A new guidance memo by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mandates green card applicants leave the country during the application process. According to the Pew Research Center, most green cards granted since 2000 went to individuals already in the U.S. The new memo might impact hundreds of thousands of people.

Pew Research Center studies found the U.S. granted 1.36 million green cards in the 2024 fiscal year. Fifty-eight percent of those green cards went to people living in the country. The new USCIS guidance directs agents to decide on whether leaving the country is mandatory for the application process. Additionally, the memo gives USCIS agents the power to make that on a case-by-case basis.

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