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US President Joe Biden has lifted the stop on visas and green cards issued by his predecessor Donald Trump.

Closing the door to migrants with legal entry requests "does not promote the interests of the United States," Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.

On the contrary: It is damaging the country, for example by preventing certain relatives of US citizens and people with legal permanent residence permits from reuniting with their families.

It also shame industries in the US that wanted to employ talent from around the world.

In spring 2020, Trump stopped issuing new green cards - identification documents for a permanent residence permit in the USA - until the end of 2020.

The aim was to protect the American labor market, which was hit by the corona pandemic, he said at the time.

On December 31, he extended the rulings until the end of March.

According to attorneys, Trump blocked practically most of the routes for legal migration to the US with the measures.

Migrants could not have brought their family members into the country either - unless they were US citizens applying for visas for their spouses or children under the age of 21.

The door was also locked to potential immigrants with work visas.

Exceptions were those whose training was classified as beneficial to the national interest, e.g. medical professionals.

Thousands of winners of green cards who had been selected from a pool of around 14 million applicants according to a lottery system also had no chance.