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If you are applying for a green card while living in the United States — or planning to — a new federal policy just changed the landscape in a significant way.
On May 21, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199, titled “Adjustment of Status is a Matter of Discretion and Administrative Grace, and an Extraordinary Relief that Permits Applicants to Dispense with the Ordinary Consular Visa Process.” It took effect immediately.
The memo applies to pending I-485 applications and new filings alike. If your case is at the Newark, Cranbury, or Mount Laurel Field Office — the three jurisdictions which handle New Jersey — officers there are already adhering to the memo and evaluating cases according to its guidelines.
Here is what changed, who it affects, and what you should do about it.
Adjustment of status — also called “AOS” or filing an I-485 — is the process through which foreign nationals already present in the United States apply for their green cards without leaving the country. It is generally viewed as a more expedient alternative to consular processing, where applicants appear for their interviews at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad for permission to enter the U.S. as permanent residents.
PM-602-0199 instructs USCIS officers that adjustment of status is not a standard pathway. It is, in the agency’s own words, an “extraordinary” form of relief and an “act of administrative grace.” The default, according to this memo, is consular processing abroad. Remaining in the United States to adjust is to be viewed as a rare exception — and officers are being told to treat it that way.
USCIS grounds this position in longstanding case law, including a Board of Immigration Appeals decision, Matter of Blas, 15 I&N Dec. 626 (BIA 1974), as well as a Supreme Court case, Patel v. Garland, 596 U.S. 328 (2022), in which the High Court reaffirmed that adjustment is a matter of grace, not entitlement.
The practical takeaway is this: officers are being directed to apply a considerably stricter, more skeptical standard to every adjustment of status application — particularly those filed by people who entered on a temporary visa or parole and stayed to pursue a green card instead of leaving and going through the consular process.
Before PM-602-0199, if you met the legal eligibility requirements, approval was generally expected unless a specific problem surfaced. Under the new framework, you must affirmatively demonstrate that you deserve this benefit. This is a meaningfully higher bar.
To be fair, even if you met every technical requirement — approved petition, current priority date, lawful entry, no criminal record — USCIS officers have always had implicit legal authority to exercise discretion. Until now, though, that authority was rarely exercised in routine cases. PM-602-0199 changes that by directing officers to actively weigh the “totality of the circumstances” in every case. The memo specifically identifies factors on both sides of the ledger.
Factors that can count against you:
Factors that can work in your favor:
Critically, the memo states that the absence of negative factors is not enough on its own. If you entered on a temporary visa and stayed to adjust rather than returning home to consulate process, USCIS appears to require “unusual or even outstanding equities” to overcome that.
While every applicant will now face greater scrutiny, not every applicant faces equal exposure. The situations that carry the greatest risk under the new policy include but are not limited to scenarios where:
This is a question clients across Edison, Metuchen, and Middlesex County have been asking.
PM-602-0199 applies to all pending I-485 applications, including those filed before May 21, 2026. USCIS officers reviewing cases that have been waiting for months — or even years — will apply this new calculus before rendering a final decision.
Yes, directly. Marriage-based adjustment of status cases fall squarely within the scope of PM-602-0199, and they are often the type of cases with the most complicated histories — prior overstays, prior visa denials, complicated entry records, gaps in status.
If you are married to a U.S. citizen or green card holder and filing an I-485, your application now needs to do more than check off the eligibility boxes. It needs to affirmatively demonstrate that a favorable discretionary outcome is warranted. That means presenting documentation of the genuineness of your relationship, your ties to the community, your employment and moral character history, and any other positive equity that supports your case — such as how you will benefit the economy or serve the national interest of the U.S.
PM-602-0199 specifically acknowledges that not everyone who adjusts status is doing something contrary to Congressional intent. The memo notes that applying for adjustment of status is “not inconsistent with simultaneously maintaining nonimmigrant status in a category with dual intent.”
H-1B and L-1 visa holders are in dual-intent categories, meaning they are permitted to hold a nonimmigrant visa while pursuing permanent residence. Those applicants are in a meaningfully different position than someone who came on a B-2 tourist visa and then filed for a green card. That being said, the memo does indicate that maintaining lawful status on a dual-intent visa does not, in and of itself, warrant a favorable exercise of discretion.
Does PM-602-0199 mean USCIS will deny more green card applications?
Possibly. There is not enough empirical evidence yet because the memo just came out and many cases are apparently on hold pending further guidance as well as responses to Requests for Evidence.
I entered on a tourist visa years ago. Can I still adjust status?
It depends on your specific circumstances. Some people in that situation remain eligible; others may need to pursue consular processing instead. The memo does not automatically disqualify anyone — but your entry history and what happened afterward will be weighed carefully. This is exactly the kind of case that needs attorney review before filing.
Does this affect employment-based green card applicants?
Yes. PM-602-0199 applies to adjustment of status broadly, not just family-based cases. Employment-based applicants in dual-intent categories like H-1B have some protection, but even those cases require a full affirmative showing that approval is warranted.
What This Means for Immigrants in Edison, Metuchen, and Middlesex County
New Jersey is home to one of the largest and most diverse immigrant populations in the country. Edison, Metuchen, and the surrounding Middlesex County communities — Woodbridge, Piscataway, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, and beyond — are home to tens of thousands of foreign-born families with pending or upcoming adjustment of status cases.
This policy does not make it impossible to adjust status in New Jersey, nor does it prohibit filing for adjustment of status, as some news outlets have misstated. But it does make the quality and presentation of your application — and the experience of your attorney — more important than ever.
If you have questions about how USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 affects your case, contact our office to schedule a consultation. We represent clients in Edison, Metuchen, Woodbridge, Piscataway, South Brunswick, North Brunswick, and throughout New Jersey.