translated from Spanish: U.S. plans to make it easier for legal immigration to the country: review proposed profiles

The U.S. Government wants to facilitate legal immigration to the country, reversing numerous measures of the Administration of Donald Trump and expanding access routes for foreign citizens, as reported on Monday The New York Times based on a document to which it has had access. The draft, dated May 3, outlines possible actions by Joe Biden’s Executive to expand the legal immigration system, which Trump significantly limited during his four years in office. Divided into seven sections, the document offers detailed proposals to facilitate the entry of different types of immigrants, such as skilled and agricultural workers or family members of Americans living abroad, as well as asylum seekers. Among other things, Biden seeks to restore opportunities for foreign skilled workers through the H-1B visa program, create new avenues for entrepreneurs who want to invest in the U.S., and facilitate asylum for victims of domestic violence. To reduce barriers to access, options are proposed such as reducing fees for applicants who submit their applications digitally and responding to the long waiting lists that currently exist, speeding up procedures, requiring less documentation and offering virtual interviews. According to The New York Times, the backlog of pending citizenship applications increased 80 percent since 2014, to more than 900,000 cases, while other programs, such as one that facilitates papers to undocumented immigrants willing to help police, have gone from taking five months to respond to applications to five years. In general, immigrating to the U.S. became more difficult, more complicated and more expensive during the Trump Administration.The newspaper points out that, if all the proposals included in this draft become a reality, Biden would not only be ending the limitations introduced by his predecessor, but would significantly expand the possibilities of immigration to the United States Unidos.La most of the changes , the newspaper points out, they can be done without having to pass the immigration reform that the government wants to promote and that would offer a way to access U.S. citizenship to millions of undocumented people living in the country. That plan, unveiled by Biden on his first day in office, must be approved by both houses of Congress and is opposed by Republicans. The current government, meanwhile, has faced a major crisis at the border with Mexico, with a sharp increase in the arrival of migrants and asylum-seekers.

Original source in Spanish