U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday ordered most foreigners already living legally in the United States to leave the country and apply for permanent residency at an American consulate abroad, ending a process that has let immigrants adjust status from inside the U.S. for more than half a century.

Half a million people receive green cards each year through the adjustment-of-status process the agency is now restricting, according to Doug Rand, a former senior USCIS official under the Biden administration. The policy reframes that route as an extraordinary exception rather than a default path for students, temporary workers, tourists and the foreign spouses of U.S. citizens.

What the memo does

The memo instructs USCIS officers to treat adjustment of status as an act of "administrative grace" and to count an applicant's decision to seek it, rather than the consular process overseas, as an "adverse factor" in the application. Officers retain discretion to grant the in-country option only in "extraordinary circumstances," a term the agency did not define in writing.

"From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances," USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement. Kahler said the policy would also reduce the "need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency."

In a separate statement later Friday, Kahler said applicants who provide an "economic benefit" or serve the "national interest" would still be allowed to complete their cases inside the country. The memo also signaled that holders of "dual intent" visas, including H-1B high-skilled workers, refugees and asylees, would remain eligible to adjust status without leaving.

Who is exposed

The rule lands on top of two existing barriers. Citizens of 39 countries, most of them in Africa and Asia, face outright bans or restrictions under the travel ban President Trump signed on national security grounds, CBS News reported. A separate administration policy has paused immigrant visas for people in 75 countries on the ground that they could become economic burdens. Visa-overstayers who depart trigger a 10-year reentry bar in most cases.

Michael Valverde, a senior USCIS official under Republican and Democratic administrations until his departure last year, told CBS News the change would "disrupt the plans of hundreds of thousands of families and employers annually."

"This is a largely unprecedented move that will limit lawful immigration to the U.S. greatly," Valverde said. "People who followed the rules faithfully now face tremendous uncertainty."

The agency did not respond to PBS NewsHour's emailed questions about scope or pending caseloads.

What aid groups say

World Relief, a refugee resettlement organization, warned the interaction with the travel-ban and visa-pause lists could trap families overseas. "If families are told that the non-citizen family member must return to his or her country of origin to process their immigrant visa, but immigrant visas are not being processed there, it's a Catch-22," the group wrote. "These policies will effectively create an indefinite separation of families."

Rand framed the marriage-based impact in similar terms. "The primary impact of this appears to be to make it difficult or impossible for very large numbers of U.S. citizens to get on with their lives with the people they've chosen to marry who came here legally," he said.

The administration's case

USCIS argued the change restores congressional design. "Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose. Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process," the agency said in a statement. The memo cited federal law as suggesting most green card applications should be completed abroad, and Kahler said the policy "allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes."

USCIS did not say when the memo takes effect or whether pending cases would be grandfathered.