October 1, 2008 marks the start of the new government Fiscal Year
2009 ("FY 2009"). At this time the new annual quota of immigrant visa
numbers becomes available. Unfortunately, retrogression is still with
us. The anxiously awaited State Department October Visa Bulletin
indicates EB-3 cutoff dates as follows: China (October 1, 2001), India
(July 1, 2001), Mexico (July 1, 2002), Philippines (January 1, 2005),
all other countries (January 1, 2005). Earlier visa bulletins had
predicted that FY 2009 would start with the more favorable cutoff dates
that had existed in June 2008 just before the EB-3 category became
totally unavailable from July through September 2008. However, heavier
demand from USCIS than anticipated has caused the State Department to
establish cutoff dates further back than those that existed for June
2008. Finally, a note in the October Visa Bulletin states that little
if any forward movement is likely until the extent of the USCIS backlog
of old priority dates can be determined. As a result, at this time, it
is impossible to predict or even guess how soon immigrant visa numbers
will become available for later filed cases. We will keep you advised
of any new information as it is released by the State Department.
In
the area of proposed new laws to increase the immigrant visa quotas for
nurses and to recapture unused immigrant visa numbers from previous
annual quotas, significant progress has been made as previously
reported here. The nurse legislation and the recapture legislation
introduced in the House of Representatives has been repeatedly
postponed for further hearings and the recapture legislation introduced
in the Senate has not yet been scheduled for hearings. This proposed
legislation is the result of bipartisan efforts. With Congress
leaving for the upcoming national elections and the ongoing problems
with the US economy, it is unlikely that this pending legislation will
be enacted this year. However, due to the bipartisan support for and
the significant progress of this pending legislation this past year, we
are optimistic that same or similar legislation will be reintroduced in
the new Congress which will start in early 2009.
As
stated here previously, we advise and encourage you to continue to file
your Schedule A immigrant visa petitions for nurses. This initial step
in the immigrant process is not prevented by the presence of
retrogression. By filing now, you will be ahead of the competition
when retrogression is lifted by the enactment of the proposed nurse and
recapture legislation.
For more information head to http://www.immigrationsolution.net & if you'd like to advertise with Immigration Solutions, please read over our media kit @ http://www.immigrationsolution.net/immigrationsolutionsmediakit.pdf
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 View other articles written by Nicholas Cifuentes(957)
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