Visalaw Healthcare Immigration Blog

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

IMMIGRANTS FACTOR IN TO HEALTH CARE REFORM DEBATE

What access immigrants will have to health care benefits covered in legislation being debated in Washington is the subject of recent headlines. The Immigration Policy Center has a new fact sheet laying out the case for including immigrants in the various proposals.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 8:53 AM

FILIPINO NURSES LOSE BIAS CLAIM

There are new developments in the messy case of two dozen Filipino nurses in Long Island who have been in a dispute with their employer. According to Newsday:

In two separate June 30 rulings, Administrative Law Judge Ellen K. Thomas of the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer in Falls Church, Va., which decides immigrant employment cases, rejected the nurses' claims, saying the resignations were not protected by federal immigration employment law.

The Justice Department also rejected the nurses' claims in 2007.

Thomas ruled that SentosaCare's complaints to the State Education Department and its lawsuits were not retaliatory because they were filed before company officials knew that the nurses had filed Justice Department complaints. She said there was no evidence that SentosaCare "caused" the indictment of the Avalon nurses.

"The judge factually rebutted every contention made by the nurses," said Elizabeth Hack, a Washington, D.C., attorney for SentosaCare.

Dennis Feliciano, the nurses' immigration attorney, said he was disappointed Thomas ruled without a hearing. He said he was considering an appeal to the federal court system.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 6:08 AM

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

FIRST PHYSICIAN NATURALIZES UNDER NEW MILITARY PROGRAM

From USCIS:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today naturalized the first nonimmigrant to enlist in the military under the Defense Department’s Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) pilot recruiting program.
Dr. Brown* was the first nonimmigrant to sign a contract under the MAVNI program. He enlisted in the Army in April, and in June, he applied to become a naturalized citizen. One month later, he passed his naturalization test and recited the Oath of Allegiance becoming a citizen of the United States.
“This ceremony happened in record time because our military liaison team maintained close coordination with the Army and tracked Dr. Brown’s naturalization packet from the time he applied with our Nebraska Service Center until today,” said Debra Rogers, acting Deputy Associate Director of USCIS’ Domestic Operations Directorate and head of USCIS’ Military Liaison team. “The MAVNI program is vital to the national interest, and as such we are very focused on its success.”
As a medical professional, Dr. Brown was commissioned as a Captain in the Army Medical Corps on July 3, and will serve in the Army for the next six years.
The one-year MAVNI pilot program will allow up to 1,000 non-citizens, who do not have permanent resident status but have been here legally for at least two years, to join the Army if they have the needed medical or foreign language and cultural expertise.
While citizenship is not guaranteed, nonimmigrants who apply under the MAVNI pilot program must undergo the same background checks, security screening and meet all of the general qualifications to become citizens of the United States, as do all other members of the U.S. armed forces who apply for citizenship.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 10:41 AM

Sunday, July 19, 2009

USCIS ISSUES NEW MEMO ON DENIED PT CASES

USCIS has issued a new guidance advising the public that it will reopen all denied I-129 H-1B cases and not charge a fee if a case was denied because USCIS incorrectly demanded a master's degree. The memorandum includes information on the process for requesting such a reopening.

USCIS issues further update on health workers -

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 6:03 AM

Thursday, July 16, 2009

MORE MEDIA COVERAGE OF ANA POLL

From Health Leaders.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 9:55 AM

Monday, July 13, 2009

NURSING SHORTAGE NOT BEING SOLVED BY RECESSION

The Lawrence World-Journal reports.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 11:34 AM

Sunday, July 12, 2009

SURVEY SHOWS MOST NURSES THINK SHORTAGE IS STILL A SERIOUS PROBLEM

A new survey of 15,000 nurses refutes arguments that the recession has ended the nursing shortage:

More than seven in ten nurses said that staffing on their unit and shiftis insufficient, and more than half said they are currently considering leaving their position, according to an American Nurses Association (ANA) online poll that drew more than 15,000 responses.

The poll, which has been posted on ANA’s Safe Staffing Saves Lives Campaign Web site (www.SafeStaffingSavesLives.org) since March 2008, showed that about 7,900 of the 15,000 respondents said they are considering leaving their position. About 42%, or 6,300 of the 15,000 respondents, said the reason they would leave is associated with inadequate staffing. Also, more than one in three nurses reported that they knew a nurse on their unit who left direct care nursing due to concerns about unsafe staffing.

“These results confirm what we have long been hearing from registered nurses: that unsafe staffing on their units is their top concern,” said ANA President Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR. “Nurses take our profession’s Code of Ethics very seriously. When obligations to our patients are compromised because there are not enough nurses on hospital units to provide the highest quality of care, registered nurses are understandably frustrated. ANA has a long track record of advocating for safe staffing conditions for the nation’s 2.9 million registered nurses.”

In 2007, ANA launched its “Safe Staffing Saves Lives” grassroots campaign calling for sufficient nurse staffing levels in healthcare facilities and supporting staffing legislation ANA crafted with members of Congress. Known as “The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act,” the legislation is expected to be re-introduced in Congress later this year.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 5:21 AM

Thursday, July 9, 2009

CONRAD 30 PROGRAM EXTENSION PROVISION INCLUDED IN SENATE'S DHS SPENDING BILL

Great news! The Hatch widows bill (which removes the requirement that a couple must have been married for two years before a US citizen dies) passed and included in that bill was a provision extending the Conrad 30 J-1 physician waiver program for three more years.

The House must agree to the amendment before it goes to the President and I do not yet know whether the bill will go back to the House for an up or down vote or whether there will be a conference committee to work out compromise language. More on this soon.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 6:32 PM

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

REPORT REFUTES NURSE BRAIN DRAIN ARGUMENT

The Council of Foreign Relations has released a report that discusses how protectionist US immigration policies hurt the country. The report discusses many issues including arguments that US immigration policies lead to "brain drains" in developing countries that need to retain talent. The report does note that there are some legitimate concerns about Africa, but there are no concerns with the Philippines, the country that sends the US more than 90% of its foreign nurses (compared to fewer than 5% from African countries):

But there are also examples where migration has produced positive
incentives for sending countries to invest in educating skilled workers.
The Philippines, for instance, which sends thousands of nurses around
the world, has developed an impressive system for educating nurses to
meet that demand; the result is that, though many trained nurses leave
to work abroad, many have also stayed at home, leaving the country
with more nurses per capita than Great Britain.

# posted by Greg Siskind @ 6:36 AM