The Biden administration has successfully lifted the U.S. entry ban imposed on legal immigrants by former President Trump. This will now allow entry for over thousands of qualified and eligible non-U.S. residents into the U.S.
The entry ban was imposed on green card holders outside the U.S. and on non-immigrant work visa holders for the better part of 2020 starting end of April 2020. Just before leaving office, President Trump extended the ban until March 31, 2021.
Contrary to Trump’s claim that these lawful immigrants posed a risk to the U.S. labor market, President Biden said, “To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here. It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world,”
What Was The Green Card Entry Ban: On April 22, 2020 President Trump signed an executive orderrestricting entry of new green card applicants.
What Was The H1-B Entry Ban: By June 24, 2020, he signed another proclamation restricting entry of H, L, J visa holders and their dependents who were outside of the US as of the date of the proclamation going into effect.
Who All Can Enter The U.S. After The Entry Ban Has Been Lifted?
Highly-skilled foreign workers on a non-immigrant visa
- H1-B: skilled foreign worker visas
- H2-B: seasonal worker visas
- J1: cultural & work exchange visas
- L1: intra-company transfer visas
- All eligible dependents of the above visa holders
- Approved EB-5 visa holders
- All qualifying F1 international student visa holders
Family-based green card applicants who qualified for a U.S. green card after having applied for it from their home country but were unable to enter the U.S.
- New Green Card holders who are currently outside of the US and coming in on an immigrant visa
- Immediate relatives of US citizens applying for family based green cards
- Green Card holders who are outside of the country and do not possess all required travel documents like Form I-131, Re-entry Permit
- Those green card holders who require an advance parole to enter the US
- Green Card holders who have been outside the US for over a year and need Form N-470, Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes.
- Those applying for PERM or LCA’s from outside the US
- Applicants adjusting their status through consular processing
- Applications for Diversity Lottery
Thanks to the rescission of this travel ban, many highly skilled workers outside of the country, including engineers, IT specialists and architects can now enter the U.S. to support its economy and help with the recovery from the Covid pandemic.
Families who were separated for over a year, will be reunited based on who qualified for the family-based green cards. Over 120,000 family-based preference visas were lost because of this ban.
Diversity lottery green card holders just won a court order in their favor wherein their expiring visas were put on hold by a judge. Thanks to President Biden’s reversal of this green entry ban, they will be allowed to use their visas to enter the country lawfully.
President Biden recently also lifted the long ban imposed on travelers from over 7 Muslim countries.
As a final piece, Biden is planning to limit presidential authority to issue future bans against immigrants.
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