US President-Elect Joe Biden has big plans when it comes to immigration. While the Trump administration almost made it impossible for immigrant families to survive, let alone get in the country, Biden plans to reverse all of that.
With his Vice President Kamala Harris by his side, Biden is expected to eradicate the policy of revoking work permits to the spouses of H-1B visas, which had severely affected thousands of Indian families in the US.
“High skilled temporary visas should not be used to disincentivise recruiting workers already in the US for in-demand occupations. An immigration system that crowds out high-skilled workers in favour of only entry level wages and skills threatens American innovation and competitiveness,” according to a policy document issued by the Biden campaign.
“Biden will work with Congress to first reform temporary visas to establish a wage-based allocation process and establish enforcement mechanisms to ensure they are aligned with the labour market and not used to undermine wages. Then, Biden will support expanding the number of high-skilled visas and eliminating the limits on employment-based visas by country, which create unacceptably long backlogs,” it added.
Trump had suspended the H-1B visas along with other types of foreign work visas until the end of 2020 in June, to reportedly secure American jobs and workers.
Biden will also give more power and opportunities to professionals who contribute to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields in the US. “Biden believes that foreign graduates of a US doctoral programme should be given a green card with their degree and that losing these highly trained workers to foreign economies is a disservice to our own economic competitiveness,” it said.
Apart from revitalizing certain visas, Biden also plans to create a brand-new type of visa that allows cities and counties to petition for higher levels of immigrants to support their growth. According to the policy document, these visa holders would be required to work and reside in the city or county that petitioned for them.
The policy document also elaborated on Biden’s support to keep immigrant families unified, since he believes the current system is designed to almost prevent applications from being approved in a timely fashion. “As president, Biden will support family-based immigration by preserving family unification as a foundation of our immigration system; by allowing any approved applicant to receive a temporary non-immigrant visa until the permanent visa is processed; and by supporting legislation that treats the spouse and children of green card holders as the immediate relatives they are, exempting them from caps, and allowing parents to bring their minor children with them at the time they immigrate,” the policy paper said.
