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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a policy memorandum this Thursday that officially tightens the approach to adjustment of immigration status, the process that allows individuals to obtain permanent residency without leaving the country, and clarifies that meeting technical requirements does not guarantee approval.
The official document PM-602-0199, signed on May 21, 2026, from the Office of the Director in Camp Springs, Maryland, states that adjustment of status "is a matter of discretion and administrative grace, not intended to replace the ordinary consular process for immigrant visas."
The memorandum recalls that courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals have historically characterized this benefit as an "extraordinary relief," and it cites the Supreme Court in the case Patel v. Garland (2022).
"Even an eligible foreigner must persuade the immigration judge that they deserve a favorable exercise of discretion," the document states.
The burden of proof lies with the applicant. According to the memorandum, "the foreigner has the responsibility to demonstrate why administrative discretion should be exercised in their favor."
It also warns that "the absence of negative factors, on its own, does not demonstrate unusual or outstanding equities" sufficient to warrant approval.
USCIS officials will need to scrutinize more rigorously violations of immigration laws, fraud, or false statements made to any government agency, behavior inconsistent with the purpose of the status or parole, and the intention to reside permanently in the United States when the applicant entered with a temporary visa.
The document emphasizes that those who entered under parole or as non-immigrants had the legal expectation of leaving the country once the purpose of their admission was fulfilled, and that seeking status adjustment instead of applying for an immigrant visa from abroad "contravenes that expectation of Congress."
A direct warning for those who maintain legal status in "dual intent" categories. The memorandum clarifies that this "is not sufficient, by itself, to warrant discretionary approval."
The impact on the Cuban community is significant. The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which only Congress can repeal, remains in effect, and the memorandum does not eliminate it.
However, the new emphasis on discretion reinforces an already devastating trend. Residence approvals for Cubans fell by 99.8% between October 2024 and January 2026, dropping from 10,984 in February 2025 to just 15 in January 2026, according to the Cato Institute.
During that same period, detentions by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of Cuban migrants increased by 463%, and in March 2026, attorneys filed aclass action lawsuit against USCIS due to delays affecting over 100,000 Cuban residency applications.
The memorandum was published on the same day that President Trump signed an executive order that requires banks to review the immigration status of their clients, on a day that focused several simultaneous immigration pressure measures.
A final warning from the document itself sets the tone for what is to come. USCIS announces that it will "carefully review the various discretionary status adjustment pathways, as well as specific groups of applicants," and that it may issue additional guidelines for certain immigration categories, which paves the way for even more specific restrictions in the coming months.
Also this Thursday, the State Department revoked the legal permanent residency of Adys Lastres Morera, a Cuban citizen residing in Miami, and sister of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, executive president of Gaesa (Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A.), the powerful financial-military conglomerate of the elite in the island.
The official was sanctioned by the Trump administration on May 7 for her role at the head of that entity. "While the Cuban people suffer from the collapse of Cuba's dysfunctional communist economy, Gaesa operates to allow a small circle of regime elites to plunder all the remaining resources of the island, hiding up to $20 billion in illicit funds in secret bank accounts abroad," emphasized a statement.
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