The question we keep being asked about PM-602-0199 is whether USCIS can actually do this. It is a fair question, and the answer is: partly.
What the agency can do
The memo does not amend the Immigration and Nationality Act. It cannot. Congress sets who may adjust status, and section 245 of the Act says adjustment may be granted in the discretion of the agency. Discretion is written into the statute, so guidance about how to exercise it is on firmer ground than guidance that changes eligibility.
Where the argument lies
Discretion is not unlimited. Agency guidance is generally challenged on two fronts: whether it effectively creates a new binding rule without going through notice and comment, and whether it is applied so rigidly that officers stop making individual decisions at all. Both arguments turn on how the memo is used in practice, not on how it is worded.
That is not hypothetical here. In June 2026 a federal court vacated three other USCIS policies on Administrative Procedure Act grounds, and that case is now on appeal. The pattern matters: policies that direct outcomes rather than guide judgment attract challenges.
What it means while the argument runs
For applicants with straightforward cases, more paperwork and longer interviews. For applicants with complicated entries or prior filings, the stakes are meaningfully higher, because the same facts now meet an officer told to treat the benefit as extraordinary.
Litigation is slow and your filing deadline is not. Prepare the case as though the memo stands, because today it does.
We are tracking litigation on this memo and will update this note as courts weigh in. If you want to know how it affects a specific case rather than in general, that is a consultation rather than an article.