If you’re a Kenyan currently living in the US on an H-1B, F-1, L-1, or similar temporary visa and planning to apply for your green card without leaving the country, a policy change from May 2026 may have just upended that plan. Here’s exactly what changed, why it matters, and what to do if it affects you.
The Quick Answer
On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199, reframing Adjustment of Status — the process that lets someone already in the US apply for a green card without returning home — as a discretionary benefit rather than a routine option. In practice, this shifts the default pathway for most temporary visa holders toward consular processing: leaving the US and completing your green card interview at a US embassy abroad, in your case, at the embassy in Nairobi. This applies not just to new applications but to cases that were already pending when the memo was issued.
What Actually Changed
For decades, someone in the US on a valid temporary visa with an approved immigrant petition could generally file Form I-485 and complete their green card process domestically, without an interruption to their life in the US. The new policy treats this as “a matter of extraordinary discretion and administrative grace,” reserved for exceptional circumstances rather than assumed as available to anyone who technically qualifies.
Under the new framework, USCIS officers are directed to weigh the full picture of an applicant’s circumstances — not just whether they meet the legal requirements, but a broader set of positive and negative factors, including close US family relationships, community ties, and contributions to the country, versus any negative factors in their history. Immigration attorneys have described this as effectively requiring applicants to build what’s being called a “discretionary packet” — organized evidence supporting why staying and adjusting status domestically is the right outcome for their specific case, rather than simply meeting the paperwork requirements.
Who This Affects Most
- H-1B, L-1, and other work visa holders with a pending or planned green card case who assumed they could stay in the US throughout the process.
- F-1 students who transitioned to work visas and were planning the same domestic adjustment path as part of their long-term US career plans.
- TN visa holders specifically face a sharper problem — since TN status isn’t a “dual intent” visa category, having a pending or denied adjustment of status application can conflict with renewing TN work authorization, creating a genuine bind for affected individuals in that category.
- Marriage-based applicants are affected too, alongside a separate 2026 change reinstating mandatory in-person interviews for all marriage-based green card cases and requiring the medical exam (Form I-693) to be submitted at the time of initial filing rather than brought later to the interview.
The Real Risk: Getting Stuck Abroad
If your case pushes you toward consular processing, one risk worth taking seriously is what happens after you leave the US for your immigrant visa interview. Cases occasionally require additional administrative processing — background and security checks that can take weeks or months — during which the applicant remains outside the US, unable to return to their job, home, or family in the interim. For someone with an established life and career in the US, this is a materially different risk profile than applying domestically, where you generally continue working and living normally while your case processes.
There is a partial safety valve: applicants from countries currently subject to immigrant visa travel restrictions, or those with other genuinely compelling circumstances, may have a stronger case for staying domestic — but USCIS hasn’t published a clear, specific list of what qualifies as “extraordinary circumstances,” leaving this to case-by-case officer discretion.
What to Do If This Affects You
- Don’t make irreversible decisions based on assumptions about how this policy will be interpreted — it’s new, actively being applied, and could be clarified, narrowed, or challenged in the coming months.
- If you have a pending I-485, get an immigration attorney’s read on your specific case before your next filing deadline or biometrics appointment, rather than assuming your case will proceed as it would have before May 2026.
- If you’re planning to file soon, start building a genuine “positive factors” record early — documented close family ties to US citizens or residents, community involvement, and professional contributions are all things that take time to properly document, not something to assemble the week before filing.
- If your case may be pushed toward consular processing in Nairobi, factor in the realistic possibility of an extended stay outside the US during administrative processing, and plan your work and family situation accordingly rather than assuming a quick in-and-out interview.
- Watch official channels directly — the USCIS Policy Manual updates page and reporting from established immigration law firms are more reliable than social media speculation on a policy this new and unsettled.
How This Connects to What Else Is Happening in 2026
This policy shift lands in the middle of a genuinely turbulent year for US immigration policy more broadly — alongside the ongoing pause on Diversity Visa issuance and a separate April 2026 fee restructuring that raised costs across most green card categories. If you’re navigating any part of this system right now, it’s worth treating 2026 as a year requiring more caution and professional guidance than usual, not a year to rely on how the process “used to work.”
See our companion guides for the fuller picture: the Diversity Visa Lottery suspension, the F-1 to Green Card path for Kenyan students, and the general Green Card process and current fees — though note that the adjustment-of-status option described in that general guide is exactly what this policy shift has now made discretionary rather than routine.
A Necessary Disclaimer
This article explains a genuinely new and still-unsettled policy change based on the best available reporting at the time of writing. It is not legal advice. Given how recently this memo was issued and how much is still being interpreted through officer discretion, individual case outcomes will vary significantly. If you have a pending or planned green card application affected by this, speak to a licensed US immigration attorney about your specific situation as soon as possible, rather than relying on general guidance like this article for case-specific decisions.
Bottom Line
The assumption that adjusting status from inside the US is a routine option for temporary visa holders no longer safely holds as of May 2026. If you’re a Kenyan on a US work or student visa with green card plans, this is a moment to get informed and get professional advice quickly, not to wait and see — the stakes of misjudging your options here include real risk of extended separation from your life and work in the US.
This article reflects USCIS policy and reporting as of the most recent available information. Given how actively this policy is still being interpreted, always verify current guidance directly at uscis.gov before making decisions.
