Healthcare Blog

As is usually the case at year’s end, the news is slow on the legislative front. So we’ll take a moment to wish all HLG clients and friends a Happy Holiday season. Let’s all hope that the New Year brings us legislative relief! Our best to you and your family and friends.

Last week, HLG’s Medical Monthly Monitor was published. The MMM strives to highlight articles at the cross-section of Healthcare and Immigration. You may subscribe to the e-Zine by clicking through to our subscriber page.

The January Visa Bulletin has just been released and there is no change in the processing of the major categories. With EB3 processing at nearly four years for most countries, and over EIGHT years for Indian nationals, the time has never been greater for Schedule A relief.

EB1 – all current
EB2 – all current, except India (July 1, 2003); China (July 4, 2008)
EB3 – all May 1, 2005, except India (Oct 15, 2001); China (June 1, 2002); Mexico (Nov 15, 2002)

The USCIS has just released a Memo that discusses the nursing shortage. The lengthy Memo acknowledges that few avenues exist for foreign nurse immigration, outside of the lengthy immigrant visa process.

While this Memo is objectively good news — the USCIS hints at faster I-140 processing times — ultimately nothing truly will change without legislation aimed at Schedule A visa quota reform.

The election of Barack Obama could mean significant change in US immigration policy. Many clients and friends of the firm have asked us what President Obama’s stance is on immigration. On his website, President-elect Obama outlines his “Blueprint for Change”. The President-elect also has a section of his website devoted to immigration.

Some highlights:

- Pres. Obama will try to revive Comprehensive Immigration Reform in his first year.

- Obama believes that we must fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

- Obama and Biden support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.