Trump’s Marriage Green Card SLOWDOWN: Everything You Need To Know!

Now that Trump is president again, what does this mean for marriage-based green cards and how much longer will it take? The last time he was in office, the wait time to get an approval for a marriage green card went up by nearly 50%.

So I'm going to explain to you what changes to expect and how to protect your case and as a bonus, I will break down the processing times that you can expect both inside and outside the United States, so stay tuned.

Expected USCIS Policy Changes

Okay, so what marriage-based green card changes can we expect underneath Trump 2.0 and how much could this slow down your case? First, understand this, he is not just trying to reduce illegal immigration. He wants to reduce all immigration and his favorite way to do this is by saying that any changes are about national security. This lets him treat all immigrants like criminals while claiming he is protecting Americans.

This way he gets to look like a hero while it makes it even harder for you to get your loved one legal immigration status. For example, one policy that is definitely coming back are mandatory interviews. Under the Biden administration, USCIS had been waiving many green card interviews in order to help speed up the backlog and make processing times faster.

If an application had strong evidence indicating that the marriage was real, then USCIS would tend to approve it without requiring the applicants to appear for an in-person appointment. But Trump will put an end to this just like he did last time. It doesn't matter that USCIS officers are trained to spot fake marriages. Trump will make every immigrant come in for an interview because fraud and these interviews won't just become routine, they'll become longer and more intense.

USCIS officers will assume you're committing fraud and it'll be up to you to prove otherwise. You can expect more detailed questions about your marriage, more videotaped interviews, and more Stokes interviews. For those who don't know, a Stokes interview is where both you and your spouse are separated yet ask the exact same questions to see how you respond.

They'll compare your lives and ask you questions such as:

• "How often do you eat out?"
• "What is the last movie you saw together?"
• "Who sleeps on what side of the bed?"

Then they'll compare answers to see if they match up. So, between mandatory interviews, longer questioning, and higher levels of scrutiny, the marriage green card process is about to get a lot more tough.

Shortly after returning to office, President Trump announced his enhanced vetting policy, which requires USCIS to screen all immigrants to the maximum degree possible. Mandatory interviews are a part of this policy, but so are increased requests for evidence.

During his first term, Trump used the excuse of preventing immigration fraud as a reason to flood applicants with unnecessary RFEs and requests, making the process even slower. They often demanded things such as:

• Detailed financial information
• Including your income and assets
• Additional proof of you and your spouse living together
• More photos and messages showing your relationship over time
• More up-to-date versions of documents that you have already provided

Marriage green card applicants can expect the same thing around this time. You'll likely face a higher bar to proving that your marriage is real, and if USCIS decides that your evidence is not enough, you can expect an RFE in the mail.

Okay, this new policy was one of the other reasons that the Trump administration denied many green card applications, and this was the public charge rule. In 2019, his administration changed this rule so that it became easier to deny green cards.

They didn't just look to see if you had used government benefits in the past, but they used a complicated formula and series of questions to try to predict that you might use them in the future.

To do that, they looked at things like your age and health, your family size, your English language ability, your work and school history, your money situation, including your credit score, and your health insurance and if they decided that you were too old or unskilled, not educated enough, or not wealthy enough, they could deem you to be a public charge and deny your green card as a result.

In fact, many immigrants called this the wealth test because money played a huge role in determining whether or not you could go through the process and get approved. The rules are that your income had to be above the federal poverty guidelines for your household size by 125%, which is currently about $26,562 for a family of two and $40,187 for a family of four.

If you didn't meet this number, along with the other factors listed above, then your marriage case could be denied. But what really slowed down the application process for the government, as well as for applicants filing, was the actual form itself of the I-944 Affidavit of Self-Sufficiency. This was an 18-page form that the Trump administration created to basically administer the wealth test that I just mentioned above.

Not only did every marriage green card applicant have to fill out this 18-page form, but they also had to attach hundreds and hundreds of pages of financial records, evidence, school records, and other items in order to satisfy the documentary requirements of this application.

It asked for things such as:

• Your health history
• Your financial status
• Your personal assets
• Details on all of your family members
• Your education history
• Your employment history
• And much more

This form is likely to make a comeback, adding more paperwork and making every case take longer.

Another way the first Trump administration slowed down legal immigration was by cutting staffing at USCIS. His policies significantly reduced legal immigration, and USCIS, which is almost exclusively funded by applicant filing fees, began to run out of money. They went from having $790 million in 2017 to having a negative balance in 2019 and without money, you can't hire staff.

Now Trump is already reducing the USCIS staff again in his second term. Shortly after taking office, he announced a federal hiring freeze. He also ordered all federal office workers back to the office, hoping that some would quit rather than return in person and since there are already not enough officers to review immigration applications, a decreased number of officers will cause the processing times to crawl to a further slower speed.

Like I mentioned before, all of these changes resulted in a 50% increase in a slowdown of USCIS processing times. Back in 2016, under Obama, the median processing time for a family-based application was 6.1 months. By 2020, under Trump, it increased to 9.3 months. Then COVID came and more immigration backlogs, and this timeline became even longer.

So right now, if you're married to a U.S. citizen and you file for a green card-based adjustment to status application, your case will take an average of 14.5 months. Once Trump restarts his unpopular policies, expect these processing times to jump up even higher and become longer on your case and if you are applying for an immigrant visa from outside the U.S., your case could end up taking years and the reason why your immigrant visa could end up taking longer are for the very same reasons.

Expect a cut down of staff of Department of State, expect increased scrutiny by consular officers, expect increased requirements for documentation, and expect higher scrutiny, including the wealth test.

What Can You Do?

So how can you protect your case during Trump's second administration? First, file as soon as possible. Get your application in before these processing times become even longer and slow down more.

Second, prepare a rock-solid application. Make sure your case is packed with evidence, even if your marriage is real. Don't give USCIS a reason to send you an RFE. Although I must add, no matter what you add in your case, you may still get an RFE anyway, because that is how USCIS plays.

If you want to learn how to put together a great application, I have put together a video with valuable information on how to prove that your marriage is bona fide.

Third, prepare for tough interview questions. USCIS officers will be extra strict, so you and your spouse should practice answering detailed questions about your relationship and history together.

Fourth, make sure that you are financially stable. Your income should be at least 125% of the federal poverty guideline level, and if it's not, then you should definitely work on obtaining documentation from a joint sponsor.

Fifth, triple check every single piece of paper and piece of information that you file with USCIS to make sure that it is accurate. The Trump administration is not going to give you the benefit of the doubt, so it's important that your application is perfect.

Sixth, stay informed. One way you can do that is by subscribing to my channel. I'll be making videos on these changes as soon as they occur, so you can follow me to stay up to date. Some marriage cases will face even tougher scrutiny underneath Trump.

If there's a red flag in your relationship, you need to know what it is and how to be on the offense about proving that your marriage is real. I'll break down all of the red flags in my video, "Marriage Green Card Red Flags That Will Destroy Your Case."

I'll include a link to that video above, so click to watch next, and I'll see you there.