In the last year since the new Biden Administration took over office, there have been many changes in the immigration system. Many for the better and many that were very discriminatory. Many in which include, according to Immigration Impact, the following;
- Repealed Trump’s discriminatory ban on the entry into the United States of people from several Muslim-majority or African countries on January 20.
- Revoked the Trump administration’s requirement that all applications for visas (and for the U.S. refugee program) be subject to “extreme vetting” on February 4. This requirement had subjected many visa applicants to invasive and unnecessary additional screening that is partly responsible for growing processing delays.
- Rescinded Trump’s COVID-19 immigrant visa ban on February 24 and allowed his COVID-19 non-immigrant visa ban to expire on March 31. These bans used the pandemic as an excuse to enact sweeping restrictions on legal immigration.
- Repealed the Trump administration’s harsh “public charge” rule on March 15, which had expanded the grounds under which the federal government could deny visas to applicants who had ever received public benefits.
Though there have been many changes, there are still a few things that need to be changed in the immigration system. One major change is the consular processing time for the visa applications. Consulates are still unfortunately closed and the backlog for this is incredibly long. With family members waiting; it has caused a lot of problems for many families.
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