The Trump administration’s latest immigration policy of recasting ‘adjustment of status’ as an ‘extraordinary’ discretionary benefit and pushing many green card applicants toward consular processing abroad is expected to trigger immediate litigation, according to immigration attorneys.
The memo released on Friday night by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that green card applicants should generally pursue immigrant visas (green cards) through US consulates abroad instead of obtaining green cards from within the United States. It also directs its officers to treat adjustment of status as an ‘extraordinary form of relief’.