Trump Administration Forces Green Card Applicants to Return Home for Processing
USCIS has ended most adjustment-of-status applications inside the US, requiring Kenyans and other non-immigrants on temporary visas to return home and complete green card processing through US embassies abroad—a policy s
Kenyan nationals on temporary visas in the United States now face a stark choice: leave their jobs and families to pursue permanent residency from Nairobi, or abandon their green card applications altogether.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this week that it will no longer allow most non-immigrants to apply for adjustment of status to permanent residency while remaining in the United States. Instead, applicants are expected to return to their countries of origin and complete the process through US embassies abroad.
One million applications in limbo
The policy reversal affects an estimated one million pending applications nationwide. For Kenyans, the change hits particularly hard: many hold work visas, student visas, or visitor status and have been waiting years for their green card priority dates to become current.
USCIS has described adjustment of status as a "discretionary form of relief," giving immigration officers broad authority to deny domestic applications and push applicants into consular processing overseas. Certain visa categories with "dual intent"—such as the H-1B skilled worker visa—may still qualify for adjustment within the US, but most other categories will not.
Immigration lawyers warn that the practical consequences are severe. Applicants who leave the US to complete consular processing may face months-long waits for embassy appointments, separation from spouses and children who hold dependent visas, and loss of employment authorization. Those who have built careers and purchased homes in the US now confront the prospect of uprooting their lives with no guarantee of timely re-entry.
Pressure on embassies
The shift is expected to place heavy new demand on US embassies handling visa processing, including the US Embassy in Nairobi. Consular sections that were already managing backlogs from the COVID-19 pandemic will now absorb a flood of green card applicants who would previously have adjusted status domestically.
Advocates say the policy will increase legal costs, prolong family separations, and create new uncertainty for immigrants who followed the rules and have been waiting in line for years. Immigration attorneys have advised clients to prepare more extensive documentation and to brace for longer timelines under the revised procedures.
The announcement represents one of the most consequential immigration policy changes under the Trump administration's second term, and follows earlier executive actions targeting undocumented immigrants and tightening asylum procedures.
What comes next
Kenyans already in the US adjustment-of-status pipeline are urged to consult immigration counsel immediately to assess whether they qualify for any exemptions or whether they must now prepare for consular processing abroad. Those with H-1B or other dual-intent visas may still have a pathway to adjust status domestically, but USCIS has signaled it will apply heightened scrutiny even to those cases.
For the broader Kenyan diaspora, the policy underscores the growing unpredictability of US immigration pathways and the risk that years of legal compliance can be upended by executive action. Community organizations in major hubs—including Washington, DC; Minneapolis; and Dallas—are organizing know-your-rights workshops and connecting affected families with legal resources.
Reporting drawn from Mwakilishi, Migration Policy Institute, Migration Policy Institute - Sub-Saharan African Immigrants.
