The Trump administration is weighing a new policy that would toughen the path to green cards and other immigration benefits for applicants from nations included in the president’s travel ban, according to internal Department of Homeland Security documents. The proposal would give immigration officials broader discretion to deny applications based on national origin, marking a potential shift toward tighter vetting of people from those countries.
According to draft materials reviewed by The New York Times, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would treat “country-specific factors” tied to President Donald Trump’s travel ban as “significant negative factors” when processing a wide range of immigration applications. While some categories may be exempt, the language signals a clear shift toward heightened scrutiny based on an applicant’s country of origin. The policy has not been officially adopted yet and is still undergoing final revisions.
If implemented, the move would widen the administration’s efforts to restrict immigration from countries it claims do not have reliable systems for verifying identity and security information. It could also affect people who have lived legally in the United States for years, making it harder for them to extend their status or secure permanent residency simply because of where they were born.
This move is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to further restrict legal immigration. Just last month, officials lowered the cap on refugee admissions for the current fiscal year, shutting the door on thousands escaping conflict and persecution. At the same time, the administration indicated it would reserve a portion of those limited slots for predominantly white Afrikaner South Africans, drawing criticism over concerns of selective prioritization.
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The policy shift follows a June order by President Trump expanding the travel ban to 12 nations, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. The ban blocks entry for citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, affecting both new applicants and those seeking to renew or adjust their status in the United States.
In addition to the full bans, the order also placed partial limitations on travelers from seven more countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. People from these nations are blocked from obtaining permanent entry and are restricted from qualifying for certain types of visas, further tightening the scope of legal immigration options.
Defending the expanded restrictions in June, President Trump said the recent attack on U.S. soil “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.” He also argued that individuals from certain countries were more likely to overstay their visas, justifying the need for tighter controls.
The administration also built in a few exemptions. Individuals who already hold valid visas or permanent residency would not be affected. The policy would also allow athletes traveling to the U.S. for the 2026 World Cup or the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, along with Afghans eligible for the Special Immigrant Visa program, a category created for those who assisted the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan.
In the draft materials, immigration officials noted that some governments do not provide sufficient security or identity information needed for thorough vetting. In certain cases, the agency said, countries lack reliable systems for issuing passports and official documents, making it harder for U.S. authorities to verify whether applicants from those places are eligible for immigration benefits.
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According to the draft, the policy would cover applications for green cards, asylum, parole and other cases that require a “discretionary analysis,” meaning immigration officers would weigh both favorable and unfavorable factors before making a decision. It would not apply to citizenship applications.
Immigration policy analysts said the exact implementation remains unclear, but they voiced concern that people could face denials not because of their individual merits, but because of their nationality. They warned that tying immigration outcomes to a person’s country of origin could reshape long-standing principles of the system.
“Having something that applies to you based on your country is absurd,” said Doug Rand, a senior official at USCIS during the Biden administration. “This is a radical change.”
Rand pointed out that the policy would still affect individuals who have already passed security checks and are legally living in the United States, underscoring that these applicants are not new arrivals but people who have been previously cleared by the government.
“Now they’re trying to reach inside the United States and overturn the settled expectations of people who have already been here,” he said. “This is an escalation of the Trump administration’s attack on legal immigration.”
Michael Valverde, a former senior official at USCIS with more than 20 years of experience, noted that the agency has always faced challenges verifying documents from countries with weaker security and identification systems. But he said treating those hard-to-verify documents as a specific negative factor in immigration decisions marks a significant departure from past practice.
“It will be telling if people actually are able to overcome the negative or if this is a de facto ban for people from the listed locations,” Valverde said.