Get a better understanding of how the rules work on the EB3 retro..
hope27485 said:
If the above assumptions are correct i.e most of the cases are from EB3 and mainly from mexican immigrants then as far as i know the Quota is country based and that dates may not retrogress for people from other countries.
Actually Shusterman just published a very good explanation of how the backlog and retrogression will work. I suggest people use the information in this posting to get some better perspective.
4. EB Numbers Expected to Backlog Soon - RNs Hardest Hit
Charles Dickens begins his famous novel "A Tale of Two Cities" with the
words: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
The same is true in today's immigration world. During the past three
years, the hundreds of thousands of applications for adjustment of
status based upon employment-based (EB) petitions were submitted, but
were never decided. However, during the past few months, the CIS has
been deciding over 20,000 each month. In January and February of this
year, our law firm received less than half a dozen I-485 approvals.
During September and October, we received over 100 approvals each month.
For our clients who received approvals, this is the "best of times."
However, because of all of these approvals, starting on January 1, 2005,
for many aspiring immigrants and their employers, this will be the
"worst of times." This is because, absent congressional intervention,
the EB 3rd preference category (professionals and skilled workers) for
persons born in China, India and the Philippines will backlog between
two and three years. Persons with "priority dates" prior to some
unknown date in 2002 will no longer be able to apply to adjust their
status in the U.S.
Why is this?
The number of persons who may obtain permanent residence each year
through their employment is limited to 140,000 plus certain exceptions
which raise this year's total to over 200,000, a large number, but not
large enough to accommodate 20,000+ approvals each month. In order to
keep approvals within numerical limits, the State Department will, in
it's January 2005 Visa Bulletin (which we will post online in early
December) announce "cut-off" dates sometime in 2002 for aspiring EB
immigrants from China, India and the Philippines, the three countries
with the most EB applicants.
What difference will this make?
Since most EB immigrants are required to have approved applications for
labor certification before they may apply for adjustment of status, and
because it takes at least two years to obtain an approved labor
certificate, they will not be affected by the backlogs. However, there
is one group of applicants who will be immediately and adversely
affected by the backlogs.
Registered Nurses (& Physical Therapists)
The Labor Department exempts persons in shortage occupations from
undergoing the labor certification procedure since few, if any, U.S.
workers are available to apply for their jobs. The shortage list
currently consists of only two occupations: registered nurses and
physical therapists. My guess is that for every physical therapist who
applies for permanent residence in the U.S., at least a hundred RNs do
so. The number of job vacancies at U.S. hospitals for RNs exceeds
100,000 and is rapidly growing. The shortage in nurses is directly
responsible for tens of thousands of unnecessary patient deaths in the
U.S. each year.
Since RNs are usually ineligible for temporary H-1B visas (since a four-
year university degree is not a prerequisite for most RN jobs),
thousands of RNs come to the U.S. as tourists each year, pass the state
licensing exam, and are sponsored for permanent residence by U.S.
hospitals. Such RNs can obtain work authorization from the CIS in a
matter of weeks. With U.S. nursing schools closing down, and the nurse
shortage growing more severe all the time, this influx of foreign-born,
U.S.-licensed nurses provides an important safety valve for hard-pressed
hospitals desperately seeking trained RNs.
Most foreign-born RNs are Filipinos. Because their language of
instruction is English, and because they usually obtain their nursing
education in order to work abroad, they are ideal candidates to fill
vacant positions in U.S. hospitals. For over 40 years starting in the
1950s, our immigration laws allowed them to enter the U.S. to work in a
matter of weeks using temporary visas. This visa category was allowed
to expire in 1995. Since then, they have used the permanent residence
process to obtain work permits. However, since they do not have
"priority dates" dating back to 2002, this route will no longer be
possible after the end of December.
Unless Congress takes immediate action, on January 1, 2005, this safety
valve will cease to exist. The real losers will be U.S. patients in
hospitals who lack nurses to care for them.
For information about the national shortage of nurses, see our "Nurse"
page at
http://shusterman.com/toc-rn.html#8
