Overview
- USCIS, which issued the policy memo on Friday, May 22, 2026, told officers to generally require consular processing abroad for nonimmigrant visa holders who seek adjustment of status.
- The guidance covers temporary visa holders such as students, H-1B workers, exchange visitors and tourists and limits domestic approvals to cases judged to present ‘‘extraordinary circumstances.’'
- The memo is internal agency guidance rather than a change in statute and instructs officers to exercise broad discretion when weighing positive and negative factors in individual files.
- Immigrant advocates and lawyers say the policy could force trafficking survivors, abused children, long-waiting families and workers to return to unsafe or disruptive conditions and increase discretionary denials that are hard to challenge in court.
- The rule is part of a wider White House push to tighten immigration controls, and its real effect will depend on how adjudicators apply the memo, whether courts review it, and how consulates handle long waiting lists.