DHS Reportedly Offered Clarification On The Recent USCIS Policy Update Regarding Adjustment-Of-Status Applications

As covered in our latest client alert, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently released a policy memorandum that stated that individuals must return to their home countries to apply for green cards except in “extraordinary” cases. Following the release of this memorandum, multiple news sources, including The New York Times, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, reported that a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson sought to clarify that there was no major policy change and that only certain applicants will be required to apply for their green cards from abroad. DHS stated that it is not a blanket requirement and that it will be up to individual immigration officers to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to require consular processing abroad, noting that officers have always had such discretion. This clarification suggests that the policy should not affect the vast majority of employment-based cases (e.g., EB-1, EB-2, EB-3) for individuals who