Immigration Reform this year?

Many of my San Francisco and Sacramento clients have been asking me about the possibility of immigration reform. Obama has been expecting an immigration bill this year from the “Group of Eight,” a group of eight bi-partisan senators working together to create comprehensive immigration legislation. Senator McCain has stated that he expects the Group of eight to have reached an agreement on the path to citizenship as well as a system to aid and secure state border security.

The agreement entails a 13 year path to citizenship. What this entails: to get a green card it would take undocumented workers 10 years, and another three years to gain citizenship. Throughout this period of time, undocumented workers would have to pay a fine and back taxes as well as pass a background check. The fine has yet to be decided and is unclear at this time. Additionally, there may be an increase in the H-1B cap of 65,000.

Under this legislation no undocumented worker however, will be eligible for citizenship until the border is considered secure. To measure border security a commission would be created. The commission would be made up of officials named by state and federal leaders.

Who is in the Gang of Eight?
The includes:

• Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida
• Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
• Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona
• Sen. John McCain, Arizona
• Sen. Robert Menendez, New Jersey
• Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois
• Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado
• Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York