‘Economic Benefit’ Exemption: Who May Be Spared As Trump Pushes Most US Green Card Applicants Out? | Today’s news

The White House has moved to force most green card applicants to leave the country to apply from abroad, but officials acknowledge that the policy may not be applied uniformly, leaving immigration lawyers and hundreds of thousands of applicants in limbo.

The Trump administration on Friday announced a radical change to one of the most widespread paths to permanent residency in the United States, saying most immigrants already living in the country will now have to leave and apply for green cards from abroad. But officials have already hinted that the policy may not apply equally to all applicants, with those who provide an economic benefit to the country likely to be allowed to continue their journey, according to a Business Insider report.

What Trump’s New Green Card Policy Actually Says

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that manages the legal immigration system, said it will now grant “adjustment of status” — a domestic process that allows immigrants already in the US to apply for lawful permanent residency without leaving the country — “only in extraordinary circumstances.”

All other green card applicants will be directed for consular processing through the State Department at US embassies and consulates overseas, with exceptions evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

The announcement was accompanied by a six-page memo that left significant ambiguity about which categories of applicants would be eligible for the exemptions, causing immediate confusion among immigration lawyers and their clients.

Who may be exempt: Reservation of “economic benefit”.

Despite the broad language of the announcement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Zach Kahler indicated to Business Insider that the new rule will not be uniformly enforced from the start.

“While we work to get this up and running, people who submit applications that provide economic benefit or are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current journey, while others may be required to apply abroad depending on individual circumstances,” Kahler said, framing the policy change as a return to “the intent of Congress.”

Kahler elaborated in a separate statement: “This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended, instead of encouraging loopholes. When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who choose to slip into the shadows and remain in the US illegally after being denied residency.”

It remains unclear exactly which categories of foreign workers would qualify for exemptions from economic benefits, including whether skilled workers with H-1B visas would be eligible. The agency said refugees would not be subject to the new policy, but did not provide any further details on which groups would receive exemptions.

How many people does this green card rule affect?

The scope of the potential disruption is considerable. According to the Department of Homeland Security, approximately 1.4 million green cards were granted in 2024 alone, more than 820,000 of which were approved for people inside the country through adjustment of status.

Over the past two decades, more than 500,000 people have received green cards annually through the same domestic process, with the only exception in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 70 percent of people who obtained a green card through marriage in 2024 did so by adjusting their status, which represents about 250,000 individuals this year alone.

Who is most vulnerable under the new green card rules?

The change will affect a wide range of people who entered the country legally on temporary visas and are seeking permanent residency, including students, spouses of US citizens and a wide range of foreign workers. The green card process already takes months, and in many cases significantly longer, meaning that forcing applicants to leave the country for consular processing could result in longer family separations and significant barriers to re-entry, especially for those whose temporary visas have expired while awaiting a decision.

Sarah Pierce, a former policy analyst at Citizenship and Immigration Services and now director of social policy at the Third Way think tank, warned that the infrastructure to process such a large number of overseas applications simply does not exist.

“Our consular processing system that they would have to apply through is already overloaded,” Pierce said. “That means we could have families separated for months or years.

American immigration lawyers try to advise clients

The announcement sent immediate shockwaves through the immigration legal community, with lawyers reporting a flood of calls and messages from concerned clients trying to clarify how the new policy would affect their cases.

Robert O’Malley, an immigration attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said his clients are asking urgent questions about whether their spouses will have to leave the country.

“I did what I could to alleviate those concerns,” O’Malley said. “But I’m really just trying to digest this six-page memo and wait for further guidance so we know how best to advise our clients.”

Many lawyers also said they expected the policy to face legal challenges in the courts.

The broader context: Trump’s crackdown on legal immigration

The new restrictions represent a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to limit legal immigration, a campaign that has so far focused primarily on those living in the country without permission. In recent months, federal officials have sought to strip some naturalized citizens of their status and subjected thousands of green card holders to new background checks in an effort to identify immigrants they believe should be deported.

The administration has also moved toward visa waivers and stepped up pressure on temporary visa holders, expanding the scope of an immigration enforcement agenda that shows no signs of abating.