Dear Readers:

A decade has now passed since the implantation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. There is already much analysis going on in the press concerning the success of the agreement. From an immigration standpoint, the story is largely the movement of people across the US-Canadian border. Mexicans have not been using the TN visa at all. That is largely because the procedures for getting TN visas for Mexicans has been harder than for Canadians. But that is about to change. Come January, the process for getting Mexicans TN visas gets much easier. Instead of the process resembling the H-1B category, it will start to look more like the process for Canadian TNs. Applicants won’t be able to get in just by bringing their documents to a port of entry. But they can apply at a consulate without having to first file an I-129 petition in the US. Also, the 5,500 limit on Mexican TNs will go away (though that limit was never close to being reached in the last ten years).

Another story we report on this week is the re-opening of the US Department of Health and Human Service’s J-1 physician waiver program. The program was closed down shortly after it was opened last summer. The program was one that held the promise of alleviating an ever-worsening physician shortage in this country. We can pretty much forget count this program out, however, due to some new requirements added to the program which will dramatically curtail the number of positions that will qualify for waivers. Positions in Medically Underserved Areas will no longer qualify. Positions with most for-profit private employers will no longer work. And not even all Health Professional Shortage Area communities will qualify. Communities must meet a HPSA score of 14.

Advocates for foreign physicians have long complained that the US Department of Health and Human Services has taken a hostile view of international medical graduates for decades. When the US Department of Agriculture waiver program was closed last year, the US Department of Health and Human Services a few months later volunteered to become the new national waiver program. That news was greeted suspiciously by the immigration bar. But when the HHS released the rules for the program in June of this year, immigrant physician advocates were pleasantly surprised that the program was one that could probably work. But after just a couple of months of operation, HHS closed down the program. When it reopened this week, the new program looked a lot like what immigration advocates originally expected – a waiver process so restrictive that it would work only for perhaps a few dozen doctors a year.  HHS owes it to the thousands of communities across the country struggling to provide access to health care why it is making the rules tougher when all the data coming out is showing that the physician shortage is getting worse.

In firm news, we held our second annual Holiday Open House this week. It was great seeing everyone who came. At the party we first honored paralegal Soky Von Dett for five years of devoted service to the firm. And then we followed with the announcement that attorney David Jones has become a partner in the law firm. Congratulations Soky and David!

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients and employers seeking to comply with immigration laws. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.

Regards,

Greg Siskind