residency via family members. As Figure 1 below illustrates, from FY 2022 to FY 2025, if all people who obtained adjustment of status via a family member had hypothetically been required to leave the country to apply for permanent residency through consular processing and had been successful, the percentage of people going through the permanent residency application process outside the United States would have increased between 49 percent and 75 percent, which could have caused more families to be separated for months or even years. These data show the potential devastating impact of such a policy on family unity.
The lengthy process for obtaining an immigrant visa abroad could also result in prolonged family separations. Even before the Trump administration issued its new memorandum, the immigrant visa process could take months to complete abroad. For example, as of August 2026, the Department of State was scheduling visa interviews in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, home to the busiest U.S. consulate in the world, for some family-based cases that had immigrant visas available in August 2025, a year prior. Requiring people to return to their country of origin to complete this process means that people who are trying to follow the legal immigration process to stay united with their families could face even more time away from their U.S. citizen loved ones while their applications are evaluated. This potentially devastating impact would serve as yet another form of family separation, in addition to the indiscriminate immigration enforcement actions that the Trump administration is inflicting on the country.
The memo could have negative economic impacts
Along with separating families, forcing green card applicants to leave the country could also be detrimental to the U.S. economy since it would separate these applicants from their jobs. Applicants for adjustment of status are eligible to receive an employment authorization document, which permits them to work legally in the United States while their application is pending—contributing their labor and skills to the U.S. economy, which is critical to powering American entrepreneurship and innovation. The Trump administration’s overall immigration policies, by contrast, are anticipated to have a negative economic impact on the country, bringing down wages and employment. Forcing permanent residency applicants who are already in the United States to leave their legally authorized jobs could compound the economic damage of the Trump administration’s policies as more immigrants leave the workforce.
Permanent residency applicants’ long-term absence could also be prolonged by the often-lengthy process of obtaining employment-based permanent residency via consular processing. For example, as of August 2026, the U.S. Embassy in Manila, which has one of the busiest immigrant visa sections in the world, was scheduling interviews for employment-based cases that had immigrant visas available more than three years prior, in May 2023.
On top of these long wait times, when combined with the administration’s other harmful legal immigration policies, the impacts of the memorandum could increase uncertainty for U.S. businesses that employ foreign workers, which need a stable policy climate so they can accurately plan their workforce needs. If more immigrants are required to leave the country to apply for permanent residency, U.S. employers could lose access to their foreign employees for long periods, which would disrupt regular business operations. This potential outcome is particularly shortsighted given that immigrant workers play a key role in filling labor shortages in critical areas such as health care. The backlash from business groups that the memorandum has already caused demonstrates how changes in the adjustment of status process negatively affect the economy by increasing uncertainty for businesses.
The more difficult and lengthier the process for obtaining permanent residency becomes, the more challenges would be imposed on immigrants, their family members—including U.S. citizens—and the American economy and employers alike. It makes no sense to require long periods of separation outside of the country for applicants who are already working or have families to support or to place an additional burden on employers to fill jobs that these applicants would leave behind. The new policy memorandum is simply another hostile action by the Trump administration to upend the legal immigration system and make life more difficult for immigrants and their families.
The memo flies in the face of Americans’ support for legal immigration
Finally, if the negative impacts of the new memorandum on families, the economy, and the consular system weren’t enough, the policy also flies in the face of Americans’ broad support for legal immigration. Public polling from April 2026 conducted by the Center for American Progress and Blue Rose Research found that a majority of Americans support policies that would “expand legal pathways for workers, entrepreneurs, and family members.” Another poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from September 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults say a “major” benefit of immigrants legally in the country is that they contribute to economic growth.
Support for legal immigration crosses political beliefs, as seen in another poll conducted in March 2026 that found “strong, bipartisan support for legal immigration,” with “around two-thirds of voters (66%) say[ing] legal immigration generally helps the United States,” including “71% of Democrats, 70% of Independents, and 59% of Republicans.” This broad public support for legal immigration contrasts with Americans’ disapproval of the Trump administration’s harmful immigration policies, with a Fox News poll from April 2026 finding that a majority of Americans disapprove of how President Trump is handling immigration. This evidence, along with Americans’ endorsement of legal immigration, shows that restrictionist immigration actions such as the new memorandum are not just economically damaging and harmful to families but could also further exacerbate Americans’ negative appraisal of how President Trump and his administration are handling immigration policy.
Conclusion
The Trump administration’s new memorandum on adjustment of status applications is yet another attack on legal immigration. This restrictionist policy could cause immigrants to be separated from their families, harm employers and the economy, and place more burdens on the consular system. The Trump administration should recognize the broad support that Americans have for both legal immigration and the benefits it can bring to the country instead of issuing more policy guidance that has chaotic consequences.
Americans deserve policies that enhance innovation and job growth, not policies that separate families and hurt employers and workers alike. Congress must push back against this harmful new policy memo and work toward a new immigration system that modernizes and expands legal immigration and ensures immigrants can continue to strengthen the economy for the benefit of all Americans.