A Senate Plan Alters Waiting Periods for Immigration

[alp227]

Source: NYT

The nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants would have to wait a full decade for a green card but could earn citizenship just three years after that, under a provision being finalized by a bipartisan group of eight senators working to craft an overhaul of immigration law, several people with knowledge of the negotiations said.

Taken together, the two waiting periods would provide the nation’s undocumented workers with a path to United States citizenship in 13 years, matching the draft of a plan by President Obama to offer full participation in American democracy to millions who are living in fear of deportation.

The arrangement would shrink the amount of time it takes to become a naturalized citizen, from five years to three years. But in an appeal to Republicans, it would also extend to 10 years, from 8, the amount of time that illegal immigrants must wait before receiving permission to work in the United States permanently.

Such a compromise might give both sides something to crow about: Republicans could argue that they pushed for a longer waiting period before an immigrant could get a green card, which allows its holder to remain and work in the United States indefinitely. Democrats could say that undocumented workers would become citizens faster.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us/politics/senate-groups-immigration-plan-would-alter-waiting-periods.html?pagewanted=all

[azurnoir]

1. would illegal immigrants living in the US noe be 'grandfathered' in or would the clock start

from the date the law was passed?

however I found this passage almost funny in a cynical sort of way

Most importantly, it eliminates the prospect of a permanent underclass by ensuring that, in time, all will have the opportunity to become Americans.”

sorry folks but governmental policies of the past 30 years have already insured that

[Coyotl]

2. That keeps them from voting in at least three Presidential elections

if we still have quasi-democratic elections after that long.

[alp227]

3. Senate panel close to Obama plan on path to citizenship for illegal immigrants (Washington Post)

" Immigrants who are in the United States illegally could become citizens in 13 years under a plan being developed by a bipartisan Senate group, matching the overall wait proposed by the Obama administration, a person familiar with the negotiations said Sunday." (Read more)