Trump's new restrictive green card policy starts TODAY as immigrants brace for applications to be denied

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By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT

Published: 18:07 BST, 18 September 2026 | Updated: 19:43 BST, 18 September 2026

The Trump administration's new rules on green card dispersals took effect Friday, allowing federal officials to check whether applicants will need social benefits before approving permanent residency. 

As of Friday, immigrants applying to receive their green cards must include information about whether they already are on social benefits and give information indicating whether they will need them in the future. 

The new criteria will factor into the decision on whether their applications are approved and whether they are allowed to work and live in the US permanently. 

Approximately 1.3 million green card applications were pending as of December 2025, according to the latest US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data.  

Denial rates vary, but are estimated to be between 10 and 16 percent depending on the specific visa category being applied for, according to Alma Immigration.  

The maneuver is just one of many that the Trump administration has pushed to crack down on migration.

According to the new rule from USCIS, applicants will be screened to see if they are deemed a 'public charge,' in essence, whether the migrants have sufficient means to support themselves, or whether they will need taxpayer-funded assistance. 

In 2022, under former President Joe Biden, USCIS, a sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security, lowered the scrutiny on migrants' financial state and potential draw on social benefits during the application process, making it easier for cash-strapped individuals to gain permanent residence. 

The Trump administration's new rule on green card applications went into effect on Friday 

The rule change allows immigration officers to consider a wide array of social benefits applicants recieve when determining whether to grant them permanent residence 

The rule also changes Biden-era policies that restricted officers' ability to weigh benefits migrants receive or are expected to get when processing applications

Trump's change rescinds the Biden-era rule and allows immigration officials to consider a larger scope of public benefits programs when determining whether applicants will become 'public charges.' 

The specific programs that will be weighed in the application process are not specified by name, but rather USCIS 'will consider the receipt of any means-tested public benefits.'

Immigration officials can consider whether the migrants will need SNAP food benefits, Medicaid, housing assistance or many other public subsidies. 

Those agents can also look at the family members of applicants to see what benefits they are receiving before coming to a conclusion on whether to approve the green card applications.  

'DHS is restoring the basic principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves,' the department's X account wrote this year.

'We are reaffirming the requirement of self-reliance, protecting public resources, and ending policies that encouraged dependency on hard-working American taxpayers.'

Critics of the rule have expressed concerns that it may have a chilling effect on migrant applications for social benefits in the US. 

Several Democratic lawmakers introduced the Protect American Values Act to block funding for the rule change in August.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois called the move 'yet another cruel, un-American assault on immigrants and their families.'

A coalition of 22 states and DC, including California and New York, sued the Trump administration this week in an effort to halt the change. 

The coalition has argued they would lose billions in federal funding should migrants unenroll from assistance programs over fears of how they could impact their green card applications.