Do You Now Have to Leave the U.S. to Get a Green Card? What the May 2026 Adjustment of Status Memo Really Says

Updated June 8, 2026: DHS clarified to the New York Times (May 29) that the policy is not a blanket change — officers will decide case-by-case. AILA has issued a formal practice pointer for member attorneys (AILA Doc. No. 26052602). Legal challenges are being actively organized; no court has enjoined the memo as of this date.

June 1, 2026: This is a developing policy; we will update this article as USCIS publishes implementing guidance or as courts respond.

By Ian Hawes, CEO at ImmiTranslate. ImmiTranslate is a certified document translation provider for immigration attorneys and applicants, and a corporate member of the American Translators Association (ATA).

Short answer: No — adjustment of status from inside the United States is still legally available. But on May 21, 2026, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 — the 2026 adjustment of status memo — which instructs officers to treat applying for a green card from inside the U.S. as a discretionary, "extraordinary" benefit rather than a routine step. The law did not change. The way officers exercise discretion did. If you have a pending or planned green card case, that distinction matters a great deal.

Headlines in late May suggested that nearly everyone would now have to leave the country to get a green card. The reality is more nuanced, and understanding it is the difference between making a smart decision and reacting to a misread of the news.

Key takeaways

• The law did not change. Adjustment of status under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act remains legally available; USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 changes how officers exercise discretion, not the statute.
• Most green cards are obtained from inside the U.S. Roughly 85% of employment-based green cards go to applicants already in the country, so a shift toward consular processing potentially affects hundreds of thousands of people each year.
• Eligibility is no longer enough. Officers now weigh the "totality of the circumstances" and look for affirmative evidence of good moral character and community ties.
• Impact varies by visa. Dual-intent holders (H-1B, L-1) are better positioned than single-intent holders (F-1, B-1/B-2); humanitarian categories (VAWA, U, T, SIJS, asylum) are generally outside the memo's scope.
• Pending cases may be affected, but there is no filing deadline in the memo and no reason to rush a weak application.

What the 2026 adjustment of status memo (PM-602-0199) actually says

Adjustment of status (AOS) is the process that lets a noncitizen become a lawful permanent resident — get a green card — without leaving the United States, by filing Form I-485. The alternative is consular processing, where the applicant completes the final step at a U.S. consulate abroad. Understanding consular processing vs adjustment of status — and how officers now weigh I-485 discretion — is central to every case affected by this policy.

USCIS issued PM-602-0199 on May 21, 2026, with an accompanying press release the next day. The memo reaffirms that adjustment of status under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act has always been a discretionary benefit, and it directs officers to weigh the "totality of the circumstances" when deciding I-485 cases. Critically, where consular processing is available to an applicant, officers are now told to treat in-country adjustment as an extraordinary form of relief — essentially, a privilege rather than a default.

That is a real shift. Under the prior approach, having a clean record was usually enough: meet the eligibility criteria, present no red flags, and the case moved forward. Under the new framework, eligibility alone is no longer the finish line. Officers are expected to look for affirmative reasons to grant the benefit — and applicants are expected to supply them.

The scale here is what makes the memo significant. According to USCIS, the U.S. issues an unlimited number of green cards to immediate relatives of citizens each year, plus statutory caps of roughly 226,000 family-sponsored and 140,000 employment-based preference green cards. Roughly 85% of employment-based green cards go to people who are already in the United States and adjust status here rather than processing abroad. A policy that nudges those applicants toward consular processing therefore reaches a very large population — which is why the American Immigration Council described the memo as part of a broader pattern of narrowing practical pathways to permanent residence.

The press release says more than the memo does

This is where most of the confusion came from. A USCIS spokesperson told reporters that someone in the U.S. temporarily who wants a green card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances. That framing is far broader than the memo itself.

PM-602-0199 does not abolish adjustment of status, does not eliminate marriage-based green cards filed from within the U.S., and does not set a hard rule that everyone must consular process. Several immigration law firms that have read the full memo have made the same point publicly: the press release and the memo are not saying the same thing. The memo changes how discretion is applied; it does not rewrite the statute.

So if you were eligible for adjustment of status before the memo, you remain eligible after it. What has changed is how carefully your case will be scrutinized.

Who is most affected — and who likely isn't

The impact depends heavily on your visa category and immigration history.

More exposed: Single-intent nonimmigrants — F-1 students, B-1/B-2 visitors, and similar categories — are in a weaker position, because the government can more easily argue that consular processing abroad is the appropriate route for them.

Better positioned: H-1B and L-1 workers and their dependents benefit from the long-recognized concept of dual intent, which allows them to pursue permanent residence while in nonimmigrant status. They are not immune from the new discretionary review, but they start on firmer ground.

Generally not the target: Humanitarian-based green card paths — including VAWA self-petitioners, U visa and T visa holders, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and asylum-based adjustment — are generally outside the scope of the memo, which focuses on Section 245 cases where consular processing abroad is a realistic alternative.

Does it affect cases already filed?

This is the most pressing question for people who filed in good faith under the old standard. The memo does not clearly limit itself to new filings, and because USCIS decides an I-485 at the moment it adjudicates — not when it was filed — pending cases may be reviewed under the new framework. Analysis from the law firm Ballard Spahr noted that the memorandum is effective immediately and applies to all pending and future adjustment applications.

That does not mean pending cases are being denied. It means they may need stronger, more deliberate preparation than they did a month ago. There is also no deadline written into PM-602-0199, so there is no benefit to rushing a poorly prepared filing simply to "get ahead" of it — doing so is more likely to create problems than avoid them.

Why USCIS issued the memo — and why critics object

The new USCIS adjustment of status policy is framed as a return to the original intent of the law, with the agency arguing that adjustment of status was always meant to be discretionary and that it is simply ensuring applicants navigate the system as Congress designed it. The memo cites longstanding Supreme Court and Board of Immigration Appeals decisions describing adjustment as an act of administrative grace.

Critics see it differently. As David Bier, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told Time, the policy ignores the practical realities of applicants' lives and would force large numbers of people to leave the country for an uncertain consular process. The American Immigration Council places it within a broader pattern of restricting permanent-residence pathways. Several firms expect legal challenges arguing that the memo functions as a substantive rule that should have gone through formal notice-and-comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that applying a tougher standard to already-filed cases raises due process concerns.

As of this writing, USCIS has not published detailed implementing guidance, and no court has ruled on the memo. Readers should treat early interpretations — including this one — as provisional.

What this means going forward

A few things are still unsettled. Detailed implementing guidance has not yet been published, and legal challenges are widely anticipated — on grounds including statutory authority, congressional intent, the Administrative Procedure Act's notice-and-comment requirements, and the fairness of applying a tougher standard retroactively. The landscape may look different in a few months.

In the meantime, the practical takeaway is consistent across immigration practitioners: treat your adjustment case less like a routine form package and more like a discretionary legal submission. That means building a record that affirmatively demonstrates good moral character, community ties, tax compliance, and genuine contributions to the United States — and getting case-specific advice before filing or traveling internationally, since travel on a pending I-485 carries heightened risk in the current climate.

If your path runs through consular processing

For applicants who do end up consular processing — whether by choice, by category, or because in-country adjustment is denied — the document burden shifts to the National Visa Center and the DS-260 immigrant visa application. Every foreign-language civil document in the file must be accompanied by a complete, certified English translation: birth certificates, marriage and divorce records, police certificates, court and military records, and more. USCIS and the Department of State require that these translations be certified as complete and accurate by a competent translator.

In our experience preparing certified translations for immigration filings, the documents most often sent back for correction at this stage are foreign birth and marriage certificates with inconsistent name spellings, and police certificates where the issuing authority or date is omitted from the translation. Catching those details before submission is what prevents a Request for Evidence weeks later.

This is one area you can get ahead of today, regardless of how the legal challenges play out. A clean, properly certified translation package prevents Requests for Evidence and avoidable delays at exactly the stage where consular cases tend to stall.

ImmiTranslate provides certified translations of immigration documents that meet USCIS and Department of State requirements — accepted for adjustment of status, consular processing, and naturalization filings. If your case may be headed toward consular processing, having your civil documents translated and certification-ready is a concrete first step you can take now. Get a certified translation quote →

Frequently asked questions

Does this mean I have to leave the U.S. to get a green card? No. Adjustment of status from inside the United States is still legally available under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The memo makes the process discretionary and more closely scrutinized, but it does not require everyone to apply from abroad.

What is the difference between adjustment of status and consular processing? Adjustment of status lets you become a permanent resident without leaving the U.S., by filing Form I-485. Consular processing completes the final step at a U.S. consulate in your home country. PM-602-0199 pushes more cases toward consular processing by treating in-country adjustment as an extraordinary benefit.

Does PM-602-0199 affect green card applications I already filed? Possibly. Because USCIS decides an I-485 at the time of adjudication rather than at filing, pending cases may be reviewed under the new discretionary framework. Pending cases are not automatically denied, but they may require stronger supporting evidence.

Are H-1B and L-1 holders exempt? Not exempt, but better positioned. Dual-intent categories like H-1B and L-1 have a stronger basis to adjust status in the U.S. than single-intent categories such as F-1 or B-1/B-2. The discretionary review still applies to them.

Does the memo eliminate marriage-based green cards? No. Marriage-based adjustment of status remains legally available. Claims that marriage green cards have been eliminated are inaccurate.

About ImmiTranslate

ImmiTranslate provides certified document translations accepted by USCIS and the U.S. Department of State, supporting adjustment of status, consular processing, and naturalization filings. We work with immigration law firms and individual applicants nationwide and have completed certified translations for thousands of immigration cases. We are a corporate member of the American Translators Association (ATA).

This article is general information, not legal advice. Immigration outcomes depend on your specific visa category, status history, and individual circumstances. Consult a licensed immigration attorney about your case.