President Barack Obama’s immigration order could open the way for millions of people in the United States illegally to obtain driving privileges in 40 states — including Oregon, where voters just rejected a ballot measure to do so.

State lawyers will study whether the three-year federal work permits planned under Obama’s order, which he announced last week, allows the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division to issue driving privileges to some of those immigrants.

DMV spokesman David House said no decision is expected until Department of Justice lawyers review the nature of the federal work permits, applications for which will be made available in the spring.

But there is a precedent.

Under a 2012 presidential order affecting an estimated 1.7 million immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, Oregon and virtually all states concluded that federal work permits issued to participants were sufficient proof of legal presence for driver identification.

DMV estimated that under the federal program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, 17,000 Oregonians were eligible to obtain driving privileges. House said DMV did not keep tabs on how many actually applied.

Oregon voters earlier this month rejected Measure 88, a law that would have allowed four-year driver’s cards for those who could not show proof of legal presence in the United States — the legal standard for licenses in at least 40 states.

Obama’s order would allow up to 4 million immigrants to obtain federal work permits, which one national group says would by definition confirm their legal presence in the United States.

“The threshold for (licenses in) most states is lawful or authorized presence in the United States, and usually one of the documents that states accept is a work authorization document,” said Tanya Broder, senior staff attorney for the National Immigration Law Center. “That is the general case nationwide, and Oregon’s law is no different.”

Broder added, however, that eligible immigrants will first have to wait to obtain federal work permits before they can apply for driving privileges.

“We do not know how long it will take afterward for someone to get relief,” she said.

Oregonians for Immigration Reform, whose leaders played a key role in gathering the required signatures to force an election that ended in a 2-to-1 defeat of Measure 88, decries Obama’s overall action as “executive amnesty.”

Though representatives could not be reached for comment, the group said on its website that Congress should use its budget power to block Obama.

“Opponents of amnesty would lose the one tool that is available to them to stop President Obama’s amnesty before millions more illegal aliens get work permits,” the group says.

Leaders of the Republican-controlled House and the incoming Republican majority in the Senate have vowed to oppose Obama’s order. But also have shied away from using a forthcoming spending bill, which would fund operations through the end of the 2015 budget year, as a threat to shut down the government.

Obama’s programs will be paid for from fees paid to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, so the money does not require congressional approval. Each applicant will pay $465. There are no waivers or exemptions.

Not all of the estimated 11 million people in the United States who lack immigration documents will qualify for work permits under Obama’s order, and potential driving privileges from states.

Some immigrants will qualify under an expanded version of the 2012 DACA program, which originally limited participants to those under age 31 by June 15, 2012, and have been U.S. residents since 2007.

Under the expanded program, the age cap will be lifted and the residency requirement advanced to Jan. 1, 2010. Work permits also will be valid for three years, instead of two, and are renewable.

Other requirements, such as schooling or service in the U.S. armed forces and a criminal background check, remain in place.

About 330,000 more people are projected to qualify in addition to the 1.7 million originally projected under DACA. Applications for the expanded program are expected to be available in 90 days.

As of June, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported 581,000 applicants accepted and 24,000 rejected under DACA. Of the total, about 75 percent are from Mexico, and 10 percent from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

But the bulk of the affected people under Obama’s latest order, estimated at 3.7 million, are undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and who were here before 2010. They also would qualify for deferred deportation and three-year work permits, although they would have to undergo background checks and pay taxes.

The program will be known as Deferred Action-Parental Accountability.

Erik Sorensen, a spokesman for Oregon immigrant-rights group Causa, said he understands that the new program will mimic the existing DACA program.

“There’s no question that Oregonians who are eligible for deferred action under President Obama’s order for administrative relief are eligible for driver’s licenses if they meet the requirements,” Sorensen said. “His action is an extension of a program that has been in place for two years. So this program would be much the same.”

Sorensen said Causa, which backed Measure 88 and the 2013 law that was overturned, will await what state lawyers come up with.

Ten states allow some form of driver identification without proof of legal presence, including California, Nevada and Washington. Washington is one of two states where such proof is not required for standard driver’s licenses, although it also issues an “enhanced” license valid for travel to and from Canada; most U.S. citizens require passports.

A 2005 federal law sets proof of legal presence as the standard for issuing state driver’s licenses used for federal purposes, such as boarding commercial aircraft or entering a federal building. But the law allows alternative forms of identification.

In contrast, only Arizona and Nebraska refused to issue driver’s licenses to DACA participants. But in a decision Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned aside Arizona’s request to rehear a successful challenge to that state’s 2012 ban on licenses to DACA participants.

The lawsuit was brought against Gov. Jan Brewer’s order by a coalition of groups, including the National Immigration Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement: “This should serve as a wake-up call for the new governor: Do what’s best for your state by allowing everyone who should be able to get a license to do so, so they can drive to school and work and participate fully in their communities.”