Trump administration forces Kenyans to return home to apply for Green Cards

Kenyans living in the United States on temporary visas now face an abrupt choice: leave the country to apply for permanent residency, or risk losing their chance at a Green Card altogether.

On Friday, May 22, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that individuals already in America will no longer be able to adjust their status to permanent residency while remaining on US soil. Instead, they must return to Kenya and complete the process through the US Embassy in Nairobi—a policy shift affecting an estimated one million pending applications nationwide, including thousands of Kenyans.

What the new policy means

USCIS now treats adjustment of status as "a matter of discretion and administrative grace," giving immigration officers sweeping authority to reject in-country applications and force applicants into consular processing abroad. The administration says the policy aims to return to the "original intent of the law" and that requiring applicants to apply from their home countries reduces operational pressures on the immigration system.

The change hits Kenyans across multiple visa categories. Students on F-1 visas, workers on H-2 or L-1 visas, and visitors on B-1/B-2 tourist permits must now return home to apply—even if they've lived, worked, and paid taxes in the US for years. Only those holding H-1B visas, which carry "dual intent," and refugees or asylum seekers remain exempt.

Immigration officers will assess each case individually, weighing factors including immigration history, family ties, and past conduct. Applicants with any record of unauthorised employment or visa overstays face a higher risk of denial.

The human cost

For Kenyan families, the practical implications are devastating. Applicants who return to Kenya for consular processing face months—potentially years—of separation from US-based spouses and children. Many will lose jobs they cannot afford to leave. And with more than a million adjustment-of-status cases already in the pipeline, the backlog at understaffed US consulates abroad is expected to balloon.

"It could lead to family separation or loss of employment," according to analysis by the Daily Nation, which noted that stricter scrutiny and discretionary denials are likely to extend processing times significantly. Immigration lawyers have warned that applicants will need far more extensive legal preparation to meet the new threshold.

Kenyans are among the largest sources of non-immigrant visa holders from Africa, with thousands arriving each year as students, temporary workers, and visitors. Many have used those pathways as a stepping stone toward permanent residency—a practice the Trump administration now characterises as an abuse of the system's original intent.

A pattern of restriction

The Green Card announcement is the latest in a wave of Trump-era immigration crackdowns. Since January 2026, the administration has paused diversity visa issuances, suspended immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries (though Kenya was notably excluded from that list), restricted asylum claims, ended temporary protected status for several nations, and tightened student and work visa rules.

Kenyan applicants with pending cases are advised to consult immigration attorneys to assess whether they qualify for an exemption or must prepare to leave the United States.

What comes next

The burden now shifts to the US Embassy in Nairobi, which already faces significant visa backlogs. Processing times for consular cases can stretch three to eight weeks under normal conditions; with a flood of forced returns, delays could extend far longer.

For Kenyans weighing whether to stay and fight their cases or return home voluntarily, the stakes are unforgiving: a wrong decision could mean years separated from family, lost income, and—ultimately—no Green Card at all.

Reporting drawn from US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Kenyan Post, Daily Nation, Mwakilishi, US Embassy Kenya.