{"id":192,"date":"2026-05-26T19:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=192"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:07:42","slug":"trump-administration-will-make-green-card-hopefuls-return-to-home-countries-before-applying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration will make green card hopefuls return to home countries before applying"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Immigrants seeking green cards will have to return first to their home countries and wait despite years of potential backlogs, the Trump administration <\/span>announced<\/span> Friday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Land named for colorful character \u2018Herring Pete\u2019 added to Alaska\u2019s Kachemak Bay State Park<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAn alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply,\u201d Zach Kahler, a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said <\/span>in a statement<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The change would apply to workers on temporary visas, as well as to people living here illegally but hoping for legal status through sponsorship by relatives such as spouses or children who are U.S. citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

The immigration advocacy group <\/span>FWD.us<\/span> said the new policy \u201cwill create chaos and impose massive costs on immigrants who have lived and worked legally in the United States for many years\u201d in a statement to Stateline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Business leaders said the move is disruptive to tech industries that rely on foreign workers who have temporary visas and sometimes hope for a green card and eventual citizenship.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera and an adjunct professor of computer science at Stanford University, in an X post <\/span>called<\/span> the change \u201ca capricious attack on legal immigration\u201d that will \u201churt families, leave us with fewer doctors, teachers and scientists, and hurt American competitiveness in AI.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the worst imaginable way to disrupt important work for the country and pretend you\u2019re fighting some loophole,\u201d Silicon Valley venture capitalist Nick Davidov <\/span>wrote<\/span> on X, saying at least three large startups in his portfolio would be hurt by the policy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The so-called green cards represent a status called lawful permanent residence, a legal immigration status that can lead to citizenship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s intent, Kahler said in the statement, is to prevent temporary visitors from seeking permanent legal status while they\u2019re in the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more North Slope Borough employee crashes fuel truck while allegedly drunk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose,\u201d Kahler wrote. \u201cOur system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Those affected include many tech workers on temporary visas that might lead to green cards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis includes top scientists in our universities, founders of billion dollar companies,\u201d Davidov wrote in his post, referring to temporary visas such as <\/span>O-1<\/span> (extraordinary ability) and <\/span>H-1B<\/span> (highly skilled specialties) visas that can lead to citizenship with employer sponsorship. <\/span>FWD.us<\/span> estimates H-1B visa holders and their families in the United States <\/span>number<\/span> about 1.3 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People from India would have to wait through years of backlogs if they stopped working and went home to apply for green cards, and people from Russia would be unable to apply at all because there\u2019s no U.S. embassy there, he noted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The USCIS announcement did refer to \u201cextraordinary\u201d circumstances that might allow continued processing of green cards in the United States but did not elaborate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a <\/span> issued Friday, USCIS agents \u201cmust consider and weigh all the relevant evidence\u201d and determine \u201cif approval of the alien\u2019s adjustment of status application is in the best interest of the United States.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at\u00a0<\/span><\/i>[email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Alaska Beacon, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.<\/p>\n

Read more Gov. Dunleavy approves standardized disaster evacuation terms and boost to legal aid<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Immigrants seeking green cards will have to return first to their home countries and wait despite years of potential backlogs, the Trump administration announced Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump administration will make green card hopefuls return to home countries before applying - Moving to Alaska<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=192\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump administration will make green card hopefuls return to home countries before applying - 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