Want a US Green Card? Pack Your Bags First, Says Trump!

The United States of America under President Donald Trump is not showing any mercy on immigrants and frequently introducing strict measures while dealing with policies relating to legal immigration system. Several key decisions taken in the last 18 months in that direction have already created a lot of mental agony for international students, job holders and tourists.

In what could be another huge disruption to ambitious plans of thousands of immigrants, who are dreaming to settle in USA, the Trump administration has dropped another bomb as it announced a sweeping policy shift that requires temporary visa holders seeking permanent residency to leave the country and wait for their green cards abroad.

A Green Card is an official document that permits foreign nationals to have a permanent residence anywhere in USA and this is the first step towards gaining citizenship of the country. Moreover , it also enables an individual to live anywhere in the US, work for most employers, study in the US, travel in and out of the country and eventually apply for US citizenship if eligible.

Until now, immigrants are allowed to apply for Green Card while staying in USA with a valid Visa. But, from now onwards, an outsider who is in the US temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances and wait for the final approval to return back to USA.

This new rule is a big blow to many of the H-1B Visa holders, especially Indians, who are waiting to process their Green Card applications and smoothly transition towards acquiring permanent residence. Trump’s administration believes that this sweeping change will arrest the abuse of country’s immigration policy.

Non immigrants like students and job holders can no longer apply for Green Card while staying in USA. They will now need to return back to their country and then apply to seek permanent stay in USA.

Indian nationals account for the second largest group of foreigners after Mexicans who seek US residency. Every new born baby to Indian parents automatically got US citizenship until now. But, the new rules will make it extremely difficult for Indians to acquire such privileges from now. It is getting more tougher with each passing day.