A draft immigration bill is being circulated by the White House that would create new US visas for undocumented immigrants who are currently living in the United States and enable them to become legal permanent residents inside of eight years, a report that was published online by USA Today on Saturday claims.
The bill from US President Barack Obama would result in the creation of a Lawful Prospective Immigrant Visa that would benefit approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The bill features more funding for security as well as requiring the owners of businesses to adopt a system that would verify the immigration status of new employees within four years, according to the newspaper.
USA Today says that the bill would mean that immigrants have to pass a criminal background check, pay fees and submit biometric information in order to be able to qualify for the brand new visa. Immigrants who have been convicted of more than two crimes and have served either 90 days in jail or more than a year in the case of a criminal conviction would be ineligible for the new visa. Crimes that were committed outside of the United States that would ordinarily result in being barred from entering the country will also result in ineligibility.
Immigrants who are currently facing deportation will be eligible to apply and if they learn English and about the history and government of the US they could be eligible to get a green card within eight years under the bill.