How US's tighter Green Card rules will affect Indians — and the options before them

📌 Summary:

• On May 22, the US Department of Homeland Security (which oversees the USCIS) announced that Green Card applicants must return to their home countries to apply — reversing a practice in place for over half a century

• The change targets "adjustment of status" (Form I-485) — the route used by people already in the US (H-1B workers, F-1 students transitioning to work visas, H-4 dependent spouses) and the most popular one, accounting for 58% of permanent residencies in FY2024

• A USCIS memo now treats adjustment of status as "an extraordinary act of administrative grace"; applicants must show "unusual or even outstanding equities", as a clean record and full eligibility are no longer sufficient

• The very act of remaining in the US while waiting, rather than leaving for consular processing, can now be treated as an adverse factor

• Indians are worst hit — they dominate the EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based Green Card backlog, often waiting 15-20 years or more; the State Department also said EB-2 visas for Indians were exhausted for the financial year ending September 2026

• Lawyers warn that redirecting hundreds of thousands of cases to consular posts would overwhelm them; applicants who leave could be stranded in India in indefinite "administrative processing"; employers may withdraw job offers; and H-4 spouses lose work authorisation if the I-485 is denied — part of the Trump administration's broader push to restrict legal immigration

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 International Relations — the Indian diaspora, the migration policy of host countries, and the impact of US immigration changes on Indian professionals.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• "Adjustment of status" (Form I-485) lets immigrants apply for a Green Card from within the US
• EB-2 and EB-3 are employment-based Green Card preference categories in which Indians dominate the backlog
• USCIS = US Citizenship and Immigration Services, under the Department of Homeland Security

🔑 Key Term: Adjustment of status — the process by which an eligible person already in the US applies for lawful permanent residence (a Green Card) without returning to their home country.