‘Confusion and uncertainty.’ Washington green card hopefuls react to new policy hurdle

Attorney Lisa Seifert accompanied one of her clients to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Tukwila Tuesday morning.

The office is where immigrants go to manage their immigration affairs with the federal government including those seeking permanent legal status by obtaining green cards, while in the country.

“ People were more nervous than usual,” Seifert said. “Everybody wanted to know if these new questions were being asked.”

It was the first time the office had been open since the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a new federal policy that green card applications from within the U.S. should only be considered under extraordinary circumstances. Most of those green card applicants must now apply from their home countries, according to the policy update.

The two new questions were part of that change, Seifert said. Her client was asked:

• Why did you apply for adjustment of status in the United States?
• What factors prevented you from applying at a U.S. consulate?

Many immigrant hopefuls, like Seifert’s client, came to the Tukwila office to ask if they can stay in the country while they apply for a green card, or what’s legally referred to as an “Adjustment of Status.” Green cards are an option for people who enter the U.S. with federal authorization, such as people who come here on a work visa or with refugee status.

Seifert said people with open applications for green cards while in the country should expect to hear within days if they’ll have to leave the country to apply under the new policy.

But there could be exceptions. A spokesperson from immigration services told Newsweek that people who “provide an economic benefit, or are in the national interest” could be ruled exempt from the new requirement.

Seattle immigration attorney Tahmina Watson, who specializes in employment visas, said it would be chaos if local workers have to leave their jobs and families are forced to apply for green cards abroad.

“Businesses are going to have to decide how they’re going to manage this. And so I think the myriad of problems are not necessarily even showing themselves yet,” Watson said. “I don’t think the policy writers, the policy makers, are necessarily understanding the depths of the chaos that will descend from this memo.”

Thousands of immigrants across Washington could be affected by the new policy. In 2023, 32,000 immigrants in Washington obtained green cards. More than half went to family members of U.S. citizens.

Almost 8,300 of the total were tied to employment. Mexico, China, and India were top countries of origin of people getting green cards in 2023, a trend that dates back more than a decade.

In a statement to KUOW, the Department of Homeland Security defended the new green card policy.

“The President is continuing to prioritize immigration that strengthens America culturally, socially, and financially while preventing mass third world migration which hurts our country and Americans,” the department said. “It will result in some aliens who do not merit the discretionary benefit ultimately applying with the Department of State overseas rather than USCIS in the United States. This is another tool to address fraud and abuse which exist in our immigration system.”

Immigration attorney Karol Brown said she was swamped Monday with messages from her clients in the Seattle area.

Many are looking to get green cards through marriage, or a work visa. They had questions about how the policy change would affect them, and if they could stay.

“ Is it still available? Is it still possible?” They asked Brown.

“The confusion, the uncertainty, the upset is real,” she said. “You’re impacting people’s lives, their ability to be with their loved ones, their ability to work at the job that is their dream job, the rights of employers to have people filling important roles here.”

Brown said the policy change upends the way the green card application process has worked for decades.

She said Congress allowed people to adjust their status in the country, and changes as significant as this should be decided by lawmakers, not by a federal agency.

In a memo published last Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the original intent of the law is for people to apply for green cards at a consulate abroad.

Brown and other attorneys question the legal foundations of the claim and say the agency is attempting to rewrite the law through policy changes.

A lawsuit is expected to be filed to challenge the new requirement.