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Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

nytimes.com

581–590 of 1001 posts

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are all non-immigrant visa classes. The understanding is that you are temporarily immigrating to the United States. Why should it be surprising then that it is hard to become a permanent resident/immigrant if you explicitly came on a non-immigrant visa?

All I hear is that there's a subset of people that don't want immigrants at all. And for some godforsaken reason they got hold of the executive, legislative and supreme court

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Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#582
post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, I think this is the point. They want to push the needle so that even legal immigration is restricted or difficult (unless you happen to pay them directly) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/23/us/politics/trump-legal-i...

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Immigration is a net positive for social services, housing, childcare, healthcare, etc. over the long term. This country was built by immigrants.

There can be negative effects with large inflows locally, but that's a policy failure that can be addressed.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#583
post #572

This is insane. I cannot fathom how I, nor educated and talented people I know, could have possibly stayed in the US back in the day if this requirement had been in place then. Applying for a greencard while working on an H, J or O-class visa is extremely common. Far from a loophole, applying from inside the US is the only reasonable way to apply for a greencard. Depending on the country of origin, there may not even…

I think what this actually means is that you can apply permanent residency in the US, but you can only get the physical green card outside of the US when the case is approved. So, the last step to get the card need to from outside the country.

What is the point of that?

They might as well mail it to your home. That’s what happens today.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#584
post #528

There does appear to be a limited walk back for dual intent visa holders (H1B and L1) “A spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, however, told Semafor that H1-B visa holders and high-skilled workers might not be affected in the near term.” Source: https://www.semafor.com/article/05/22/2026/trump-orders-gree...

They "might" also end up in an ICE facility and then deported to somewhere like the Congo or an El Salvadoran prison.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#585

This is insane. I cannot fathom how I, nor educated and talented people I know, could have possibly stayed in the US back in the day if this requirement had been in place then. Applying for a greencard while working on an H, J or O-class visa is extremely common. Far from a loophole, applying from inside the US is the only reasonable way to apply for a greencard. Depending on the country of origin, there may not even…

> Applying for a greencard while working on an H, J or O-class visa is extremely common.

But it’s not supposed to be extremely common to apply for a green card on an H or J visa. Those visas are explicitly “nonimmigrant” visas for people “temporarily” in the U.S. who have “no intention of abandoning” their foreign residence. Read the statute: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:8%20section:1.... It’s subsections (a)(15), (a)(15)(H)(i)(b) and (a)(15)(J).

The people who thought of this are trying to return the practice to the actual intent of the law. The law was sold to the American public as a temporary worker program. It was not billed as a pathway for permanent residency.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#586

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK, the EU, Japan, and Australia all have identical rules to this policy.

It is false for the UK. The whole system of US of needing to leave the country to even renew visas is absolutely bizarre and does not have analogues in most other countries (at least EU/UK)

The logic of it is that if your visa renewal is rejected they don’t have to catch you and deport you. You already deported yourself.

Having to go abroad when a visa/PR has already been granted is totally pointless. Green cards are mailed to your home in the US right now.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#587

I received my green card in 2023 and I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I'm so relieved that I have been able to dodge everything that the administration has been throwing at immigrant (legal and illegal alike), trying to see what sticks, like mass deportations, border wall expansion, visa restrictions, asylum crackdown, H-1B cuts, and chain Migration Ban. On the other hand, we cannot apply for citizenship for 3 mor…

"Most disturbing is the fact that a lot of people I know who climbed the same ladder will go out and cheer what the administration is doing."

I always joke that all naturalized (citizens) immigrants automatically become republican. I say it in earnest because effectively all naturalized people who I know side with anti-immigration, except agaisnt people they know, but none of them take my "joke" seriously.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#588
post #519

This is insane. I cannot fathom how I, nor educated and talented people I know, could have possibly stayed in the US back in the day if this requirement had been in place then. Applying for a greencard while working on an H, J or O-class visa is extremely common. Far from a loophole, applying from inside the US is the only reasonable way to apply for a greencard. Depending on the country of origin, there may not even…

I don't think it applies to folks on H or L visas. Wording from the site: "Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose. Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process. "

Looks like it applies to all visitors.

From https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-pr...,

> Adjustment of status is the process that you can use to apply for lawful permanent resident status (also known as applying for a Green Card) when you are present in the United States. This means that you may get a Green Card without having to return to your home country to complete visa processing.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#589

This is insane. I cannot fathom how I, nor educated and talented people I know, could have possibly stayed in the US back in the day if this requirement had been in place then. Applying for a greencard while working on an H, J or O-class visa is extremely common. Far from a loophole, applying from inside the US is the only reasonable way to apply for a greencard. Depending on the country of origin, there may not even…

They are intentionally malevolent, and at this point, it's safe to assume that anyone making excuses for it is as well.

Re: Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

#590

The US isn’t what it used to be. It’s definitely not the best place in the world to live for quality of life, on basically any metric. The requirement of being permanently obligated to pay us taxes on global income, if you have any kind of global mobility, is not worth it when you look at the situation objectively. The US is the only country that requires this, and signing up is voluntarily. So while US immigration c…

> It’s definitely not the best place in the world to live for quality of life, on basically any metric. I guess these immigrants must be stupid.

The President confirmed this. They're not sending their best.
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