While much of the immigration debate has centered on a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants, one of the biggest immediate impacts of the bill being prepared in the Senate would lead to a surge in legal migration, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The U.S. admits about 1 million legal immigrants per year, more than any other nation. That number could rise by more than 50 percent over the next decade under the immigration reform bill that a bipartisan group of senators could unveil as early as Tuesday.

More from the L.A. Times:

The surge would come in several ways: The bill aims to eliminate the current backlog of roughly 4 million people waiting to be reunited with family members in the U.S. The 11 million now in the country without legal authorization would be eligible for citizenship only after that backlog was resolved. Reunification efforts would require boosting the number of visas issued each year. To keep the additional inflow under control, the bill would stop allowing adult siblings of immigrants to qualify, but children and parents would continue to be eligible.

In addition to family unification, which allows people into the country permanently, the bill also aims to increase temporary visas for both high-wage and low-wage workers. The number of visas for high-tech workers could nearly double to more than 120,000 per year.

The bill's authors expect legal immigration to tail off once again, but only 10 years after the bill passes and once the backlog of residency applications dwindles. The Immigration Act of 1990 increased the number of legal immigrants by 40 percent from about 500,000 per year to more than 700,000.

Read the full story at the L.A. Times. Find more Neon Tommy coverage of immigration here.

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