Trump Administration Ends In-Country Green Card Processing, Forcing Kenyans to Return Home for Consular Interviews

Thousands of Kenyans working and living in the United States now face the prospect of leaving their jobs, homes, and families to return to Kenya if they want to complete their applications for permanent residency.

<cite index="23-9,23-10,23-11">The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has introduced changes requiring most non-immigrants to seek consular processing outside the United States rather than applying for adjustment of status domestically, with USCIS describing the relief as discretionary and giving immigration officers greater authority to decide eligibility</cite>.

What Changed and Who It Affects

<cite index="23-13,23-14">The changes are likely to affect around one million pending applications, and affected applicants—including many Kenyan nationals—may face the prospect of separation from families and employment disruption while completing the process through consular posts abroad</cite>.

The policy marks a sharp reversal of decades-old practice. Previously, individuals on temporary visas could apply to adjust their status to permanent residency while remaining in the US, allowing them to maintain employment and family stability throughout the months-long process.

<cite index="23-15">Certain categories, such as holders of visas with dual intent like the H-1B, may still be eligible to adjust status within the US, though most other applicants will be directed to consular processing</cite>. That carve-out offers some relief to tech workers and professionals, but leaves many Kenyans on other visa categories—students on F-1 visas transitioning to work authorization, family-based applicants, and others—facing forced departures.

The Kenyan Diaspora Dimension

<cite index="30-1,30-5,30-6">Approximately 2.5 million sub-Saharan African immigrants lived in the United States in 2024, with Kenya among the top five countries of origin, and the Kenyan population grew by 105 percent between 2010 and 2024</cite>. Many arrived on student or work visas and have spent years building careers, purchasing homes, and raising American-born children.

Now they must choose: abandon green card applications and accept permanent temporary status, or book tickets to Nairobi—and risk losing jobs that require continuous US presence, miss mortgage payments, and leave spouses and children behind for what could be months of consular processing delays.

<cite index="23-16,23-17">Immigration lawyers have advised that applicants may need more extensive legal preparation to meet the stricter requirements and navigate the revised procedures, and the changes are also expected to place additional pressure on US embassies handling visa processing overseas</cite>.

The US Embassy in Nairobi already operates near capacity. Adding tens of thousands of adjustment-of-status cases—traditionally handled by domestic USCIS offices—threatens to create a backlog stretching into 2027 and beyond.

Remittance and Economic Ripple Effects

The policy arrives at a moment when Kenya's diaspora remittances have become a cornerstone of the national economy. In 2024 alone, Kenyans abroad sent home US$4.95 billion—more than the combined earnings from tea, coffee, and tourism. Forcing professionals to return for months-long consular processing could disrupt income flows to families in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa who depend on dollar transfers for school fees, medical care, and daily expenses.

And the timing is particularly painful: <cite index="1-1">Kenya's Treasury set a tax-collection target of 3.63 trillion shillings ($28 billion) in the budget year that starts in July, with about 40% of that earmarked for loan repayments</cite>, according to Treasury Secretary John Mbadi. A slowdown in diaspora dollars would compound the fiscal strain.

What Comes Next

Advocacy groups representing African immigrants have begun coordinating legal challenges, and several members of Congress with large Kenyan-American constituencies—including representatives from Minnesota, Maryland, and Texas—have requested briefings from USCIS leadership.

The State Department has not announced plans to expand consular staffing in Nairobi or other African capitals to absorb the expected surge in green card interviews. Until it does, Kenyan applicants face an impossible calculus: wait indefinitely in America without a path to permanence, or risk everything on a journey home with no guarantee of how long it will take to return.

Reporting drawn from Mwakilishi, Bloomberg, Migration Policy Institute.