What Just Happened

On May 21, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published an internal policy memorandum — PM-602-0199 — instructing its officers to treat adjustment of status as a matter of “discretion and administrative grace,” not as an automatic right.

Adjustment of status (AOS) is the process that allows someone already living in the United States to apply for a green card without leaving the country. The broader green card application process is highly structured and varies by eligibility category and whether the green card application is filed from inside the United States or abroad. It is the pathway most commonly used by spouses of U.S. citizens, employment-based applicants, and others who are already building their lives here.

The memo does not create new law. Congress has not changed anything. But it does change how USCIS officers are expected to think about and evaluate your case — and that shift is real.

“The absence of adverse factors, by itself, does not demonstrate such unusual or outstanding equities.” — PM-602-0199

Read that carefully. It means that having a clean record — no criminal history, no immigration violations, a U.S. citizen spouse, stable employment, a life built here — may no longer be enough on its own. You now need to affirmatively show why your case deserves to be approved.

Does This Affect You? It Depends on Your Situation.

Not everyone faces the same level of risk. People get a green card through several pathways, most often through family based green cards, employment based green cards, humanitarian cases, or the diversity visa program. These two main categories have their own eligibility criteria and application steps. Here is an honest breakdown:

If you entered on a tourist visa (B-1/B-2):

This memo is partly aimed at you. USCIS is now more likely to scrutinize whether you intended to immigrate from the beginning — a factor that officers will weigh against you. If you overstayed your visa before filing, that compounds the risk significantly.

If you entered on a temporary work visa (H-1B, L-1):

You are in a relatively stronger position. The memo explicitly acknowledges “dual intent” visa categories — meaning it is legally recognized that you can hold a temporary visa while also pursuing permanent residence. Maintaining valid status throughout your application remains important.

If you are the spouse, parent, or child of a U.S. citizen or green card holders:

Historically, USCIS has exercised its discretion most favorably toward immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. That dynamic is expected to continue for applicants with clean records and no prior violations. In family based categories, Form I-130 starts the process, and the relative categories split between immediate family members of a U.S. citizen, who generally face no visa wait after approval, and preference categories such as F2A. A lawful permanent resident may also petition for certain family members, and those cases often turn on current priority dates, which is why family sponsorship rules matter to many green card holders. Your family ties remain a significant positive factor in your case.

If you have had any status violations, overstays, or unauthorized work:

These are now explicitly listed as adverse factors that officers must weigh against you. If any of these apply to your history, the threshold for approval has meaningfully risen. An experienced attorney can help you assess your specific situation and build the strongest possible record.

If you are applying through consular processing abroad or adjustment of status:

This memo does not affect you. It applies only to adjustment of status — applications filed from inside the United States. If you are a foreign national living abroad, you generally pursue a green card through a U.S. Department of State embassy or consulate rather than adjustment of status. That consular process usually moves through the National Visa Center and includes a medical exam and consular interview before an immigrant visa is issued, which must then be used to enter the United States within six months.

What USCIS Officers Will Now Be Weighing for Permanent Residence

The memo directs officers to evaluate every case based on the totality of the circumstances. If you are already in the United States, you generally seek permanent resident status by filing Form I-485 after a sponsor has filed the underlying petition to establish eligibility, so officers closely review your immigration status throughout the process. The following factors will now receive explicit, documented attention:

• Against you: any violations of immigration law or the conditions of your visa; unauthorized employment; overstaying your authorized period; entry that was not consistent with applicable law; conduct that was inconsistent with the purpose of your visa or parole.
• Against you: any prior fraud or false testimony in dealings with USCIS or any other government agency — including previous visa applications.
• In your favor: family ties to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; length of residence in the United States; employment history; community involvement; good moral character; tax compliance.
• Key threshold: whether consular processing is available to you for the same immigrant category. If it is, officers must now actively consider why you are seeking to adjust from inside the country instead, even if the goal is to become a permanent resident.

One sentence from the memo deserves particular attention: officers must consider whether an applicant’s entry “violated the laws, regulations, and policies in place at the time.” This suggests retroactive scrutiny — not just your current status, but how you originally arrived and whether that history affects your ability to keep or obtain that legal status.

What This Memo Does Not Do

The press release accompanying this memo declared that USCIS “will grant adjustment of status only in extraordinary circumstances.” That phrase does not appear anywhere in the actual policy guidance. It was a political statement made alongside the memo — not the operative language that will govern how officers evaluate your case.

The memo also cannot change the underlying statute. It does not by itself cancel existing permanent residency or a permanent resident card. Congress authorized adjustment of status under Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. USCIS can instruct its officers to exercise discretion more rigorously — but it cannot close a door that Congress opened. Legal challenges are already anticipated, and courts will ultimately have the final word on how far this policy reaches.

What the memo does require — and this matters for you — is that any denial based on discretion must include a written explanation detailing the specific positive and negative factors the officer considered, and why the negatives outweigh the positives. That creates a reviewable record. If your case is wrongly denied, that record can be challenged. Separate legal rules can still cause loss of permanent residence status, including abandoning permanent residence by filing Form I-407 at a U.S. embassy, certain criminal conduct that makes a person removable, failure to file income tax returns on worldwide income, and, if permanent residency is lost, immediate removability from the United States.

What to Expect in the Coming Months

The practical effects of this memo will unfold over time. Based on our analysis, you should be prepared for the following:

• More Requests for Evidence (RFEs): Officers will be documenting their discretionary analysis more carefully, which means they will ask more questions before approving cases.
• More Notices of Intent to Deny (NOIDs): In cases where officers identify adverse factors, they are now more likely to flag them formally before issuing a final decision. You will have an opportunity to respond.
• Longer processing times: More intensive review means slower adjudications across the board.
• Additional category-specific guidance: The memo explicitly signals that USCIS will issue further instructions targeting specific applicant groups. More changes are likely coming.
• Litigation: Legal challenges to aggressive denials are expected. Courts will shape how this policy is ultimately applied.

Six Things You Should Do Right Now for Your Green Card Application

1. Do not withdraw your pending application. This memo alone is not a reason to withdraw. Withdrawal is permanent, and your case may still be approved. Speak to an attorney before taking any action.
2. Maintain your lawful status without exception. If you are in a valid nonimmigrant status while your I-485 is pending, comply fully with all its conditions. Lawful permanent residents, including green card holders, also have continuing obligations, including filing U.S. taxes on worldwide income. Any violation from this point forward becomes an adverse factor in your record.
3. Do not travel outside the United States without legal advice. International travel while AOS is pending has always carried risk. Under the current policy environment, that risk is heightened, and a travel document does not protect you if you remain abroad too long without prior authorization.
4. If you receive an RFE or NOID, respond fully and promptly. These are not rejections — they are your opportunity to build the evidentiary record of your positive equities. Respond with the help of an experienced attorney.
5. If you have not yet filed, consult an attorney before you do. How you present your application now matters more than it did before. A filing that proactively addresses the discretionary factors the memo highlights will be better positioned than one that does not.
6. Start gathering documentation of your positive equities now. Tax returns, employment records, evidence of family ties, community involvement, length of residence — collect this material before you need it, and submit evidence tied to work history, tax compliance, and family members where relevant.

Our Assessment

We have read this memo carefully. Our conclusion is that the alarm generated by the press release overstates what the operative guidance actually directs. The phrase “only in extraordinary circumstances” is not in the memo itself. Officers are not being told to deny applications wholesale. They are being told to think harder, document more, and weigh discretion more seriously.

For applicants with clean records, stable status, and strong family ties — particularly immediate relatives of U.S. citizens — the near-term practical impact may be more limited than the headlines suggest. Permanent residency is also the usual path toward naturalization after five years of residence. For applicants with complicated histories, the stakes have meaningfully risen.

What is clear is that this is the beginning of a process, not the end. Additional guidance is coming. Litigation will follow. We are watching closely and will update our clients as the picture develops.

If you have questions about your specific case, contact our office. Green card holders gain significant long-term benefits and obligations, including access to resident tuition rates and federal financial aid, and those who later abandon status after eight of the last fifteen years may face expatriation tax on unrealized gains above $600,000. Do not rely on news headlines or social media to make decisions about your immigration future.