AMA-IMG Section and AMA House of Delegates passed a Resolution in June 2006!
posmd said:
Up until now one of the advantages of NIW was the relative independence it offered the physician from the employer atleast after the 3 yr waiver committment for former J1s. This was in addition to the spouse EAD benefits. Clearly now this has been wiped out right now for those from India.
My understanding is that you would then have to be on a H1b and continue to extend it until you can file a 485 and with it for EAD ie once the priority date gets current from the ice ages. Therefore you get to be under the thumb of your employer until such time.
I suspect the difficulty getting our issue heard is that there is no heavy lobby for us. The AMA is in my view a pack of F$^&%$$ who simply do not give a damn about FMGs. If you doubt me try to contact them and get them to do anything pro FMGs. AHA is not as worried since their employees are nurses and PTs not docs. Still they may be more sympathetic to pushing for us than the AMA.
Absent legislation soon the situation looks bleak for NIW physicians for the next couple of years.
Through the efforts of a few docs from India, a Resolution was passed by the IMG Section of the AMA, and subsequently by the AMA House of Delegates in June 2006! This info is posted on the website of the AMA-IMG Section (requires membership for access, I think).
Resolution 234: Expedite the Immigrant Visa Process for Physicians
Resolution 234 asked that our American Medical Association lobby Congress and
the federal government to exempt physicians with H-1B visas who fulfilled their
J-1 Visa waiver requirements from any immigration caps.
HOD Action: Adopted
I do not know if this is sufficient by itself. The original language in the draft of the Resolution that I had seen, carried the word "Immigrant Visas", far more specific. I think the IMG Section and its leadership should be pressured to take it further.
Also, the Home page of the IMG Section says
"The AMA-IMG Section is aware of the current legislative discussions regarding "green card retrogressions" for certain countries and how it may impact international medical graduates. We are monitoring this issue with our D.C. office as well as meeting with legal counsel. Please visit this page in the near future for updated information."
I am going to write to the Chair of the IMG Section, Dr. Venkat Rao ( I think his email address is
venkatrao@aol.com).I urge everybody else to do it as well to push him to pursue this further with the AMA's lobbying machinery.
To my knowledge, AAPI was also very helpful to Indian doctors affected by retrogression. Now, its current President is a member of the AMA House of Delegates.
I think AMA has enough political muscle to get something included innocuously to exempt doctors from Immigration quotas - but I do not know how to build enough pressure on them from our own ethnic organizations or all doctors who are in retrogression.
Any ideas to push this further?