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Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.) Details of the bill The proposed immigration legislation would: • Grant immediate, but probationary, legal status to the estimated 11 million to 12 million who came to the United States illegally before Jan. 1. It also would grant them the ability to work and travel if they passed background checks. • Let undocumented immigrants and their families get new "Z" visas good for four years, but renewable indefinitely, by paying a $5,000 fee per head of household. After eight years, holders of Z visas could apply for permanent legal residence (a green card) by returning to their home countries and paying $4,000. •  Allow 400,000 to 600,000 foreigners to come every year to work. They could stay for two years on new "Y-1" visas, return home for one year and then renew the visas twice, for a total of six years in the U.S. •  Require that the Department of Homeland Security meet new border security and immigration enforcement conditions before the Z and Y visas take effect. Conditions include expanding Border Patrol to 18,000 agents; constructing 200 miles of vehicle barriers and 370 miles of fencing; deploying four unmanned aerial vehicles and 70 ground-based radar and camera systems. •  Require employers to use a new electronic system within 18 months to verify that new hires are eligible to work. •  Replace the current green-card system with a new point system, with applicants getting credit for English proficiency, job skills, education and family ties. Spouses and children of U.S. citizens could still qualify for an unlimited number of green cards. Parents of U.S. citizens could get up to 40,000 green cards per year. Spouses and children of permanent legal residents could get up to 87,000 green cards per year. About 380,000 green cards would eventually be issued via point system. •  Set the total number of green cards issued per year at about 1 million, same as now. •  Allow agricultural workers to get new Y-2A visas good for 10-month stays every year. •  Permit undocumented immigrants under 30 who came as children to be eligible for green cards within three years.

WASHINGTON (By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post) May 17, 2007 — A bipartisan group of senators reached a delicate compromise today on what could be the biggest overhaul of immigration law in more than 40 years. It would offer the nation's 12 million undocumented workers a route to legal status.

The measure, which senators hope to bring to the floor for debate and a vote before they leave for the Memorial Day, is to be announced at a press conference this afternoon.

All illegal immigrants who entered before Jan. 1, 2007, would be eligible for the Z visa.

Under the deal, undocumented workers who crossed into the country before Jan. 1 would be offered a temporary-residency permit while they await a new "Z Visa" that would allow them to live and work lawfully here. The head of an illegal-immigrant household would have eight years to return to his or her home country to apply for permanent legal residence for members of the household, but each Z Visa itself would be renewable indefinitely, as long as the holder passes a criminal background check, remains fully employed and pays a $5,000 fine, plus a paperwork-processing fee.

The rough outlines of a deal have been circulating and include a "Z visa" that would allow illegal immigrants to transition to citizenship, provided they meet many requirements.

These include a $5,000 fine that can be paid over time, processing fees for the visa, and a requirement that the head of household return to their home country within eight years.

The bill also includes the Dream Act, a provision for illegal immigrants, who were brought in as children and are enrolled in college or the military. They would be immediately eligible for the Z visa. As long as they remain employed or in school and do not have a criminal record they could become eligible for legal permanent resident status, a step toward citizenship, in three years.

The bill focuses heavily on border security and work-site enforcement, two areas that the senators spent weeks negotiating in painstaking detail. The number of border agents would be boosted to around 18,000 from a current level of about 12,000; some 200 miles of vehicle barriers and towers for surveillance would be added along the border.

Work-site enforcement would include a tamper-proof ID, probably a Social Security card, that some Senate aides said would have to be presented in combination with a passport or tamper-proof driver's license. Creating an identity verification system has been a priority for the senators so they can create tough penalties for employers who continue to hire illegally.

The plan would also reconfigure the system for future legal immigration, setting aside 40% of future visas to be allocated on a merit-based system that awards points for education and skills that are needed in the U.S. These could include high-tech skills as well as low-tech talents that are in demand.

A separate, temporary-worker program would be established for 400,000 migrants a year. Each temporary work visa would be good for two years and could be renewed up to three times, as long as the worker leaves the country for a year between renewals.

To satisfy Republicans, those provisions would come in force only after the federal government implements tough new border controls and a crackdown on employers that hire illegal immigrants. Republicans are demanding 18,000 new Border Patrol agents, 370 miles of additional border fencing and an effective, electronic employee-verification system for the workplace.

"This is not the architecture of an immigration bill that I would have initially liked to see," conceded Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), the Democrats' chief negotiator yesterday when news of a tentative deal became known, "but we're not dealing with that. This is a legislative process."

The agreement would effectively bring an immigration overhaul to the Senate floor next week, but its passage is far from assured. The framework has the support of the White House and the chief negotiators, Kennedy and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). But immigration rights groups and some key Senate Democrats remain leery, especially of changing a preference system that has favored family members for more than 40 years.

"When they say, 'We're all in agreement, we have a deal,' certainly I don't feel that way," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

Since 1965, migrants have needed a sponsor in the United States, meaning that virtually all immigrants have had family members or employers already here. The new proposal would augment that system with a merit-based program that would award points based on education levels, work experience and English proficiency, as well as family ties. Automatic family unifications would remain but would be limited to spouses and children under 21. The adult children and siblings of U.S. residents would probably need other credentials, such as skills and education, to qualify for an immigrant visa. A number of unskilled parents would be allowed in, but that flow would be capped.

To Republicans, the new system would make the nation more economically competitive while opening access to a wider array of migrants. "I think you'll find the point system to be pretty well balanced," said Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.).

But to immigration groups, the proposal is a radical break from existing U.S. law, and without changes, they could withhold their support from the final bill.

"We want to see an immigration reform debate on the Senate floor. We want to see this move forward. But we are wildly uncomfortable with a lot of what we're hearing," said Cecilia Muñoz, chief lobbyist for the National Council of La Raza.

The other hurdle will come from the temporary-worker program. The immigration bill that passed the Senate last year with bipartisan support would have allowed laborers entering the country as temporary workers to stay and work toward citizenship. But Republicans said this year that they could support such a program only if the workers would be truly temporary.

Immigration groups say such a program would only spur a new wave of illegal migration, as temporary workers go underground once their work permits expire. Perhaps more importantly, two powerful service unions -- the Service Employees International Union and Unite Here -- have threatened to pull their support from any immigration bill that would not give temporary workers a way to remain in the country, fearing that a truly temporary program would drive down wages for low-skill work.