Dear Readers:

We report on a number of significant developments in health care immigration in this issue of our newsletter. We’re seeing a re-run of early 2005 when green cards for nurses ran out. A last minute attempt to pull more unused green card numbers from the unused allotments from prior years was unsuccessful and the 109^th Congress left this week with no action. So now we are facing several more months of waiting on Congress to address this health care crisis.

Physicians fared a little better. In the closing hours of the Congress, the Conrad 30 J-1 waiver program was continued. But not for very long. The program will now expire in June 2008. Look for a push to make major changes to the physician program.

The General Accounting Office released a major report on J-1 physician waivers that will no doubt be cited regularly by proponents and opponents of physician immigration. We summarize the GAO report’s findings this month.

We also report on a new study on foreign nursing prepared by AMN Healthcare, the largest nurse staffing company in the US.

And we report on the rest of the news in health care immigration.

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We remind readers that we do not charge employers and recruiters of health care employees for consultations and that policy extends to individual physicians as well. Please feel free to call our office at 901-682-6455 to arrange for an appointment with me or one of my colleagues.

Kind regards,