Currently, illegal immigrants must leave the country before they can ask the government to abandon the three-to 10-year ban on returning to the U.S. legally ban length depends on how long they have lived in the U.S. without permission.
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Undocumented Mexican immigrant Jeanette Vizguerra (center) is embraced as her husband Salvador and son Roberto, 5, hold hands before her immigration hearing in federal court on July 13, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. Vizguerra is a mother of four children, three of whom were born in the U.S. as American citizens.
The official said Thursday the new rule will allow children and spouses of citizens asked the government to take a decision on the refusal of a request to illegal immigrants head of his country to apply for a visa. Illegal immigrants still have to go home to finish the visa process to return to the U.S., but is turned down ahead of time can reduce the time an illegal immigrant is outside the country.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposed policy changes were not made public.
Refusal shift the last step of President Barack Obama to make changes to immigration policy, not an act of Congress. Congress Republicans repeatedly criticized the administration for policy changes which they describe as providing "a backdoor amnesty" for illegal immigrants.
Immigrants who do not have a criminal record and who have violated immigration laws only can win the waiver, if they can prove that their absence would cause "extreme hardship" to their spouse or parent of a citizen. The government received about 23,000 applications, difficulties in 2011 and more than 70 percent were approved, the official said.
Applications for waiver may take up to six months to impact on, the official said. The new rule will reduce processing time, which is several days or weeks, the official added.
"This will streamline the process of (a) reduce the separation time between family members," the official said.
The proposal will be published in the Federal Register on Friday. The official said the administration hopes to change the rules this year.
Immigration has become a challenge for Obama before the November elections. As a presidential candidate, he promised to change what many consider the broken system of immigration.
To this end, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced plans last year to review some 300,000 in anticipation of deportation in cases of efforts to target criminal illegal immigrants, repeat violators of immigration laws, and those that are national security or public safety threat. Napolitano said DHS will delay indefinitely many cases, illegal immigrants who have no criminal record and those who have been arrested for minor traffic violations or other offenses.
Pilot program for the review of 12,000 cases pending in immigration court in Baltimore and Denver, was launched in November and ends next week. The review will be expanded to other jurisdictions in the year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton also issued a reminder in June, outlining how the immigration authorities may use discretion in determining which illegal immigrants to arrest and put into deportation. Morton wrote in a note, that discretion can be used in a number of occasions, including for people who have no previous convictions and young people brought into the country illegally as children.
Congress Republicans denounced the policy change, arguing that the Obama administration to bypass Congress on the merits to grant amnesty to countless illegal immigrants.
Rep. Lamar Smith, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, was one of the most vocal critics, accusing Obama has repeatedly failed to comply immigration laws.
Several attempts to overhaul immigration law failed in recent years, including the so-called DREAM Act, which would allow for some young illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children, to earn legal status if they went to college or joined the military .
