The modest H-2C nurse visa program has been extended for three more years. The text of the legislation is here.

Over the last several years, there has been a steady and significant shift from physicians entering on J-1 status to train in the US to the H-1B visa. New documentation is showing a further decline of 88 waivers in the most recent year. The shift is the consequence of many factors, but the bottom line is that the H-1B is a friendlier visa as far as entering the country and remaining when the program is finished. If the J-1 programs are to survive, the J-1 program will need to be made more attractive or the H-1B visa will need to have elements to make it more closely resemble the H-1B. Look for proposals to address the problems in the next session of Congress.

See the spreadsheet here.

USCIS extends bi-specialization to J waivers. Hardships and persecutions are being transferred to California (though applicants file the same as always in the same place). Interested government agency and no objection cases are being handled in Vermont. USCIS is going paperless and DOS will now electronically transmit cases to the VSC. Hope that finally ends the problems with lost files, disappearing G-28s and assorted other problems tied to the hand off from DOS to USCIS.

CONGRESS PASSES LEGISLATION EXTENDING TWO IMPORTANT HEALTH CARE IMMIGRATION PROGRAMS

Congress passed two important pieces of health care immigration legislation in the final hours of its session that ended December 8th.

H.R. 4997 extended the Conrad 30 J-1 waiver program for physicians working in physician shortage areas. Under the program, each state may sponsor up to 30 physicians per year to work in areas that are medically underserved. The Conrad program began to sunset on June 1st and any physicians entering after that date would no longer be eligible to receive a Conrad waiver. The new law will extend the sunset date to June 1, 2008.

Congress also passed the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 1285). The bill extends the H-2C visa for nurses working in underserved areas until 2009. The H-2C allows up to 500 nurses to come to the US each year.

The Senate early Saturday morning passed the House's Conrad 30 extension bill. The program will now continue until June 1, 2008. No changes have been made to the program.

We have received word from reliable sources on Capitol Hill that the Senate will adopt the House's Conrad 30 measure this afternoon. Barring any last minute opposition, this will result in the extension of the Conrad program until June 2008.

The Senate still needs to pass by unanimous consent. Sources tell us that we're close, but not quite there yet. Time is ticking...

Here's the text of H.R. 4997, the bill passed by the House:

AN ACT
To extend for 2 years the authority to grant waivers of the foreign country residence requirement with respect to certain international medical graduates.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Physicians for Underserved Areas Act'.

SEC. 2. WAIVER OF FOREIGN COUNTRY RESIDENCE REQUIREMENT WITH RESPECT TO INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL GRADUATES.

Section 220(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 (8 U.S.C. 1182 note; Public Law 103-416) (as amended by section 1(a)(1) of Public Law 108-441) is amended by striking `June 1, 2006.' and inserting `June 1, 2008.'.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendment made by section 2 shall take effect as if enacted on May 31, 2006.
Passed the House of Representatives December 6, 2006.

From CGFNS:

PHILADELPHIA, PA — OCTOBER 26, 2006 — The Board of Trustees of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS International) met October 22-23, 2006 and considered whether Philippine nurses who have passed the Professional Regulation Commission's (PRC) June 2006 nursing licensing exam are eligible for VisaScreen® Certification.

The Board directed its staff and counsel to review and assess whether the licensure process followed in light of the challenged results of the June 2006 exam is "comparable" with that required for nurses licensed in America, as required by U.S. law. CGFNS will then make a final determination of whether passers of the June 2006 exam are eligible for VisaScreen® certification. CGFNS expects to reach a final decision on the question of comparability in the near future. Any VisaScreen® applications that CGFNS receives from June 2006 passers will be accepted but deferred for a final decision until this assessment process is complete. If the assessment concludes that the license is not comparable, the VisaScreen® application from a June 2006 passer will be denied.

Three more years. A drop in the bucket compared to what's needed, but good nonetheless. Here's the text.

Welcome to Siskind Susser Bland's Visalaw Healthcare Immigration Blog. We intend to use this blog to quickly post news on health care immigration, to update folks on legislative advocacy and to pass on good links and resources on the subject. We'll also post our health care newsletter here in order for people to get the articles in their RSS readers.

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