The president has "explicitly called for, number one, increasing the number of green cards for high skilled workers," Kalil said in a briefing with reporters regarding a new program for entrepreneurs offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

Kalil said the president also supports a specific visa for immigrants who create start-ups. Obama also supports improving the education of U.S. students in technical areas, Kalil said, citing the president's goal of increasing the number of U.S. engineering graduates.

USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas said providing green cards to foreign graduates with advanced degrees "is the perfect example where legislation is needed."

In the absence of any congressional reforms on skills-based immigration, the White House is seeing what changes it can make to immigration processes. Last month, for example the White House took steps to make it easier for immigrants interested in investing in the U.S. to get a visa.

Now, the Obama administration is trying to get better insight into the changes it needs to make by creating an "Entrepreneurs in Residence" program to learn from immigrant investors, the USCIS said.