President Donald Trump announced in his weekly radio address Friday that migrants who enter the United States cannot receive welfare in the first five years after their arrival.



“Just this week, we announced a historic immigration bill to create a merit-based Green Card system that ends the abuse of our welfare system, stops chain migration, and protects our workers and our economy,” Trump stated. “As an example, you cannot get welfare for five years when you come into our country. You cannot just come in like in past weeks, years, and decades, you come in immediately and start picking up welfare. For five years, you have to say you will not be asking or using our welfare systems.”

The plan put forth by the administration follows that of the systems deployed by Australia and Canada, where potential immigrants are granted points based on a wide range of divisions. Those with the highest points would qualify for the 140,000 visas that would be distributed every year.

A candidate who wants to apply for a visa must have at least 30 points to start the process. Other points are distributed based on education, English proficiency, a job offer, an extraordinary achievement, an Olympic medal winner or competitive international athlete.

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