| Unfortunately,
retrogression of the immigrant visa quota is still causing severe
delays in this immigration of large numbers of needed professionals and
skilled workers, especially healthcare workers. However, recent
developments give us more hope for a solution than we have experienced
in the recent past.
Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives (HR 5924)
which addresses the shortages of certain healthcare workers and offers
significant solutions. Specifically, all quotas would be waived for
Schedule A shortage occupations (registered nurses and physical
therapists) as long as the immigrant visa petition (I-140) is filed by
September 30, 2011. This would give healthcare facilities approximately
3 years to bring in significantly more foreign nurses and physical
therapists during that period, although consulates would be limited to
approving no more than 20,000 nurse or physical therapist cases in a
year. The ability of the government to handle the increased workload in
a timely manner, as always, remains in doubt. The USCIS would be
required to process the I-140 immigrant visa petition within 30 days, a
vast improvement over the current 6-12 month processing times. Again,
the ability of the government's limited resources to handle the
expedited processing time remains in doubt.
All
nursing visas issued under this law would require a $1,500 fee, with
limited exceptions, to be used to fund grants for schools of nursing.
While commendable, past efforts by the government in other areas to
fund the development of the American workforce at the expense of
employers of foreign workers have met with little or no success.
Finally, immigrant visa applicants will need to attest that they do not
owe their country of residence a financial obligation that was incurred
for their education so that they would remain in that country.
This
legislation is sponsored by members of both political parties, one of
whom is known as tough on immigration. While we remain hopeful about
the chances for success for this proposed law, a word of caution is
necessary. The proposed legislation will need to survive debate and
amendments in both the House and the Senate before it ever gets to the
President for signature and becomes law. Election year politics and the
illegal immigration/enforcement debate are also obstacles to passage of
this law.
In addition, HR 5882 was
recently introduced in the House of Representatives which proposes to
recapture unused employment-based immigrant visas from past years. This
could be as many as 218,000 immigrant visas. This is significantly more
than the 50,000 Schedule A immigrant visas that were recaptured by
special legislation in 2005 and ran out very quickly. This proposed law
would act to speed up the EB-3 immigrant visa quota category which is
where most nurses are delayed. This law appears to have bipartisan
support and is sponsored by leading members of Congress. However, as
above, the same word of caution applies.
It is worth
noting that the EB-3 immigrant visa quota cutoff date have been
advancing more rapidly than usual due to the projections of the State
Department for future demand on the limited quotas. If those
projections prove inaccurate or if other unexpected factors intervene,
the recent progress could slow or retrogress as in the past.
Finally, a proposal to increase the period of stay for TN
status from 1 year to 3 years, has made its way through the OMB. If
this takes effect, Canadian and Mexican citizens who have TN status or
visas pursuant to NAFTA as nurses, physical therapists, etc., may find
it easier to move from nonimmigrant TN status to immigrant without
adversely affecting their TN status, especially if one or both of the
proposed laws to increase immigrant visa quotas is passed.
We
will keenly monitor all the above and other issues as they develop. We
are pleased to report that we are starting to see a glimmer of hope.
For more information, contact Immigration Solutions at http://www.immigrationsolution.net
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