Written by David Wulkan

On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued a significant new policy memorandum signaling a major shift in how the agency intends to adjudicate adjustment of status applications.

Under the memorandum, USCIS is seeking to limit the availability of adjustment of status for foreign nationals already in the United States and redirect more applicants toward consular processing abroad. Rather than treating adjustment as a routine benefit available to applicants who satisfy the statutory requirements, the agency is directing officers to view it as a discretionary relief that should only be granted in extraordinary circumstances.

USCIS has historically adjudicated adjustment of status applications largely as eligibility determinations. In practice, if an applicant met the statutory requirements, was admissible, and did not present serious issues such as fraud or criminal conduct, approval often followed. The new memorandum strongly suggests that USCIS intends to move away from that approach.

USCIS’s New Framing of Adjustment of Status

There are two primary pathways to lawful permanent residence, commonly known as a green card. Through adjustment of status, certain foreign nationals already physically present in the United States apply without leaving the country. Through consular processing, applicants apply through the U.S. Department of State at a U.S. consulate abroad. For decades, adjustment of status and consular processing have both served as equally available pathways to a green card, including for many employment-based and family-based applicants already lawfully present in the United States.

USCIS is now characterizing consular processing abroad as the expected path to permanent residence, while describing adjustment of status as “extraordinary relief,” an “administrative grace,” and a discretionary exception that must be affirmatively warranted by the applicant. In practical terms, USCIS is limiting the availability of adjustment of status inside the United States and compelling more applicants to pursue consular processing abroad.

Expanded Discretionary Review

Officers are instructed to consider the “totality of the circumstances” and determine not only whether an applicant is legally eligible for adjustment of status, but whether the applicant warrants approval as a matter of discretion.

The memorandum instructs officers to consider a broad range of adverse factors, including immigration violations, unauthorized employment, fraud or misrepresentation, violations of status, and conduct inconsistent with prior representations made to obtain a visa or admission. Officers are also instructed to weigh favorable equities, including family ties, employment history, long-term residence, humanitarian considerations, and other facts supporting a favorable exercise of discretion.

The memorandum further states that officers may consider the applicant’s decision to seek adjustment of status rather than consular processing as a negative factor in the discretionary analysis. Additionally, maintaining lawful status, even in a dual-intent classification, does not by itself require USCIS to approve adjustment as a matter of discretion.

USCIS has separately suggested that applicants who provide an economic benefit or serve the national interest may still be permitted to complete adjustment processing inside the United States. However, USCIS has not yet explained how those concepts will be defined or applied in practice.

Why This Matters

In most employment-based and family-based adjustment cases, discretionary denials were uncommon absent serious concerns such as fraud, criminal conduct, or major immigration violations. Under this new approach, however, USCIS officers are encouraged not only to weigh favorable and adverse factors more broadly, but to begin from the premise that adjustment of status is extraordinary relief that must be affirmatively justified.

The memorandum creates significant uncertainty. It leaves open how USCIS will handle pending adjustment applications, including whether applicants who filed under the prior adjudicatory approach may now receive requests for evidence (RFE), interviews, or discretionary review under a stricter standard. It is also unclear whether USCIS will apply this policy uniformly across adjustment categories and field offices, or how the policy will interact with already lengthy consular processing wait times, which in some cases can approach two years.

Our office is closely monitoring implementation of this policy memorandum and its impact on pending and future adjustment applications.