Under Trump, Spouses of U.S. Citizens Face Policy Changes in the Immigration System

The Trump administration’s sweeping effort to slow down the rate of legal migration has affected a group traditionally immune from such efforts: spouses of U.S. citizens.

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Some non-U.S.-citizen spouses have been separated from their American loved ones and are afraid to engage with the U.S. immigration system, according to lawyers and NPR interviews with affected families.

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The organization’s membership has grown over the last year as more people are affected by the rapid policy changes, she said. Now there are about 1.4 million people seeking the group’s support in 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.

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“This group of individuals have always had a special place under the law,” Dalal-Dheini said. “Spouses of U.S. citizens aren’t subject to the immigrant quotas. They don’t have to 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 says prior presidents should also have scrutinized such marriage-related applications more closely, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is just complying with the law.

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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.”

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Immediate family sponsorship, including for spouses and fiancés, is one of the top ways U.S. citizens interact with the immigration system.

The latest data released by the Homeland Security Department, from 2024, shows that about 343,000 people received their green cards through their spouses — about a quarter of all green-card approvals. For about a decade, the number has hovered somewhere between 200,000 and 340,000 people.

The number of approved green cards doubles when accounting for other immediate family members who can provide sponsorship for immigrants, like children and parents. That suggests how important this pathway is for U.S. citizens and their immigrant family members.

The average processing time for each petition was 13 months for family members, and seven months for fiancés — 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.

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The data may mask other ways noncitizen spouses could be affected. That’s particularly true for those from one of over 70 countries that face holds for a wide range of travel and immigrant visas.

One such case is Es’, a green-card holder married to a U.S. citizen. She was born in one of the 39 countries subject to a travel ban to the U.S., which was implemented last year. The pause means that although she has been in the country for three decades, 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.

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