Politics / Local News

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt’s work permit, visa task force releases final report

KOSU | By Lionel Ramos

Published August 28, 2024 at 5:15 AM CDT

Gov. Kevin Stitt explains why he’s undecided about signing HB4156 during an April 19 press conference at the Oklahoma State Capitol building. A week later, he signed the measure. — Gov. Kevin Stitt explains why he’s undecided about signing HB 4156 during an April 19 press conference at the Oklahoma State Capitol building. A week later, he signed the measure and established the 11-member Oklahoma State Work Permit and Visa Task Force.

Gov. Kevin Stitt’s work permit and visa task force has five recommendations for how Oklahoma can encourage non-citizens to join its workforce. They include establishing a new government office and providing certain folks with special privilege cards to drive — which require legislative will to implement.

The first recommendation by the Oklahoma Work Permits and Visa Task Force is for lawmakers to create an “Office of New Oklahomans.”

Tricia Everest, who is Stitt’s Secretary of Public Safety and the chair of the task force, said it would be a critical first step in addressing the needs of the state, its employers and its growing immigrant community.

“Having a centralized convener of all the information – barriers, real and perceived and opportunities real and created – It really would be a solution for us and this is a great opportunity to take it up.”

The 11-member task force also recommended issuing certain qualified migrants with driver’s privilege cards, or DPCs, to be used solely to drive in Oklahoma, not for use as a valid form of I.D.

Other recommendations include allowing professional credentials for global talent in Oklahoma, piloting different kinds of state-issued visas for international workers, and allowing employers to seek non-citizens to fill high-demand jobs.

“I am launching the Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visas Task Force to find ways to bolster our workforce and create opportunities for those who are here contributing to our communities and economy,” Stitt told reporters during a press conference in April.

Some recommendations by the task force were inspired by what the fellow Republican-controlled state of Utah started in 2021, thanks to legislation passed by lawmakers there.

That’s key: these recommendations are only ideas, and their implementation depends on political will in the Oklahoma legislature – the same legislature that proposed and passed House Bill 4156 criminalizing anyone in the state without legal immigration status, which Stitt signed the same day he established the task force.