Andrew Ng, the AI entrepreneur and Coursera co-founder, has joined a chorus of Silicon Valley leaders condemning the Trump administration's new green card policy, warning it represents a "capricious attack on legal immigration" that will damage America's ability to compete in artificial intelligence. The policy, announced Friday by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), requires most foreigners seeking permanent residency to leave the United States and apply from their home countries, a dramatic reversal of decades of practice that has allowed immigrants to adjust their status while remaining in the country.

What Is the New Green Card Policy and Who Does It Affect?

The USCIS announced that foreigners seeking permanent residency will now be required to leave the country and apply at a US consulate in their home nation, rather than adjusting their status from within the United States. The new rule applies broadly to any foreigner who entered the US on a temporary non-immigrant visa, including students, employees on H-1B or L visas, and visitors. The US issues approximately one million green cards per year, though roughly half of those cover foreign relatives sponsored by American citizens, applications that are generally already processed outside the country.

USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler stated that the change would allow "our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivising loopholes," and noted that people who "provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path". However, it remains unclear how broadly the administration plans to enforce these restrictions or how many immigrants could ultimately be affected.

Why Are Tech Leaders and AI Researchers So Concerned?

The reaction from the technology and entrepreneurship community has been swift and largely hostile, with prominent figures questioning what the policy would mean for the country's position in the global race for scientific and technological talent. The concern centers on a fundamental threat: if skilled workers must leave the country to complete their green card applications, they may face years-long backlogs in overseas appointment systems, effectively removing them from the US workforce during a critical period of AI development.

"The new White House policy requiring green card applicants to apply from outside the US is a capricious attack on legal immigration. It will hurt families, leave us with fewer doctors, teachers and scientists, and hurt American competitiveness in AI," said Andrew Ng.

Andrew Ng, AI Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Coursera

Ng's concern about AI competitiveness reflects a broader anxiety in Silicon Valley. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, raised the implications directly: "Does this mean AI researchers, employees, and students will now have to leave the country and wait through a backlog process to continue their work? Harmful move for tech, business, and America broadly".

The policy threatens to disrupt the lives of approximately 1.2 million Indian Americans and their families who are currently in the green card application process after following every legal requirement, paying taxes, and waiting for decades. Many of these individuals are skilled workers in technology, healthcare, and scientific research fields where the US faces talent shortages.

How to Understand the Real-World Impact on Immigrants and Families?

• Separation of Families: The policy will force spouses of US citizens and other family members to leave the country while their cases are processed, potentially separating families for weeks, months, or even years during an already strained backlog process.
• Loss of Skilled Workforce: Doctors, teachers, engineers, and scientists currently working in the US will be forced to stop their employment and return to their home countries, removing their expertise and tax contributions from the American economy.
• Impossible Choices for Conflict-Affected Immigrants: Immigrants from Iran, Ukraine, and other conflict-affected regions face a particularly difficult situation, as returning to their home countries may not be a viable or safe option, yet the policy offers no clear exemptions for such cases.

Immigration attorneys have raised additional legal concerns. Elizabeth Goss, an immigration lawyer in Boston, described the new rule in stark terms: "It's another way to try to deport people I believe are not deportable. It's another way to force people out". The American Immigration Lawyers Association noted that successive Republican and Democratic administrations have permitted green card applicants to remain in the US during the process, a practice upheld in repeated court rulings, and called the policy "legally questionable and needlessly chaotic".

David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, pointed out a particularly troubling consequence: "Forcing green card applicants to leave will render many green card applicants ineligible because, when they leave the United States, they will trigger the 3- or 10-year bars on receiving an immigrant visa based on accrual of unlawful presence". This means some applicants could be permanently barred from returning to the US after leaving to comply with the new policy.

What Are Other Tech Leaders Saying About the Policy?

Beyond Ng's warning, the tech industry has mobilized rapidly against the policy. Garry Tan, CEO of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, called the new guidance "bad and misguided," stating: "We need to keep smart people in the country to build the future and build tomorrow's businesses that employ millions of people".

Nick Davidov, founder of Davidovs Venture Collective, a venture capital firm supporting AI founders, questioned the practical implications: "So everyone on a O1 or H1B visa would have to stop working legally in the US, go back to their country and wait for years of backlog? This includes top scientists in our universities, founders of billion dollar companies". Davidov also noted that immigrants such as Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, and Sergey Brin have created some of the country's most valuable companies, suggesting the policy could have prevented such success stories.

"As a scientist and immigrant who loves this country, I cannot think of worse ways to cripple American scientific competitiveness while other countries surge ahead. It is completely pointless," said Ash Jogalekar.

Ash Jogalekar, Senior Project Manager, Microsoft

Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, distinguished between addressing illegal immigration and making it harder for skilled workers: "But I don't understand why we make it harder for motivated, ambitious, hardworking people to come to the land of opportunity".

Yann LeCun, a pioneer in AI research and former Chief AI Scientist at Meta, offered a more succinct response, simply posting "Why?" in response to the announcement. LeCun himself immigrated to the US from France in the late 1980s, making his skepticism particularly pointed.

What Are Lawmakers and Policy Experts Saying?

Congressional Democrats have promised swift action. Congresswoman Grace Meng, chairperson of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, stated: "This reckless policy shows a stunning disregard for the human cost it will impose on hundreds of thousands of people each year. We will pursue every avenue to fight against this reprehensible decision and push for its reversal".

Congressman Joaquin Castro, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, described the policy as "reckless and wrong," adding: "It is reckless and wrong and it will separate husbands and wives, parents and children, and break apart communities. All to fuel the admin's mass deportation machine".

Todd Schulte, president of immigration advocacy group FWD.us, challenged the administration's legal justification: "The Trump administration's claim that this is a return to the original intent of the law is plainly false. This process was expressly created by the Congress and has been affirmed a number of times over decades. This is another abuse of power that they are trying to dictate through a press release rather than going through the legally required process".

David Leopold, a Cleveland-based immigration attorney, placed the announcement in the broader context of the administration's approach to legal immigration: "This administration does not have the votes in Congress to pass a restrictionist law so by decree, by guidance, they are narrowing the ability of the agencies to function. It's one more thing; they're really going after the internal immigration systems".

The policy represents a significant escalation in immigration restrictions and has triggered immediate legal challenges. Multiple groups are expected to file lawsuits challenging the policy, according to Ajay Bhutoria, former White House Advisor to President Biden and immigration advocate. The outcome of these legal battles could determine whether the policy survives or is overturned, but in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of immigrants face uncertainty about their futures in the United States.

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