According to a draft obtained by the The New York Times, the Biden administration plans to significantly expand the legal immigration system. Much of the plans include ways to undo the efforts by former President Donald J. Trump, who reduced legal immigration of foreign workers, families and refugees, while also putting up both procedural and more physical barriers to entry. The Biden plan calls for easier methods to immigrate to the United States. Forms will become shorter and processes simpler, while many applicants will have fewer hurdles to jump over. Foreigners will have better opportunities to join their loved ones and more chances to secure work visas.
Under Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, the average time it took to approve employer-sponsored green cards doubled. The backlog for citizenship applications is up 80 percent since 2014, to more than 900,000 cases. Approval for the U-visa program, which grants legal status for immigrants willing to help the police, has gone from five months to roughly five years. In almost every case over the last four years, immigrating to the United States has become harder, more expensive and takes longer. The blueprint which is dated May 3 is titled “D.H.S. Plan to Restore Trust in Our Legal Immigration System,” and lists many initiatives intended to reopen the country to more immigrants.
