The Green Card U-Turn: DHS Clarifies You Don’t Have to Leave the US
The Green Card U-Turn: DHS Clarifies You Don’t Have to Leave the US For a few days this past week, the immigrant community in the United States felt a collective jolt of anxiety. News spread rapidly that a new policy memo from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) might force tens of thousands of temporary visa holders—including H-1B professionals, L-1 executives, and F-1 international students—to abandon the standard Adjustment of Status (AOS) process on American soil and return to their home countries for consular processing. Given the already staggering backlogs at global consulates, the prospect of leaving the U.S. to wait out a Green Card felt, to many, like an eviction notice. Fortunately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has officially stepped in with a critical clarification: No, you do not automatically need to leave the U.S. to seek your Green Card. Here is a breakdown of what actually happened, what the clarification means, and what you should do nex...