Dear Readers:

Immigration lawyers typically think Congress, the President and federal regulatory agencies are the only entities that write laws and set and administer regulations and policies governing the issuance of visas. Not true. At least that is for health care workers. The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, for example, screens foreign nurses to determine whether they have qualifications equal to or greater than their American counterparts. They also ensure that the nurses have the English skills necessary to properly care for American patients. Nurse employers and recruiters have complained for years about the testing conditions for the Test of Spoken English. Noisy, crowded testing centers make concentration difficult and nurses who otherwise should be qualified to come to the US are left out in the cold. This week CGFNS announced that it will allow two new competing testing services to offer English exams to foreign nurses. The change could have as much of an impact on increasing foreign nurse admissions as any government policy announced in the last several months. For more information on the new exams, go to www.cgfns.org.

Is the L-1 visa the next target for anti-immigrant members of Congress? The number of L-1 visas issued in the last few years has skyrocketed. A large portion of the increase is attributable to Indian technology companies who have found the L-1 an attractive alternative to the highly regulated H-1B category. Is a crackdown in the making? This week guest columnist Gary Endelman weighs in on the topic.

Most people think that you're home free after you get the green card. But new green card holders need to still comply with a number of rules and regulations and need to continue considering immigration issues. In our ABCs of Immigration article this week, I am including a modified version of a letter I send out to clients who have just become permanent residents.

We include many of our regular features as well this week, including new government processing times, new court cases, border news and more.

Finally, as always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients. 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