marriage-based immigration – For years, spouses of U.S. citizens were treated as a relatively sheltered immigration category. Under the Trump administration’s rapid tightening of legal immigration, lawyers and affected families say those marriage-based cases now face heavier scrutiny, new
On paper, marriage has long been a door into the U.S. immigration system. In practice, families say that door now opens into a maze—slower, more closely watched, and far less reassuring for non-citizen spouses who thought they were, in their own words, somewhat protected.
The Trump administration’s effort to slow legal migration has spread to a group often described as uniquely positioned under U.S. immigration law: spouses of U.S. citizens. Since President Trump returned to the White House last year. the administration has implemented multiple policy changes. including a pause on immigrant visas for people from 75 countries. greater scrutiny of applicants at green card interviews. and an expanded scope of who can be targeted for deportation.
Lawyers and families interviewed for this coverage say the effects have included separation from American partners, fear of engaging with the immigration system, and an increasing reluctance to move forward—particularly when detention becomes a real possibility.
“Life has become a lot more difficult for Americans who are married to somebody who is not born in this country. ” said Ashley DeAzevedo. executive director of American Families United. an organization that advocates for U.S. citizen spouses and immediate family members of those involved in immigration processes. DeAzevedo said the organization’s membership has grown over the last year as more people have been affected by the administration’s policy changes. She described roughly 1.4 million people seeking the group’s support inside the U.S. and about 300. 000 outside the country—made up of people who have left the U.S. as well as those who want to come in.
“We saw so many of our members make the decision to self-deport. to leave the country for fear of this indefinite detention. ” DeAzevedo said. “We saw some members who had their spouses detained — and that was something we had not experienced previously because there was always this prioritization of who was going to be detained.”.
Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the U.S. government has always vetted and scrutinized immigrants who sought to stay through marriage. But she argued that, historically, spouses of U.S. citizens were generally not swept into the broader enforcement efforts.
“This group of individuals have always had a special place under the law,” Dheini said. “Spouses of U.S. citizens aren’t subject to the immigrant quotas. They don’t have a cap. Spouses of U.S. citizens don’t [have to have maintained] their legal status here in order to adjust. And so the law has considered them to be a privileged class.
“But this administration is treating them like all other immigrants.”
The administration, for its part, says it is simply applying the rules more aggressively. USCIS said prior presidents should also have scrutinized marriage-related applications more closely and that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is complying with the law.
In a statement to NPR, USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said verifying identities and personal histories of everyone seeking immigration benefits—such as a green card or citizenship—requires a rigorous process designed to prioritize safety.
He said just marrying a U.S. citizen and beginning the petition process does not protect someone from deportation.
“A pending or approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, does not confer any immigration status. All aliens are expected to comply with U.S. immigration laws,” Kahler said. “Those who entered without inspection or who remain in the United States beyond their permitted stay are illegal aliens who may be subject to immigration enforcement action.”.
The practical stakes show up in families trying to plan lives around dates they can’t control. Immediate family sponsorship—including for spouses and fiancés—is one of the main ways U.S. citizens interact with the immigration system. Homeland Security Department data released from 2024 shows about 343. 000 people received green cards through their spouses—roughly a quarter of all green card approvals. For about a decade, the number has hovered between 200,000 and 340,000.
When other immediate family members who can sponsor immigrants—like children and parents—are included. the pathway’s scale expands further. underscoring how central marriage and family ties are to the broader green card pipeline. The average processing time for each petition was 13 months for family members and seven months for fiancés. and Dheini said these timelines were largely in line with wait times from early 2025. before Trump’s policies took effect.
In the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, 167,401 immediate family relative petitions were approved and 8,612 fiancé petitions were approved. The number of petitions approved has generally increased and decreased across administrations.
But the data on approvals doesn’t capture what families say can happen when other parts of the administration’s migration crackdown intersect with marriage.
The delays and uncertainty can be especially harsh for people subject to visa holds tied to country-of-origin restrictions. One account described Es, a green card holder married to a U.S. citizen. Es was born in one of the 39 countries subject to the travel ban to the U.S. a pause that went into effect last year. She has been in the U.S. for three decades, but her application for citizenship filed last year has not yet been reviewed.
There is no exception to the travel ban, even for spouses of U.S. military members.
The last few months, family members said, have thrown the couple’s plans into chaos. “We are due to [move] to Germany. ” Es said. speaking on the condition of anonymity because her husband is in the Army and her immigration case is pending. “We were actually due to leave in July but had to push it to October to see if we can get [my citizenship] done.”.
Now they are also weighing what happens with their house they own, whether they would have to travel separately, and what Es’s lack of citizenship means for their two young U.S. citizen children and their belongings.
“That’ll mess up his readiness [for military service],” Es said in an interview. “He’ll be thousands of miles away and he has to think about his job and will be worried about us and that is just not fair.”
A federal judge ruled the pause was unlawful, but Es’s case has still not moved.
“This is not impacting people who have done anything wrong. This is impacting everyone,” she said.
Her experience is not limited to the travel ban itself. Several people told NPR that delays at consulates are also adding pressure, leaving some spouses or fiancés without any legal status at all.
“They often are no longer in status,” Dheini said, describing how people marry U.S. citizens and then fall out of status—whether they entered legally and then their status expired. or whether their status was terminated. including in cases involving temporary protected status. “And then there’s extra scrutiny being applied to them now,” she added, pointing to USCIS’s approach to all applications.
Even for those inside the system, the atmosphere—family advocates say—has changed. Advocates argue the recent policy changes have increased scrutiny across immigration applications while also reducing families’ willingness to engage with the government.
They said USCIS officers are instructed to conduct more interviews, and that a memo last month encouraged officers to consider whether someone had returned to their home country to apply for a green card. Those who stay in the U.S., advocates said, may face longer and more intrusive vetting.
The administration has also asked financial institutions to review the bank accounts of those in the U.S. without permanent status.
Eric Welsh. an immigration attorney in California. said clients must now prepare for detailed questions about when and how they applied for a green card. including evidence of “good moral character” and other information—requirements he said were not previously required for those seeking permanent residency or citizenship through marriage.
“What’s important to keep in mind is that spouses are vulnerable,” Welsh said. He emphasized that although there are pathways that can lead to a green card or citizenship, “it’s not guaranteed.”
“There’s no absolute right to remain and there’s no absolute right to be afforded adjustment to status. And so I think that’s something that most people don’t commonly understand, especially not the U.S. citizens.”
DeAzevedo and Welsh said they have seen families hesitate to move forward.
“[This] has had an absolute chilling effect on many people in this country and their desire to put their spouse in that position,” DeAzevedo said.
What has changed, the advocates argue, is not the existence of scrutiny—U.S. immigration has always been rigorous. What families say is new is the sense that marriage no longer works as a reliable buffer. and that the consequences of the administration’s broader crackdown can follow non-citizen spouses right up to the point where a petition would normally feel like a lifeline.
US immigration USCIS I-130 green card naturalization Trump administration marriage-based immigration detention fears travel ban military spouses consular delays American Families United American Immigration Lawyers Association