Biden lifts Trump's visa ban on Nigeria, other countries

US President Joe Biden sits in the Oval Office as he signs a series of orders at the White House in Washington, DC, after being sworn in at the US Capitol on January 20, 2021. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Hours after taking oath office, President Joe Biden reversed a Donald Trump policy that restricted the granting of immigrant visas to Nigerians.

Nigeria was one of the countries forner President Trump slammed with immigration ban in January 2020.

At the time, the US government said the policy was designed to tighten security for countries that don't comply with the U.S. minimum security standards or cooperate to prevent illegal immigration.

But the Biden administration, which campaigned partly on a message of diversity, is seeking to re-open America to the world.

The reversal is part of a 10-day onslaught of executive actions intended to overturn key Trump policies without waiting for Congress, on topics ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to climate change and criminal justice, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Biden has halted the US exit from the World Health Organization, stopped construction of Trump's cherished wall on the Mexican border, and rescinded a ban on visitors from several Muslim-majority nations.

He has also committed the United States to rejoining the Paris climate accord, blocked an oil pipeline project, and froze Arctic drilling in a raft of executive orders signed hours after taking office Wednesday.

While Donald Trump envisioned an ‘America First’ policies that tended to see the rest of the world from the narrow prism of US self-interest, which alienated the country from its traditional allies such UK, France; Bidens wants a united multicultural country, with America providing leadership in the global arena.