USCIS's New Policy on Adjustment of Status
On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199, which sets forth a new policy that the Trump Administration intends to have the effect of reducing the volume of immigration by restricting immigrants’ ability to apply for permanent residence through the adjustment of status process from inside the U.S. and forcing them to pursue immigration through U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, where there are long processing backlogs due to chronic understaffing at the State Department.
This new policy is the devious next step that the Trump Administration has taken to pursue its agenda of reducing the volume of immigration to the U.S. The Trump Administration had started with placing immigration bans on certain countries and placing “pauses” on processing of immigrant visas for citizens of dozens of countries; however, since people from countries with pauses on processing can bypass some of the bans and processing pauses by applying for adjustment of status from non-immigrant status in the U.S., the Trump Administration is now trying to block also this avenue for immigration. The potential impact of this new policy is far greater, since with it the Trump Administration would like to leave all immigrants stuck waiting for years for an interview appointment at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad, where consular officers can more easily deny the immigrant visa application, leaving the applicant with no recourse to U.S. federal courts to dispute the denial of the immigrant visa application. By contrast, the adjustment of status process in the U.S. allows applicants to challenge the denial of their adjustment of status, on certain legal grounds, in federal courts.
Unless the new policy will be rescinded before it is actually applied, it will take time to see how strictly USCIS will enforce the new policy and to assess the actual impact of the new policy. However, for a multitude of reasons it is reasonable to believe that this new policy will be rescinded, several of which I will outline below.
Negative Financial Impact on Large Employers in Key Economic Sectors and on EB-5 Regional Centers
The new policy could have the effect of interfering with the ability of immigrant employees to continue working throughout the immigration process for major U.S. employers in key sectors such as, for instance, technology, manufacturing, engineering, pharmaceutics, biotechnology, finance, professional sports, and academia, among others.
The new policy could also have the effect of deterring new investors from pursuing adjustment of status based on investment in EB-5 regional centers, which will have a negative impact on regional center programs and the regions where they are bringing about economic development and job creation.
For the reasons mentioned above, major employers of immigrant workers and EB-5 regional centers will undoubtedly contact their lobbyists, if they have not done so already, for them to reach out to the White House and Congress to get this new policy reversed.
Federal Court Litigation
If and when USCIS would start denying applications for adjustment of status (this policy applies only to applicants applying for permanent residence from inside the U.S., not to anyone who already holds permanent residence or conditional permanent residence) in reliance on this new policy, the applicants’ immigration attorneys will file lawsuits in federal courts challenging the legitimacy of the new policy. I anticipate two primary grounds for such challenges:
Violation of the Administrative Procedures Act
USCIS is implementing this new policy via a policy memorandum instead of going through the rule-making process, as required by the Administrative Procedures Act, which means that this is a rule that is being implemented in violation of federal law. Administrative agencies such as USCIS cannot simply implement new rules arbitrarily without going through the rule-making process, which requires publishing the proposed rule, allowing for public comment, finalizing the rule and explaining to what extent public comments were taken into consideration in the final rule, and then implementing the final rule. USCIS took none of these steps. Instead, USCIS is trying to fool everyone into believing that this new policy is actually a continuation of a long-standing policy and so it is not necessary to go through the rule-making process.
Violation of Congress’ Intent
Over the years, the U.S. Congress has passed many immigration laws that enable immigrants to apply for permanent residence through adjustment of status if they are present in the U.S. in a valid non-immigrant status (in the cases of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, even with no longer valid non-immigrant status). In fact, Congress has repeatedly passed immigration legislation that allows immigrants to apply for adjustment of status concurrently with filing the immigrant petition. Congress authorized concurrent filing for employment-based green card categories EB-1 to EB-3 with the passage of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (“AC21”) in 2000 and, in the EB-5 category, with the passage of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act ("RIA") in 2022. Therefore, if Congress had not intended for immigrants in these categories to apply for adjustment of status in the U.S, then Congress would not have passed laws enabling immigrants to file for adjustment of status in the U.S. concurrently with the filing of the immigrant petition.
The same is true for family-based immigration processes. Over the years, Congress has created legal provisions to enable the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to apply for adjustment of status. For instance, whereas visitors to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA) are not permitted to extend, change, or adjust status in the U.S., Congress created an exception, under INA 245(c)(4), that permits the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to apply for adjustment of status after having entered the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA). This makes it clear that Congress clearly intended for the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to apply for adjustment of status in the U.S. The Board of Immigration Appeals has repeatedly reaffirmed, in multiple precedent cases, that is the will of Congress to enable the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residence through adjustment of status and, therefore, it has held that USCIS cannot deny adjustment of status applications by immediate relatives of U.S. citizens solely on the basis of preconceived immigrant intent.
In spite of President Trump’s efforts to pack the federal courts with judges that share his beliefs and politics, many federal judges across the U.S. have, nevertheless, risen above politics to decide cases based on the legal merits of cases instead of just deferring to the Trump Administration. Immigration attorneys litigating in the federal courts on behalf of immigrants have won far more cases than they have lost during Trump’s first and second terms in office countering the Trump Administration's anti-immigrant policies imposed arbitrarily through executive orders and policy memoranda. Many of these wins came precisely as a result of the Trump Administration repeatedly attempting to change the law and the interpretation of the law via executive orders and policy memoranda issued by executive agencies without going through the rule-making process required by the Administrative Procedures Act. Therefore, if USCIS’s new policy is not reversed through outreach to the White House and Congress, then it will most likely be reversed through litigation in federal courts.