President Biden on Wednesday revoked the Trump-era suspension of certain immigrant visas that had drastically cut legal immigration to the United States during the coronavirus pandemic.
In promulgating them in April 2020, President Trump said restrictions were needed to prevent new immigrants from competing with American workers in the labor market during the economic recession caused by the pandemic.
Mr. Trump used extensive executive power to prohibit the issuing of certain visas to potential immigrants who wish to move to the US permanently through petitions filed by their family members or prospective employers in the USA. The restrictions also froze the diversity visa lottery, a program that allows immigrants from underrepresented countries, many of them in Africa, to come to the U.S.
Spouses and children up to 21 years old of American citizens were not subject to immigrant visa limits, which also exempted some health professionals who were fighting the pandemic, as well as wealthy immigrants who agreed to invest more than $ 1 million in the States United
In his own proclamation on Wednesday, Biden said the Trump-era immigrant visa ban did not “advance the interests” of the country.
“On the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing some relatives of United States citizens and legal permanent residents from joining their families here,” wrote Biden. “It also hurts industries in the United States that use talent from around the world.”
The Biden government has come under increasing pressure from defenders to rescind Trump’s immigration limits, which were due to expire on March 31. Groups that advocate drastic cuts in legal immigration supported Trump’s bans, arguing that they protected American workers.
Biden’s statement on Wednesday did not lift another set of pandemic-era restrictions that Trump instituted to suspend certain guest worker programs, including H-1B visas, which are popular in the technology industry.
These restrictions, which also suspended visas for au pair, seasonal non-farm workers and other temporary workers, are expected to expire at the end of March.