Waiting for Green Card? Leave US first, re-enter with an immigrant visa

In a huge move, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services is going to ask individuals who are waiting for their Green Cards to leave the country and wait in their own country. The USCIS announced new guidance directing immigration officers to treat the transition from temporary nonimmigrant status to permanent immigrant status under Section 245 (a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act as a process that should generally take place outside the United States. USCIS director Joseph Edlow said that the agency is making sure that there is a distinction between temporary admission and permanent residence and the period in between should be spent in one's own country.

Non-immigrant visa versus immigrant visa

The target of this new rule is not illegal aliens but those who come on temporary visas like B1/B2, F1/M1, J1, H-1B, O-1 etc. These visas are meant for tourists, students, and workers who come with a non-immigrant intent which means they come to the US not to stay permanently but for a purpose. Then they can apply for permanent residence or Green Card and depending on their country of origin, the waiting time varies. For example, for Indians the waiting time is huge. As they wait, they get their visa renewed.

But the Donald Trump administration is planning to send these people back to their home countries as they wait for their Green Card.

The new USCIS guidance says individuals seeking lawful permanent residency would typically be required to return to their home country, complete screening procedures and obtain an immigrant visa through the US Department of State before reentering the US as immigrants.

Immigrant visas can be employment-based or family-based or for investors who clarify their intent before entering the US that they are going to live in the US.

"Under President Trump, USCIS is returning to the original intent of the law and reinforcing the proper distinction between temporary admission and permanent residence. Aliens who come to the United States temporarily and later seek permanent residency should pursue an immigrant visa through the proper channels in their home countries before being admitted as immigrants," Joseph Edlow said.

The document also says that individuals should only be allowed to remain in the United States and complete the adjustment of status process domestically in “extraordinary circumstances,” with vetting conducted by USCIS officers rather than through the standard immigrant visa process abroad.