The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has clarified that not all immigrants seeking green cards will be required to return to their home country to make such applications.

“This was just a reminder to officers of their discretionary authority, which has always existed on a case-by-case basis,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the New York Times. The spokesperson, declining to provide a name, explained that people who overstay visas or come from countries whose citizens are heavy users of public assistance are likely to be impacted.

The remarks appeared to be a partial U-turn by the Trump administration, since the US Citizenship and Immigration Services had earlier stated that individuals seeking permanent residency would have to return to their home countries to await their green cards. The memo had sparked instant backlash from US Democrat lawmakers and immigration lawyers who said the move would lead to chaos, citing family separations and increased expenses.

The DHS explained that the USCIS memo of May 22 was not a blanket change and that it would be up to individual immigration officers to decide whether someone should be forced to go abroad to gain a green card.

According to the NYT, some immigration attorneys said that USCIS officers had already begun questioning applicants, reportedly asking them to justify why they were seeking green cards from within the US and whether any obstacles prevented them from applying from their native countries.

Industry leaders warned that the policy could create significant disruption for technology companies that depend on foreign professionals working on temporary visas, many of whom aspire to obtain permanent residency and eventually become US citizens.

In a post on X, Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera and an adjunct computer science professor at Stanford University, had described the measure as “an arbitrary blow to legal immigration.” He argued that it would negatively affect families, reduce the number of skilled professionals such as doctors, teachers and scientists, and weaken the United States' competitive edge in artificial intelligence.

About 14 lakh green cards were granted in 2024, with more than 8.2 lakh approved for people inside the country through a process called “adjustment of status”, according to Department of Homeland Security data.

Over the past two decades, more than 500,000 people have received green cards via adjustment of status each year, except for in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to estimates, over 30,000 Indian H1B visa holders become due for green cards every year.

Despite the assurances, immigration lawyers have been counselling a wait and watch approach to see how the changes actually unfold.

According to Sanjeev Joshipura, Executive Director, Indiaspora, a non-profit organisation, Indian origin immigrants and their families constitute 1.5 per cent of the US population but pay six per cent of the taxes. Sixty per cent of US hotels are owned by Indian immigrants, creating four million jobs.

Joshipura said the move would lead to fewer highly skilled, foreign-born guest workers and their families applying for green cards and embarking on a path to US citizenship.

During US secretary of state Marco Rubio's recent visit to India, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had cautioned that legal professional mobility should not become "collateral damage" of Washington's broader immigration crackdown.

In response, Rubio defended the administration's policy overhaul, framing the disruption as a temporary "period of adjustment" and admitting "there’s going to be some bumps on that road." He emphasised that the global reforms are not specifically targeting Indian tech workers, but are instead a necessary domestic response to a massive migratory crisis.