President Trump’s USCIS Closes Major Green-Card Loophole That Let Temporary Visa Holders Skip the Line

For years, a quiet loophole let foreign nationals enter the United States on temporary visas and then simply convert their stay into permanent residency without ever leaving the country.

President Trump’s immigration team just shut that door.

USCIS issued a new policy memo directing officers to treat adjustment of status inside the U.S. as discretionary administrative grace, not an automatic entitlement available to anyone who fills out the paperwork.

DHS put the policy in plain English:

An alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply.

This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes.

The era of abusing our nation’s immigration system is over. https://t.co/ofyEYGPDLC

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 22, 2026

Going forward, temporary visa holders who want green cards should generally apply from their home countries through normal State Department consular processing abroad.

Only applicants who