Biden's proposal to ease US visa process for highly educated Russians would help with 'robbing Putin' of his 'best brains,' says White House official

The White House hopes that by relaxing visa restrictions for highly educated Russians, they will be able to leave the Russian regime.

According to the request document, Biden asked Congress to change the Immigration and Nationality Act so that Russian professionals with master's or doctorate degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or math can apply for a working visa without needing to be sponsored by an American employer.

The Department of Homeland Security would have to consider such applications.

Four years after the amendment is enacted, the relaxed regulations will be terminated.

The document said that it would help the United States attract and retain Russian talent and that it would benefit US national security.

A White House official told CNN that the administration hopes the move will start robbing Putin of his best innovators and his best brains by giving Russian scientists a clear pathway into the US.

The official said that they believe this will advance our own national security and bolster our economy by adding highly skilled individuals to our workforce, and that it will also weaken Russia's innovation base while simultaneously strengthening our own.

The Soviet Scientists Immigration Act of 1992 allowed up to 750 engineers and scientists from the Baltic states and the former Soviet Union to live in the US with their families as employment-based immigrants.

The Act was passed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and applied to those working in nuclear, chemical, biological, or other high technology defense projects.

Russia is already facing international sanctions and the pullout of Western companies if the amendments are enacted.

The Telegraph reported in March that thousands of Russians have left the country. According to a report by The Atlantic Council, at least two million people have left Russia since Putin came into power.

According to an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, educated people do not like living in a dictatorship with restrictions on basic human rights and this results in brain drain.