FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces New Actions to Keep Families Together
BRIEFING ROOM | STATEMENTS AND RELEASES
Partial Reprint
President Biden announced new measures by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together. This new process will allow certain noncitizen spouses and children to apply for lawful permanent residence without leaving the country, provided they are already eligible.
These actions aim to promote family unity and strengthen the economy, offering significant benefits to the country and helping U.S. citizens and their noncitizen family members stay together. To be eligible, noncitizens must have resided in the United States for 10 or more years as of June 17, 2024, be legally married to a U.S. citizen, and satisfy all applicable legal requirements. On average, those eligible have resided in the U.S. for 23 years.
Approved applicants will be granted a three-year period to apply for permanent residency. During this time, they will be allowed to remain with their families in the United States and will be eligible for work authorization for up to three years. This initiative will apply to all eligible married couples, potentially protecting approximately half a million spouses of U.S. citizens and around 50,000 noncitizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.