Dear Readers:

The last month has been filled with important news on health care immigration. The INS released a very important memorandum outlining the circumstances where nurses can qualify for H-1B visas. A new nationwide J-1 primary care physician waiver was announced by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The State Department announced that states will be able claim up to ten extra J waiver slots this year if they had too many cases filed last year. And an important lawsuit was filed challenging the INS' national interest waiver rules for physicians. We report on all of these issues as well as provide the rest of the news.

We also are pleased to include guest articles by Brian Grutman and Bruce Hake. Brian discusses why the INS' restrictive policy on H-1B visas is dangerous to Americans and Bruce describes his innovative system for analyzing J-1 hardship waiver cases.

We remind readers that we get many of our best leads on stories from our readers so please send your tips to me at gsiskind@visalaw.com or my colleague Karen Weinstock at kweinstock@visalaw.com.

Finally, please don't hesitate to contact me by email or by phone at 800-748-3819 if you would like to discuss an immigration matter for yourself or your company or organization.

Kind regards,

Greg Siskind