Barack Obama comes out with his immigration reforms, seeks Congress nod

Obama also proposed to eliminate existing backlogs in the family-sponsored immigration system by recapturing unused visas and temporarily increasing annual visa numbers.

The proposal also raises existing annual country caps from seven per cent to 15 per cent for the family-sponsored immigration system.

It also treats same-sex units as families by giving US citizens and lawful permanent residents the ability to seek a visa based on permanent relationship with a same-sex partner.

The proposal also revises current unlawful presence bars and provides broader discretion to waive them in cases of hardship.

"In recent years, one in four high-tech startups in America were founded by immigrants. One in 4 new small-business owners were immigrants, including right here in Nevada, folks who came here seeking opportunity and now want to share that opportunity with other Americans," Obama said.

"But we all know that today we have an immigration system that's out of date and badly broken. A system that's holding us back instead of helping us grow our economy and strengthen our middle class," he noted.

Among other things, the proposals include creating a startup visa for job-creating entrepreneurs, expand opportunities for investor visas and US economic development and create a new visa category for employees of federal national security science and technology laboratories.

Referring to the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, of which more than 2,40,000 are from India, Obama said though they have broken the rules, but it is "impossible"

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