What changed
On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 and announced it the next day under the headline that it will grant adjustment of status, the green card process done from inside the United States, “only in extraordinary circumstances.” The news release named “students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas” as people who “come to the U.S. for a short time,” and said their visit “should not function as the first step in the Green Card process.”
That sentence caused alarm among people working here on visas. The memo itself is more specific than the headline. It says that when a nonimmigrant stays and applies for a green card instead of leaving, that generally “contravenes” what Congress expected, and then adds: “USCIS acknowledges exceptions including nonimmigrant categories with dual intent and immigrant categories where only adjustment of status provides a pathway to permanent resident status.” “Dual intent” is the term for visa categories that let someone hold a temporary visa while also intending to stay permanently.
In its guidance to officers, the memo goes further: “USCIS reminds its officers that applying for adjustment of status is not inconsistent with simultaneously maintaining nonimmigrant status in a category with dual intent.” A footnote sets the limit: “maintaining lawful status in a dual intent nonimmigrant category is not sufficient, on its own, to warrant a favorable exercise of discretion.”
Who this is about
The memo is about people who entered as nonimmigrants or on parole and then apply for a green card from inside the country. It does not name any visa type; it speaks only of “nonimmigrant categories with dual intent.” Officers are told to weigh “all positive and negative factors, including family ties, immigration status and history, the applicant’s moral character, and any other relevant factor,” and to treat a person’s failure to follow the conditions of their admission or to leave when expected as “highly relevant.” When a denial rests on discretion, the notice must list the positive and negative factors and explain why the negatives outweighed the positives.
Three things the memo does not say: it does not define “extraordinary circumstances”; it does not say what happens to applications that were already pending on May 21; and while it says USCIS “may provide policy guidance specific to certain adjustment of status categories or discrete populations,” we have not found any such guidance on the USCIS Policy Manual updates page as of this writing.
What it does not mean
- It does not mean workers on dual-intent visas are exempt from the memo. In USCIS’s words, that status “is not sufficient, on its own.”
- It does not mean they are shut out. The memo says applying for a green card is “not inconsistent” with keeping a dual-intent status.
- It does not name H-1B, L-1 or any other visa. Whether a given category counts as dual intent, and how the factors weigh in one person’s case, are questions for a qualified advisor.
- It does not contain the phrases “economic benefit” or “national interest” that circulated in news coverage after the announcement. The written policy is the memo, and the memo’s test is the case-by-case weighing described above.
What to do with this
If you are working in the United States on a visa and have a green card application in progress, or were planning one through your employer or a family member, the memo is a reason to talk to a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative before deciding anything about the case. They can read the memo against your own record and explain what it means for you. The organizations below are a place to start, and every city page on this directory lists more.
Advocasí is not a law firm. We explain what a policy says and help people prepare their own paperwork once a qualified advisor has told them which path applies.