Healthcare Blog

HLG is in Washington DC today working with a team of staffing companies, the CTIHS, the lobbyists, and other aligned interests.

Where we are so far:

1. Last spring/summer, we were counseled to hold off on lobbying for additional Schedule A visas in light of the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Reform. That effort untimely failed in the Senate.

2. Last fall our effort was one of only two positive immigration efforts that were passed by a house of Congress; namely a proposal to revive the EX Visa category, a category exclusively for professional nurses and physical therapists, and their immediate family members.

3. Our effort then turned to the House. Unfortunately we ran out of time; the calendar year ended before we could muster enough support in the House.

4. We have spent the first two months of 2008 working with House leadership in order to find a sponsor and champion for our legislation. That effort continues and is the subject of today’s meeting. We are optimistic that we will have both in the near term.

As every reader of the HLG Healthcare Immigration Blog is surely aware, the EB3 Visa Bulletin dates just leapt forward, which is great news. Essentially the reason that the DOS did this is because the US fiscal year is nearly half over (the fiscal year runs Oct 1- September 30), and the DOS is concerned that all of the visas will not be used. It was this phenomenon – lack of using all visas – that caused the Visa Gate scandal of 2007. By moving the dates ahead now, instead of waiting for June or July like last year, the DOS hopes to avoid having to over-progress the dates this summer.

By way of background, there are two ways that visas can be claimed — (i) domestically via the I-485 Adjustment of Status and (ii) internationally via the DOS’ Consulate system. Ideally the US government wants the visas to be used on a priority date basis, which is to say that it shouldn’t matter if the I-140 is filed for an AOS or CP; the approval of the immigrant visa should be the same.

The USCIS, which is the agency that works the AOS cases, has likely indicated to the DOS that it cannot process as many cases as necessary. Therefore by moving the dates aggressively ahead, it is allowing the Consulates to use more of the visas (which is good for the PTs and RNs!).

Note however that Section D of the Visa Bulletin in Section D says that if the USCIS improves its processing of AOS cases, the DOS may re-retrogress the EB3 date. On the other hand if the USCIS continues to be unable to timely process AOS cases, there is a chance sometime this spring for the dates to continue to move forward.

None of this reduces or eliminates the need for legislation aimed at curing the retrogression of numbers for Schedule A workers. We’re still working on it. We’re making slow but steady progress. I’m optimistic that we can get something done this year, but it is slow-going. If any staffing companies, hospitals, clinics, recruiting companies, or other end users of healthcare workers are interested in joining the CTIHS, please email Chris Musillo.

SYMPOSIUM ON THE INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Hammond Law Group Sponsored Event

Hammond Law Group is pleased to announce a Symposium on International Recruitment of Healthcare Workers on Friday, May 2, 2008 in New York, New York. The Symposium is free to all clients and friends of the firm. Please register early. This event is limited to the first 75 guests and our past Symposiums have filled up quickly.

Details on the event can be found by clicking here.

ILW.com’s The Nurse Immigration Book is shipping; we have just received our copies here at HLG. At nearly 900 pages, the book is a “must” for those who work at the corner of Nurse Street and Immigration Road. (…And yes, Immigration Road does need repairs!)

Not only does the book fully explain the nurse immigration process, but it contains many interesting articles on the nursing crisis and on recruiting companies’ specific retention challenges. The book’s second half is all of the relevant INA statutes, regulations, Memoranda, and licensing data that a practicioner could ever want.

HLG was pleased to contribute two articles to The Nurse Immigration Book. Mike Hammond’s article “Managing or Achieving Expectations: The Keys to Success” is an essay on setting the right goals for your recruiting and staffing business.

Chris Musillo’s “Immigration Basics for Allied Professional Healthcare Workers” is the “step-child” of the book. Musillo’s article explains the immigration process for healthcare occupations other than nurses: Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Medical Technologists, Speech Language Pathologists, and Audiologists.

Within an hour of our last post, the DOS’ Visa Bulletin was released. As expected, some EB categories greatly moved forward; notably processing is now available for All Other Countries and the Philippines who filed prior to January 1, 2005.

EB1 – all current, as usual.
EB2 – all current, except China (Dec 1, 2003), and India (U).
EB3 – all countries (Jan 1, 2005), China (Dec 1, 2002), India (Aug 1, 2001), Mexico (May 1, 2001), Philippines (Jan 1, 2005).

1. HLG has heard that the DOS’s Visa Bulletin in either March or April will aggressively promote many EB categories including EB3. While this would be welcome, it doesn’t take away from urgency that a Schedule A visa bill is passed.

2. HLG’s February MMM has been published. If you would like to subscribe, you can do so here.

3. The DOS recently announced an increase to the NVC fee. The fee has been increased by $20, and now stands at $355. With the $45 security surcharge, the total NVC fee is $400.

The CTIHS is continuing to press Congress for increased visa numbers for healthcare workers. As readers may recall, last fall, the CTIHS, along with partners, was able to get the Senate to pass a bill authorizing 61,000 visas for healthcare workers. Unfortunately that bill failed to win House approval.

This year the lobbying effort has continued with a focus on talking with House members. Several meetings happened in January and we’re optimistic that something can be done in the near term. The biggest hurdle may be that the Presidential race is going to suck up a lot of the politicians’ time in 2008.