EB3 Retrogression...Light at End of Tunnel
On April 21, 2005 Senate has passed on Appropriations Bill H.R. 1268. An amendment in this bill relates to EB3 retrogression by recapturing all unused visa numbers for EB3 category for year 2001, 2002,2003 and 2004 and reserving 50 % of such numbers to nurses and the balance to Engineers. The bill now moves to the House for debate and voting.Check this out...More to come! Also check out Shusterman.
http://hutchison.senate.gov/speec438.htm
Language: The language, as modified and accepted by unanimous consent was amendment #0379 to HR 1268.
Reads: On page 231, between lines 3 and 4, insert the following new section:
Recapture of Visas
Sec.6047. section 106(d)(2)(a) of the American competitiveness in the twenty-first century act of 2000 (PL106-313; 8 USC 1153 note) is amended-
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the period at the end of the second sentence "and any such visa that is made available due to the difference between the number of employment-based visas that were made available in fiscal year 2001,2002,2003 or 2004 and the number of such visas that were actually used in such fiscal year shall be made available only to employment-based immigrants and the dependants of such immigrants, and 50% of such visas shall be made available to those whoseimmigrant worker petitions were approved based on schedule A, as defined in section 656.5 of title 20, Code of Federal Regulations, as promulgated by the Secretary of Labor"; and
(2) in paragraph(2)(A) by striking "and 2000" and inserting "through 2004"
Explanation: Nurses enter the U.S. under the so-called EB-3 immigration category. They primarily enter the U.S. from the Philippines, India, and China. Each of these countries has an annual cap and within that cap a limit on the numbers who may enter the U.S. in each category. Nurses often compete for green cards with other high-tech workers. Because of a backlog in processing these visas, the INS (now the USCIS) has decided to cut-off processing entrants who have filed applications after January 1, 2002. This means that new applicants will be cut off altogether this year.
The above language is modeled on similar language included in the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (title I of Pub. L. 106-313, enacted on October 17, 2000). This Act recaptured those employment-based numbers that were available but not used in fiscal years 1999 and 2000, thus creating a pool of numbers which could be allocated to EB categories once their annual limit were reached. The new language would recapture the unused numbers from 2001-2004, which, again, would alleviate the arbitrary caps and enable qualified nurse applicants to once again be processed.
