‘The rug pulled out from everyone’: the chaos of Trump’s new green card rules

A new policy memo issued last week by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), requiring many foreigners in the US to leave the country and obtain green cards through their home countries, has sparked confusion and fear among hundreds of thousands of visa holders and families, as well as immigration advocates and lawyers. Multiple Guardian readers, speaking anonymously out of fear, said the memo threatens to upend lives they have spent years building in the US – from careers and homes to marriages and long-term plans for stability. Foreigners seeking permanent residency in the US can typically pursue a green card either through a US consulate overseas or from within the country through a process known as adjustment of status (AOS). Under the new USCIS memo, however, many applicants already living in the US – including those with mixed-status families, jobs and homes – may now have to leave the country while their cases are pending. After widespread confusion surrounding the memo, a USCIS spokesperson clarified the policy to Semafor last week, saying the agency “is merely restating and reasserting” its interpretation of congressional intent regarding immigration status changes. …