Visalaw Healthcare Immigration Blog

Sunday, February 25, 2007

DRA TO HOLD ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN TUNICA, MISSISSIPPI

If you work with the Delta Regional Authority on J-1 physician waivers, this conference may be worth attending.

The Delta Regional Authority will hold its annual conference in Tunica, Miss., from April 18-20. The conference, which is expected to attract several hundred business and community leaders from throughout the eight-state Delta region, will have as its theme "Why The Delta Matters."

There is no registration fee for the conference, but those planning to attend are asked to register in advance by going to www.dra.gov.

The conference will be held at the Gold Strike Casino Resort.

Go to http://www.dra.gov for more information.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 6:27 PM

Friday, February 23, 2007

H-1B PHYSICIANS WIN VICTORY OVER DOL IN WAGE DISPUTE

The Fargo, North Dakota VA Hospital suffers a loss in a dispute over whether it was paying the prevailing wage to H-1B physicians.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 11:36 AM

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

CGNFS TO DENY VISASCREEN TO THOSE TAKING TAINTED FILIPINO LICENSING EXAM

This is a huge blow to the many Filipino nurses who took the June 2006 licensure exam in the Philippines. While it is known that there was some cheating on the exam, most are innocent. Unfortunately, they are all going to pay dearly. CGFNS will now require all of these nurses to retest at a later date if they are going to get the needed credentials to enter the US:

The VisaScreen® Certification Program is a federally mandated immigration screening program for certain foreign health professionals seeking an occupational visa to the United States. CGFNS is designated by U.S. immigration law to administer this program. Pursuant to its mandate under Section 212(a)(5)(C) of the U.S. Immigration Nationality Act, CGFNS has determined that those Philippine nurses who were sworn in as licensed nurses in the Philippines following their passing the compromised June 2006 licensure examination are not eligible for the issuance of a VisaScreen certificate. CGFNS has further determined that the June 2006 passers are able to overcome this bar and qualify for issuance of a VisaScreen certificate by taking the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 on a future Philippine nursing exam.

CGFNS acknowledges that those nurses who have been sworn in as registered nurses as a result of their passing the June 2006 licensure exam are validly licensed in the Philippines. CGFNS raises no question of their lawful right to practice nursing in the Philippines. U.S. immigration law, however, requires CGFNS to make a determination as part of the VisaScreen process about several elements of the visa applicants' education, training, license and experience -- including their comparability to U.S. nurses. After reviewing the circumstances concerning the irregularities of the June 2006 nursing licensing exam, CGFNS concluded that the licensure process for the June 2006 licensure exam is not comparable to that required of U.S. nurses, and that U.S. immigration law therefore prohibits issuance of a VisaScreen Certificate to individuals who passed this exam. The VisaScreen certification process is an Immigration process -- not a licensure process -- that must be satisfied to obtain an occupational visa to work in the United States. Passing NCLEX is a licensure requirement to practice nursing in the United States, but it is not a substitute for the federal VisaScreen rule.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 8:28 PM

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

AAO HARDSHIP WAIVER VICTORY FOR SYRIAN J-1 HOLDER

My longtime friend Bruce Hake has won a nice victory at the AAO for a J-1 hardship waiver case. The case is posted at BIB Daily.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 7:14 AM

Monday, February 12, 2007

AYTES MEMO IMPLEMENTING NIW CASE RELEASED

And here it is.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 12:48 PM

Saturday, February 10, 2007

NCSBN CONFIRMS PHILIPPINES NEWS

Here it is.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 4:11 AM

TEX AS SENATOR SAID TO BE INTRODUCING NURSING GREEN CARD RECAPTURE BILL NEXT WEEK

Sources are telling us that Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will introduce a bill in the next one to two weeks which would recapture 90,000 unused green cards from past years to be used by people in Schedule A occupations. The vast majority of applicants - probably 95% or more - will be used by nurses if the bill becomes law. The bill is similar to one passed in 2005 which allocated 50,000 unused immigrant visas from prior years for Schedule A occupations.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 3:42 AM

Friday, February 9, 2007

NCLEX TO BE OFFERED IN THE PHILIPPINES

This is major news for nursing immigration in the US. NCLEX is the national licensing exam for nurses and almost every state in the country requires it. To date, Filipino nurses generally had to take the CGFNS predictor exam, get to the US on a green card and then take NCLEX after arrival, often having to wait months in the US before beginning work and sometimes never passing the licensing exam. Hospitals and staffing companies also have to take the risk of financing the green card, waiting for a year or two and then having a nurse arrive who never gets qualified. NCLEX has been offered for the past few years in Seoul, Hong Kong and London, but the vast majority of foreign nurses in the US come from the Philippines. So this could dramatically improve green card processing for nurses, reduce costs for employers and ensure that Americans benefit by increasing the likelihood significantly that nurses who arrive will, in fact, be able to practice nursing.

The National Conference of State Boards of Nursing has indicated it will take about three months to get going in Manila and that about 25,000 test takers are expected to take NCLEX. The announcement was made last night by NCSBN's Faith Fields at a dinner in Chicago yesterday evening which was attended by NCSBN officials and a Filipinio delegation headed by the Philippines Overseas Chairman Dante A. Ang.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 1:05 PM

Thursday, February 8, 2007

USCIS SAID TO BEGIN APPROVING SPECIALIST PHYSICIANS FOR NATIONAL INTEREST WAIVERS

Sources are telling us that USCIS headquarters has sent a memorandum to the Service Centers implementing the Schneider national interest waiver case and also going further than this in agreeing to accept specialists in the national interest waiver program. This seems to mark the end of a nine year battle with USCIS to correctly implement the national interest waiver legislation passed by Congress in the 90s. Aside from the specialists, the memo also confirms that all time in underserved areas will count aside from J-1 time and that the five years of service need not be completed in a six year period as required under the regulations.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 10:21 AM