By Dan Gooding0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.Families of serving U.S. military personnel could face having to leave the country when applying for green cards, despite a partial rollback of the policy by the Trump administration.
Immigration lawyers and experts have been grappling with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS) updated approach to what is known as adjustment of status (AOS), after it was announced just over a week ago that most applicants would need to return to their home countries while awaiting a decision.
While those who can prove they provide economic benefit to the U.S. will likely be allowed to stay while their case is pending, there are warnings that loved ones of U.S. citizens may be required to leave, including those connected to the military.
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"Military families are squarely in the path of that shift: spouses who entered on visitor visas before marrying a service member, undocumented parents and spouses who rely on parole in place to adjust without triggering the 3 and 10 year unlawful-presence bars, and surviving family members of those killed in action all fit the precise fact patterns the memo flags as disfavored," Brett O'Brien, co-founder of the National Security Law Firm, told Newsweek.
...What Is USCIS' New Green Card Policy?
The memo, shared with USCIS officers, reiterated that the process allowing applicants to obtain a green card without leaving the United States was never intended to replace the traditional pathway of applying for an immigrant visa from abroad.
As part of the updated policy, officials said that even if applicants technically meet the requirements for permanent residency when they are about to apply in the U.S., as their visa comes to an end, they will still need to return home and wait for the U.S. State Department to process their case.
Confusion and concern followed after the memo was released the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, with attorneys and applicants scrambling to get clarity on who might be affected.
Despite the Department of Homeland Security later saying the policy would not impact as many people as previously thought, the anxieties have remained for several immigrant groups, including the relatives of those serving in the U.S. military who have usually been able to stay in the U.S.
"The memo's proposed alternative, depart the United States and pursue an immigrant visa through consular processing, is for many of these families not a real alternative at all, because departure itself triggers the very bars Congress designed parole in place to avoid," O'Brien said, warning USCIS officers now had broader powers to deny cases.
"Whatever one's view of the underlying immigration debate, the readiness and retention implications for a force that depends on stable family life deserve serious attention before this policy is implemented at scale," he said.
Green Cards for Military Spouses, Children
U.S. immigration law has provided several special pathways to green cards for military families, reflecting a long-standing policy of keeping service members with their loved ones. In general, spouses and children of U.S. service members can qualify for green cards through the same family-based immigration system used by civilians, but with added flexibility.
For example, a U.S. citizen service member can sponsor a spouse or unmarried child under 21 as an “immediate relative,” meaning there are typically no annual visa limits or long waiting periods. Programs such as marriage-based green cards or fiance visas (K‑1) allows couples to reunite in the U.S., marry, and then apply for permanent residency. These pathways are often expedited or handled with added urgency because of military deployments and relocations.
A key feature of military-related immigration is that family members who are already in the U.S. are usually able to apply for a green card without leaving the country, even in complicated cases including undocumented spouses or children.
Through normal immigration rules, individuals who entered the U.S. without authorization often have to leave to complete their green card application, which can trigger long bans on reentry, but military families may avoid that through special policies that prioritize family unity. Eligible relatives can sometimes adjust status inside the United States, reducing the risk of separation during the process.
Under the Trump administration's updated policy, that near-certainty of being able to remain in the U.S. has been shaken, despite DHS insisting to Newsweek that the new policy does not impact an immigrant's ability to obtain a green card.
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