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| THE 2008 IMMIGRATION DEBATE Carl Shusterman is a well known immigration law attorney who is considered by many, me included, as one of the best in this area of law. He has written an article which summarizes the mood of the nation as it concerns the current immigration debate. I link to his article which addresses legal vs. illegal immigrants, specifically the need for visas for nurses. His approach of addressing the issue of visas for nurses separate from the general question of Comprehensive Immigration Reform makes much sense, and will permit our elected officials to pass needed legislation while not having to deal with the animosity they have encountered from much of the public on this sensitive question. The need for registered nurses in the US continues to grow, as Mr. Shusterman writes “it is imperative that something be done to open the door to foreign born nurses”. We can and should expect to see visas made available to Schedule A nurses during 2008, independent of CIR. Please refer to the information posted to "Green Cards for MDs" |
NEW IMMIGRATION BILL INCLUDED IN U.S. SENATE BILL, OCT 2007 The senate added the measure as an amendment to H.R. 3043, the HHS-Labor budget bill: 61,000 immigrant visas for Schedule “A” occupations (nurses and physical therapists) and their immediate families; A $1500 additional fee for each of these green cards. This bill was not passed. PRESENT STATUS OF AVAILABLE IMMIGRANT VISAS, 2007 Medical doctors should read and familiarize themselves with Practice Medicine in USA with a Green Card in order to understand the following information. As the doctors that have completed the MD/NURSE PROGRAM and those presently enrolled are aware, there are no immigrant visas available for registered nurses who have earned their CGFNS certificate and passed the NCLEX-RN exam. Registered Nurses are Department of Labor Schedule A listed and as such are exempt from the Labor Certification requirement. Registered Nurses are classified as Skilled Workers and grouped in the third employment based preference (EB3) http://www.shusterman.com/vb.html As of February 2008 immigrant visas are available for those who had a US Employer petition for them (I-140) before August 2002. What this means is that presently a Schedule A qualified nurse will wait over 5 years for an immigrant visa. This is known as visa retrogression Will you need to wait as long to get to the USA? Why or not why? Everything that you have read informs you that there is a critical shortage of registered nurses in the USA. That is why the CGFNS exam was recently offered in Moscow Russia and re-offered in the country of Nigeria, and the NCLEX-RN is now offered in India and the Philippines, among other countries. There was a non-immigrant visa issued to registered nurses, H-1A, whose issuance was allowed to expire in 1996. This visa was only issued to registered nurses. The US Congress has considered authorizing this visa category, but to date has not acted. New proposed non-immigrant visa Nursing Relief Act of 2007 (introduced House during March 2007) In 2007 the US Congress did not pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). Part of that legislation known as the STRIVE Act, included TITLE V that provided opportunities for high skilled workers to come to, and remain in, the U.S. It addresses employment needs in shortage occupations (Schedule A workers) such as nurses. It specifically addresses the nurse question, providing an exemption for Schedule A shortage occupations from the employment based green card caps until September 2017. It would also provide for direct consular filing of I-140 petitions for Schedule A. CIR, when passed, will also provide for Guest Workers which I believe will present nurses that have not yet sat for the CGFNS or NCLEX-RN exams an opportunity to come to the US as guest workers, legally, and while in the US working under their quest worker visas take the necessary tests to become registered nurses, thereafter becoming eligible to Adjust their status to green card holders. Doctors retrained as nurses will not for qualify quest worker visas. CIR is inevitable. The above referenced amendment may still be signed into law this year (08) and make 61,000 immigrant visas available to schedule A workers. The possibility that comprehensive immigration reform will be passed during this year (08) or even during President Bush’s remaining term (08) remains small, but one can, and should, expect the United States to pass a bill that addresses the immigration problems. It is an issue that is virtually in the news everyday. It is discussed by all those seeking the US presidency in 2009 in their national debates and most importantly is necessary for the US economy. Please see Yale Law Professor Peter Schuck’s article And Foreign Affairs article Immigration Nation Should you, a medical profesional consider enrolling into this course with a 5-year retrogression waiting period for nurses as of March 2008? MY opinion is yes, if you want to get to the US with a green card. There has been one piece of US legislation over the last years that has made immigrant visas available to qualified immigrants. That was in 2005 and made 50,000 visas available to Schedule A applicants by recapturing unused visas from previous years. The availability of those 50,000 immigrant visas where made available only to Nurses and Physical Therapists. Those 50,000 visas ran out, resulting in the present 5-year retrogression for nurses and all others in the 3rd employment based category. The present amendment will make 61,000 immigrant visas available to Nurses and Physical Therapists, resulting in the end of retrogression for these two listed Schedule A occupations. For others in the 3rd employment based category retrogression will continue. INDIAN vs FILIPINO NURSES 2008 In 2008 why are Indian nurses waiting 7 years for their green cards, and Filipino nurses only waiting 2 years to immigrate with their green cards? Here is the State Department’s Visa Bulletin which comes out each month Nurses are employment based third preference. The May 2008 bulletin for India shows a date of 01 NOV 01. This means that for anyone in the 3rd preference who has a priority date EARLIER than November 1, 2001 there is an immigrant visa available. So if a US employer filed a petition in October 2001 for you or earlier, you'll get an immigrant visa now. India is the most backlogged country of all. Even the Philippines where most of the foreign nurses come from, is only backlogged to March 2006 in the 3rd preference? Why is that? Simple reason. The third preference is made up of all workers with bachelor degrees regardless of the major they got that bachelor degree in so long as related to the job, and workers who had to have 2 years of training or experience, like registered nurses in USA who get their registered nurse diploma after 2 years of study. Everyone immigrating in “employment based” third preference has been certified for the job by the US Department of labor (labor certification) or is exempt from labor certification if listed on Schedule A , e.g. nurses and PTs. But why are Philippines only backlogged 2 years if most nurses come from that country, while India is backlogged about 7 years? You must remember that the third preference is comprised of professionals who have at least a bachelor degree or the two years of training or experience. Where in the world do the vast majority of engineers, computer professionals, software and other high tech workers come from? Yes India. Consider the H1-B non-immigrant category. To be a H1-B worker you have to have a bachelor degree. 90% of H1-B visa holders are engineers, computer professionals, software and other high tech workers. Each year in October US Immigration gives out these visas, about 85,000. You have to apply in April for one of these visas. After the first week of April there are so many applicants that the Immigration Service holds a lottery for one of these visas. If you are lucky and are chosen you'll get one of these H1-B visas in October, good for 6 years. When you renew after 3 years you are not subject to the category quota. Excepting nurses and PTs (Schedule A workers), essentially all of these workers go through the Labor certification process in order to get a green card in the 3rd preference. The immigration laws permit the Employer to keep them in the US working, while they go through the labor certification process and hopefully they'll get their green cards in the 6 years they are legally in US working. Most of these 3rd preference workers come from India. Those who have qualified through labor certification are waiting for an immigrant visa, like each and every nurse from India. The reason India is so backlogged in the third preference is because of the large number of engineers and computer professionals waiting for their visas, not because of the nurses. Recapturing of visas: The last time visas were recaptured in 2005, they only went to nurses and physical therapists. There are provisions for nurses in the to-be-passed Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) that includes specific language for nurses and which might include a re-introduction of the H1-A nonimmigrant visa category only for nurses. There has been introduced into the US Congress specific legislation that only applies to Schedule A workers, or nurses and PTs. We can and do expect to see legislation as it applies to nurses, independent of other 3rd preference workers. See the 2008 Immigration Debate So when the visas are re-captured or specific visas are made available, they will only apply to nurses. So standing in the crowd waiting for a visa, the wait is long for a nurse from India. Separate the Indian nurses from all the engineers, computer professionals, software and other high tech workers waiting for a visa from that country and that preference, and that wait is much shorter, even shorter than the wait for the Philippines. All records will show that there are less Indian nurses immigrating to the USA than Filipino nurses. May 2005 50,000 Immigrant Visas for Nurses approved by Congress! On Tuesday May 10, 2005 the Senate of the US Congress unanimously approved the recapturing 50,000 immigrant visas previously unused from the years 2001-04. The House voted to approve the recapturing the previous week. The provision for the recapturing of the immigrant visas was attached to an Appropriations Spending Bill supported by President George Bush who has signed the bill making immigrant visas available to nurses. Doctors enrolled in our programs have been kept current of this development and will benefit directly by this action by the US Congress, as it applies specifically to foreign trained nurse. Several immigration bills were considered, including the bill that would have recaptured approximately 150,000 unused visas from the years 2001-04. The purpose of the bill was to make immigrant visas available to the Third Employment Based (EB-3) immigrant category, which had become over subscribed at the start of the year. The EB-3 category covers both skilled and professional workers, e.g. Computer Programmers, Physical Therapists, Nurses, etc. The proposed bill called for half of the recaptured visas be made available to the two listed occupations on the US Labor Departments Schedule A list, nurses and physical therapists. The final compromised bill did in fact recapture previously unused visas, but ONLY for Nurses and Physical Therapists. The bill does not make any new or unused immigrant visas available to any other workers in the EB-3 category. For other EB-3 workers, the category will continue/remain oversubscribed, and they will have to wait for up to three years to receive an immigrant visa/green card. The intent of these bills directly addressed the shortage of qualified registered nurses in the US. It is expected that this need for foreign trained nurses in the US health care industry will in the near future result in more specific driven legislation to expedite the entrance of nurses into the US as both immigrants and non-immigrants. The visa question has been a major consideration for both our enrolled doctors, and those interested in enrolling in future classes. For all of us, this legislation comes as good news, albeit not unexpected. Doctors considering going this route to get to the US with their green cards to work as nurses in order to pursue their medical careers, should and can expect that at the end of the day, there will in fact be an immigrant visa available to them, as nurses, and within the minimum time required for other intending immigrants for whom immigrant visas are immediately available. February 2005 To commence his second term, President George Bush In his annual State of the Nation speech discussed the topic of immigration. His speech addressed his expressed intention to seek new immigration legislation that included GUEST WORKERS. America's immigration system is also outdated, unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hard-working people who only want to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our borders. It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the borders to drug dealers and terrorists January 2005 For those doctors who are aware of the backlog of immigrant visas in the EB3 category for nurses (and others in this category) from India, Philippines and China, start here: "What are the solutions" ? Recapture Lost Visas It is explained that in the recent past, the US Congress had employed this basis to "Recapture" previously available but unused non-immigrant H1-B visas. Several days after the backlog of EB3 visas became effective in 2005, U. S. Representative Lantos introduced Bill H.R. 139. The purpose of the Bill is to recapture unused immigrant visas. Visit following links: News article which gives short history of current legislation titled: "New Bill to help stranded nurses on visa issue" American Hospital Association News Brief Titled: "Clamp down on visas for overseas RNs spurs call for Congress to act" The Lantos Bill: (PDF) The AHA Letter to Congress: (PDF) |
Bill introduced to recapture unused Employment Based (EB) visas In the House of Representatives April 23, 2008 A Bill To recapture employment based immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays and to prevent losses of family-based and employment-based immigrant visas in the future. HR 5882 IH |
Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act (H.R. 5924) Introduced April 29, 2008
On May 16, 2008 the American Hospital Association expressed support for H.R. 5924 in their letter to Representatives James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Robert Wexler (D-FL), who introduced the bipartsan Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act, the group said "Your Bill will help address our current domestic shortages by providing an exemption from current employment-based visa caps for nurses. |
| House Judiciary Committee To Vote on Immigation Bills on September 10, 2008 Among These Bills Are The Backlog Reduction (Recapture) Btll and The Bill That Would Allow 20,000 Nurses and PTs To Immigrate Annually AUGUST 1, 2008 H.R. 5924 (Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act) and H.R. 5882 (Recapture Unused Employment Based Visas) ADVANCE FAVORABLY out of immigration Subcommittee. The full Judiciary Subcommittee must now "mark up" the bill The earliest this can happen is after the August recess. This means that nursing legislation can still be passed this year. Committee On The Judiciary |