Healthcare Blog

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that Rep. Gutierrez introduced in Congress yesterday indirectly benefits Schedule A occupations (registered nurses and physical therapists) in many ways.

Here’s how it helps:

1. The bill provides a recapture of unused visa numbers from 1992 to 2008.

2. The bill provides an allowance for future unused visa numbers to roll over to the next fiscal year, thereby creating a situation where we always get the full allotment of visas.

3. The bill increases the per country limit — this benefits the countries that are normally backlogged (Philippines, India and China) by allowing more visa numbers.

4. The bill exempts spouses and children from the annual quota. The historical data since 2001 shows an average of 2.3 dependents per person. Therefore, exempting the dependents from the quota will allow 2.3x more visa numbers.

5. The bill allows a person to file for I-485 Adjustment of Status even when priority dates are not current if the person pays a $500 supplemental fee. This means that a person in the U.S. on a visitor status, student status, or other lawful status (or out of status for a period of less than 180 days) can proceed with the I-485 application and obtain work authorization and remain legally in the U.S. while the USCIS processes the application.

The bill that has been introduced is in the very early stages. Before it becomes a final law, it will go through changes in both the House and Senate. Of course, there is no guarantee that any of it will become law.

The USCIS has released the latest H-1B cap numbers. As of November 27, 2009, approximately 58,900 H-1B cap-subject petitions had been filed. USCIS has approved sufficient H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap. Any H-1B petitions filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.

On December 1st, USCIS representatives shared some latest news on the H-1b cap usage. USCIS indicated that there has been a recent “uptick” in receipts in the last two weeks, including approximately 2000 petitions being received by their offices in the days before the Thanksgiving holidays. USCIS also confirmed that the demand for the H-1B1s for Chile and Singapore has been small this year, thereby resulting in some additional numbers being added back to the “general pool”. Despite these additional numbers, employers are encouraged to file any new H-1B petition quickly, particularly given the heightened demand for H-1Bs in the last few weeks.