The Trump administration announced Friday that noncitizens who have applied for a green card will be required to leave the US indefinitely in order to obtain lawful permanent resident status, in a major change to federal immigration policy. 

The shift will impact some 1.2 million legal immigrants with pending green card applications for legal permanent residence, according to the Cato Institute, who will be required to “self-deport,” under the new policy. 

Immigrants in the US, including the spouses of American citizens and their minor children, have previously been able to apply for the so-called “adjustment of status” from within the country. 

In the 2024 fiscal year, 782,770 migrants obtained lawful permanent residency through adjustment of status.

“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly. From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances,” United States Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement.

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

Under the new policy, green card petitioners will be required to wait for their application to be processed outside the country through consular processing via the State Department. 

The policy is in line with the Trump administration’s position that noncitizens in the country on student, tourist or temporary work visas should not use that permission as a launching point for obtaining a green card. 

“Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over,” Kahler said. “Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process.” 

The new policy “frees up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications, and other priorities,” according to the agency. 

“The law was written this way for a reason, and despite the fact that it has been ignored for years, following it will help make our system fairer and more efficient,” the USCIS spokesman argued. 

It is unclear if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will start targeting green card applicants for deportation. 

Critics of the new policy claim it will force legal immigrants waiting for green cards to start the process over – and will lead to an “exodus” of talented migrants. 

“Trump’s USCIS just told half a million immigrants who entered the U.S. lawfully to leave the country and start over,” Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) wrote on X. “For years, Trump said he supported the legal immigration process, and people just had to follow the rules. That was always a lie.” 

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) argued the “stupid Green Card policy will help competitors such as China and Russia.” 

“The US will have a significant exodus of top researchers, scientists, and industry leaders in multiple fields, ranging from medicine to technology to advanced manufacturing,” Lieu argued. 

“Point blank, this policy is a disgrace,” Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) wrote on X. “It will rip talented, hardworking immigrants out from America and our economy, congest an already overburdened backlog, and further break an already broken immigration system. And that’s by design.”

“This administration has made the pain of immigrants a priority, and that won’t change until there’s no one left to hurt.”