Last week, USCIS issued a Policy Memorandum stating that adjustment of status (i.e., obtaining a Green Card inside the United States) is an “extraordinary” form of relief and is only available to non-citizens as a “matter of discretion and administrative grace.” The memo reminds USCIS officers that with limited exceptions, “aliens” who arrive in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas “are generally expected to pursue an immigrant visa and admission from outside the United States if they wish to reside permanently in this country.”
While people who come to the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa and who later pursue AOS may be “otherwise eligible for adjustment of status,” their “attempt to avoid the ordinary consular immigrant visa process, usually accompanied by their violation of our immigration laws are adverse factors that the aliens may need ‘to offset… by a showing of unusual or even outstanding equities.'” “The absence of adverse factors, by itself, does not demonstrate such unusual or outstanding equities.”
The import of all this is that USCIS wants most people who come to the U.S. on non-immigrant visas to leave the United States and obtain their Green Card overseas through consular processing. How does this new memo apply to asylees, refugees, and people with pending asylum applications?