Unprecedented US crackdown:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a policy memo directing that temporary visa holders (such as students, tourists, and temporary workers) who wish to obtain a U.S. Green Card must now return to their home countries and complete the process through consular processing via the U.S. Department of State.

This sweeping policy ended the longstanding practice of “adjustment of status” from inside the United States, requiring applicants to leave the country while their paperwork is processed abroad, US based sources told The Island, adding that quite a number of Sri Lankans would be affected.

Key details of new policy:

Who it affects: Noncitizens on temporary visas currently living in the U.S. who wish to permanently adjust their status to Lawful Permanent Residents.

Where to apply: Applicants will be required to leave the United States and wait for their applications to be processed at a U.S. embassy or consulate in their country of origin.

Exceptions: USCIS has indicated that adjustment of status from within the U.S. will now only be granted in limited “extraordinary circumstances,” evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Prior Actions: This does not apply to noncitizens who already hold valid, active Green Cards

Annually about a million people apply for green cards and half of those apply from within the U.S. to change their status while they are living here, a former USCIS official said.

Sources said that immigrants seeking a green card will have to leave the country and apply at an embassy or consulate abroad. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said last Friday that people seeking a change in status must do so through consular processing outside of the country “except in extraordinary circumstances”.

This was in line with Trump administration’s efforts to curtail illegal immigration – closes a loophole that had allowed visa holders and visitors to apply for a green card while still in the US, sources said.

Critics of the policy say the longstanding system allowed families to stay together during the lengthy application process.

The new method could also make it difficult or impossible for some immigrants who leave the country in hopes of gaining a green card to return.

The USCIS policy memo states that people such as students, temporary workers or people on tourist visas need to go through the Department of State from outside of the US.

“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the US illegally after being denied residency,” USCIS said, making the system “fairer and more efficient”.

On X, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, said: “The era of abusing our nation’s immigration system is over.”

 “From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement. “When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency.”

The statement said that those who come to America on non-immigrant visas, including students, temporary workers and tourists, are expected to be in the United States for a short time and for a specific purpose.

“Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process,” Kahler said.

“Following the law allows the majority of these cases to be handled by the State Department at U.S. consular offices abroad and frees up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications, and other priorities,” he said in the statement.

He said this process would “make our system fairer and more efficient.”

Former USCIS official Doug Rand said that in a typical year, 1 million people apply for green cards and half of those apply from within the U.S. to change their status while they are living here.

“The purpose of this policy is exclusion,” Rand said in a statement. “Remember that Trump has banned people from over 100 countries from returning to the U.S., so forcing them to go abroad for consular processing is no pathway at all.”

Gold jewellery worth millions of rupees was stolen from the relic chamber of the Hanthana Sandagiri Maha Seya on Saturday.

Police said the suspects fled with the gold ornaments following the burglary at the temple complex.

Three special police teams, supported by K9 units, had been deployed to track down the suspects, HQI Rasika Sampath Pathirana said.

Officers from the Police Intelligence Unit, Crimes Division and the Divisional Crime Investigation Unit have also been deployed to trace the gang responsible for the theft.

The investigation is being carried out under the supervision of Senior DIG Lalith Pathinayake, DIG Sudath Masinghe and SSP Anuruddha Bandara Hakmana.

by SK Samaranayake

A Sectoral Oversight Committee of Parliament has decided to seek the assistance of the German, Japanese and Chinese Embassies in Sri Lanka, as well as the Indian High Commission, to secure training opportunities for local officials on new technologies used in power plants in those countries. The decision was announced at a recent meeting of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Agriculture and Resource Sustainability, chaired by Member of Parliament Hector Appuhamy.

The Committee also appointed a subcommittee to investigate the environmental impact of the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant and submit recommendations. The subcommittee will be chaired by Member of Parliament Bhagya Sri Herath.

Officials representing the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Power and Energy, and the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, along with several other institutions, participated in the discussions.

During the meeting, attention was focused on the environmental impact arising from the operations of the Norochcholai Lakvijaya Power Plant, the parties responsible for addressing the issues, and whether there had been shortcomings on the part of the relevant institutions.

Following extensive discussions, the Committee decided to appoint the subcommittee to conduct a further investigation and provide recommendations aimed at mitigating environmental concerns linked to the power plant.

Committee Chairman Hector Appuhamy said the proposed discussions with the German, Japanese and Chinese diplomatic missions and the Indian High Commission were intended to facilitate training programmes for Sri Lankan officials on modern technologies used in thermal power generation and environmental management.