Biden Revokes Trump Visa Ban Affecting Thousands of Green Card Applicants

By Joshua Summers Feb 25 2021, 01:36 AM EST

Biden Revokes Trump Visa Ban Affecting Many Green Card Applicants — President Joe Biden (L) talks with newly sworn in Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before signing several executive orders directing immigration actions for his administration in the Oval Office at the White House on February 02, 2021 in Washington, DC. Doug Mills-Pool

President Joe Biden has revoked certain visa bans issued under former President Donald Trump's administration that blocked many green card applicants outside the United States from entering the country.

Trump ordered to halt the immigration process of the family members of current U.S. citizens and residents last spring, saying it was needed to protect American workers amid high unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Dec. 31, the former president extended those orders until the end of March.

In his proclamation on Wednesday, Biden said that Trump's order blocking green card applicants does not advance the country's interests.

"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," Biden noted.

Biden added that it also harms industries in the U.S. that "utilize talent from around the world," The Hill reported.

Visa Ban on Diversity Green Card Lottery Recipients

Although it did not lift the restrictions on temporary work visas, Politico reported that Biden lifted the visa ban that kept hundreds of diversity green card lottery recipients out.

The diversity visa lottery program is intended to bring in immigrants from underrepresented countries who do not have family or employers in the U.S. to sponsor them.

Each year, a total of 55,000 green cards are available through the lottery. The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the idea of the visa lottery and always wanted to end it.

According to a France24 report, Biden's proclamation comes days after thousands of diversity green card lottery winners at risk of having their visas expire won a court order. The court's decision put their visas on hold. But with Biden's proclamation, they will now be allowed to use their visas to enter the country.

According to Biden, Trump's order is causing "harm to individuals who were selected to receive the opportunity to apply for," and also "those who have likewise received, immigrant visas through the Fiscal Year 2020 Diversity Visa Lottery."

Immigrants Affected by the Previous Visa Ban

According to several immigration lawyers, most immigrant visas were blocked by the Trump orders. The American Immigrant Lawyers Association noted that as many as 120,000 family-based preference visas were lost, mostly due to the pandemic-related visa freeze in 2020.

Immigrants could not bring their family members to the U.S. unless they were American citizens applying for visas for their spouses or children below 21 years old.

France24 reported that it also banned entry to immigrants with employment-based visas unless they were considered beneficial to the national interest, such as health care workers.

California immigration lawyer Curtis Morrison, who represented thousands of people blocked by the visa ban, said the blocked visas add to an increasing backlog that has reached 437,000 for family-based visas alone.

Morrison noted that he's now thrilled that his clients can now enter the U.S. However, he said that the backlog would take years if the administration does not take ambitious measures.