Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced a bill on Tuesday designed to address thousands of the nation’s young undocumented immigrants, the Associated Press reports. The bill differs from the original failed DREAM Act introduced by Democrats, however, in that it doesn’t provide a path to citizenship:
The Kyl-Hutchison proposal, called the Achieve Act, requires applicants to enter the country before age 14 and they must have lived in the United States for at least five years.
It provides for three different visa levels: the first, good for up to six years, for students; the second, a work visa good for four years, and the third is a permanent nonimmigrant visa that would be renewed every five years.
Their proposal sets such conditions as saying that students may not have access to federal student loans or other federal benefits and that those with permanent visas are not eligible for public welfare benefits. They also stressed that the bill was not a path to citizenship and that those applying for a green card would have to go through the same procedures as other non-citizens. That differs from the Dream Act of two years ago, under which those who met the qualifications would eventually receive a green card.
