Listen to this note:
Less than 5 months before the presidential elections in the United States take place, the president Joseph Biden will announce new actions on immigration matters, such as legal status for undocumented spouses of US citizens and work visas for beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA.
This Monday, President Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security will take steps to ensure that US citizens with non-citizen spouses and children can keep their families together.
This new process, he said, will help certain non-citizen spouses and children apply for legal permanent residence - a status to which they are already entitled - without leaving the country. This, he noted, with the purpose of promoting family unity and strengthening the economy, providing a significant benefit to the country and helping US citizens and their non-citizen family members to stay together.
To be eligible, non-citizens must - as of June 17, 2024 - have resided in the United States for 10 years or more and be legally married to a U.S. citizen, meeting all applicable legal requirements. On average, those eligible for this process have resided in the US for 23 years.
Those who are approved, after the case-by-case evaluation of their application by the DHS, will have a period of three years to apply for permanent residence. They will be allowed to remain with their families in the United States and will be eligible for a work authorization of up to three years. This will apply to all eligible married couples.
This measure, Biden said, will protect approximately half a million spouses of US citizens and some 50,000 non-citizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a US citizen.
In addition to this, the president announced that he would facilitate the process of obtaining visas for American college graduates, including Dreamers.
The announcement will allow individuals, including DACA recipients and other Dreamers, who have earned a degree from an accredited U.S. higher education institution in the United States, and who have received a job offer from a U.S. employer in a related field your degree, receive work visas more quickly.
This, he stressed, recognizing that it is in the national interest to ensure that people who are educated in the US can use their skills and education to benefit the country.
In that sense, Biden explained, "the Administration is taking steps to facilitate the employment visa process for those who have graduated from college and have a high-skilled job offer, including DACA recipients and other Dreamers."
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