Update on Retrogression
Posted: Tuesday, April 08, 2008
by Nicholas Cifuentes
Immigration Solutions
The U.S. Department of State recently released the March 2008 Visa Bulletin, which indicates the availability of immigrant visas (green cards) for the month of March 2008. Dramatic advances in the cut-off dates occurred in the EB-3 category (the category that covers nurses) for Philippines (more than 2 years), India (almost 3 months) and all countries except China, India, Mexico and Philippines (more than 2 years). This sudden advance in the cut-off dates is an effort by the State Department to guarantee that the full annual quota of immigrant visas is used before the end of the current fiscal year (September 30, 2008). In addition, the State Department, by making more immigrant visas available earlier in this fiscal year, is attempting to avoid the chaos and confusion that resulted near the end of the last fiscal year in July 2007 when the remaining supply of unused immigrant visas were suddenly made available to all countries in all categories. It must be noted, however, that the March 2008 Visa Bulletin warns that if the expected increase in immigrant visa usage materializes; future cut-off date movements could slow or stop.
Various groups of healthcare employers, nurse recruiting companies, and related entities and persons are presently lobbying for a legislative solution. The present focus is on short-term immediate relief for nurses. In addition, long-term permanent relief is being pursued. Specific proposals include exempting nurses from the annual immigrant visa quota restrictions, increasing the number of immigrant visas available in the EB-3 quota category that applies to nurses, and creating a new nonimmigrant visa to allow nurses to come to the U.S. immediately to start work while waiting for the immigrant visa process ("green card") to be completed. Hospitals and nurse recruiters in the U.S. are encouraged to contact their Senators and Congressmen to express their support for these legislative efforts to relieve the current shortage of nurses in the U.S. by speeding up the process to bring foreign nurses to the U.S.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Recruiting foreign nurses to the USA is not the solution to the so called nursing shortage here. Wages and Conditions are the problem and will only be exacerbated by nurses from the third world who do not usually advocate for improved nursing conditions. American nurses need to lobby for increased enrollment and financial support for training our own nurses. The California nursing shortage is starting to ease due to this and hopefully will continue. I encourage every American nurse to recruit an Amercian citizen to become a nurse. The Third World needs to raise the standards for working conditions/pay. This can only be accomplished from within by pressure from the large number of nurses that they train. Speaking from an advanced nurse practice perspective,the healthcare "culture" shock of the USA can be very difficult to adapt to. If American trained new grads require extensive orientation in their first positions to develop critical thinking skills and autonomy, it is difficult to imagine the obstacles faced by foreign trained nurses.
When is retrogression would be lifted?how long give concrete news about it
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