US President Donald Trump has suspended the DV lottery (diversified visa). He made the announcement at a regular press conference at the White House on Wednesday.
The United States used to distribute DV lottery tickets online to 50,000 people from all over the world for permanent residency in the United States.
The United States, which has the highest number of infections and deaths from the corona virus (Covid-19) epidemic, has taken such a step.
President Trump has said that the first priority will be to provide employment to American citizens as unemployment has risen in the United States due to the virus.
Immigrant Americans who have received a green card in the past will not be able to bring their relatives to the United States. But this rule does not apply to unmarried children and wives.
Even if the rule is imposed for two months, it will be added later.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to temporarily suspend the approval of some green cards.
The measure, which contains a number of exemptions, is to last for 60 days and then could be extended, he said.
Mr Trump says the order is designed to protect American workers’ jobs in an economy pummelled by the coronavirus.
Critics have accused him of using the pandemic as cover to ram through long-sought hardline immigration policies in an election year.
“This will ensure that unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy reopens,” Mr Trump said during Wednesday’s coronavirus briefing at the White House.
Pic : AP
Who will lose out and who is exempt?
The measure is expected to stop the practice of green card holders sponsoring their extended families for permanent US residency, which the president calls chain migration.
But it makes an exception for American citizens’ spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21.
The order also suspends the Diversity Visa Lottery, which issues about 50,000 green cards annually.
Also exempt are the hundreds of thousands of green card applicants already living and working in the US, and those seeking entry to work as doctors, nurses or other healthcare professionals.
Another exception is the hundreds of thousands of temporary guest visas issued each year to such applicants as farm labourers and skilled workers in the H-1B visa programme.
Source: BBC