On Friday, January 6, 2012, the Obama administration proposed a new rule that would reduce the time that illegal immigrants are apart from their U.S. citizen family members. Under the current rule, illegal immigrants must leave the U.S. before they can ask the government to waive the 3 or 10 year ban before they can legally come back to the U.S. They would have to apply for a visa in their home country. The proposed rule would change this by reducing the time they are out of the U.S. to as little as a few days or a few months. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas states that the policy will "minimize the extent to which bureaucratic delays separate Americans from their families."