Visa for illegal immigrants is proposed

‘Progress continues to be made and the administration has not prepared a final bill.’

— Clark Stevens,

White House spokesman

WASHINGTON — The White House is circulating a draft immigration bill that would create a new visa for illegal immigrants living in the United States and allow them to become legal permanent residents within eight years, according to a report published online Saturday by USA Today.

President Obama’s bill would create a “lawful prospective immigrant” visa for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. The bill includes more security funding and requires business owners to adopt a system for verifying the immigration status of new hires within four years, the newspaper said.

The bill would require that immigrants pass a criminal background check, submit biometric information and pay fees to qualify for the new visa. Immigrants who served more than a year in prison for a criminal conviction or were convicted of three or more crimes and were sentenced to a total of 90 days in jail would not be eligible. Crimes committed in other countries that would bar immigrants from legally entering the country would also be ineligible.

Immigrants facing deportation would be eligible to apply for the visa, the newspaper reported. Immigrants would be eligible to apply for a green card within eight years if they learned English and U.S. history and government, and they would later be eligible to become U.S. citizens.

Last month, a bipartisan group of senators announced it had agreed on the general outline of an immigration plan. For his part, Obama has said he would not submit his own legislation to Congress so long as lawmakers acted “in a timely manner.” If they failed, he said, “I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away.”

Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman, said Saturday that Obama still supported a bipartisan effort to craft a comprehensive immigration bill.

“While the president has made clear he will move forward if Congress fails to act, progress continues to be made and the administration has not prepared a final bill to submit,” he said in a statement.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, described the draft bill as a “very moderate” proposal.

While he welcomed the path to citizenship, he said not enough attention was being paid to future immigration.