Dear Readers:
First of all, Merry Christmas to all of our readers celebrating the holiday. We hope your holiday season is joyous and that you have a safe and prosperous new year. We also wanted to let you know that next week we will be taking a break and will not publish as usual unless there is urgent news. We’ll be back right after the New Year.
While our firm is a full-service immigration practice, we are very well known nationally for our practice relating to health care immigration. If you read the news regularly, you probably have heard about the grave health care worker shortages in the US. There is a nationwide shortage of nurses and communities all over the country lack access to physicians. Health care employers are increasingly turning to immigrant nurses and doctors to fill the gap. This week the Department of Health and Human Services announced a new waiver program for foreign physicians that effectively restores the US Department of Agriculture and Department of Housing and Urban Development waiver programs that have disappeared in recent years. Thousands of communities around the country may benefit from this news. We report on the program at length in the week’s ABCs of Immigration feature.
We also report this week on an INS memorandum that spells out for the first time when nurses can qualify for H-1Bs. While the door has not been opened up much more than has previously been the case, employers will now be able to file H-1B applications for certain types of nurses with more certainty.
The news on immigration was more frightening for many. The INS announced this week that Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Armenia were next for the special registration program. Armenia was quickly removed from the list. And Pakistan’s government quickly protested. It may be a waste of time. Attorney General John Ashcroft told Larry King on his CNN talk show that the Justice Department plans on covering all nationalities within two years. That news coincided with the roundup of hundreds of Iranian nationals in Los Angeles and other INS offices who decided to comply with the rules and went in to register. Comparisons to the roundup of Japanese nationals in the US during World War II were immediately made by many observers. The most frightening aspect of the detentions was the fact that many of the people detained are in adjustment of status proceedings and are legally in the US. Most of these people are believed to have been released. But what sort of message is this sending to these people, the public and the world as a whole?
Within the last hour, Trent Lott, the majority leader of the US Senate announced his resignation. Bill Frist, the Senator from our home state – Tennessee – is expected to take the helm. Most of you probably know very little about Bill Frist. I am happy to report that Senator Frist follows the long tradition of supporting immigration. He supported a restoration of INA Section 245i the last time it came up for a vote. He co-sponsored legislation to create a new agricultural guestworker program last year. He supported increasing the cap for H-1B immigrants. More importantly, he is seen as a close ally of President Bush. This week, the President made it known that he wants 245i restored in this session of Congress. Senator Frist will be an important friend in the Senate if the President is serious.
In firm news, I’ve been quoted in the ABA Law Practice Management magazine in an article discussing web sites for law firms. In the latest issue of Nashville Post Magazine, I am quoted in a similar article. I’m also the author of an article on this subject in the same issue of Law Practice Management. Lawyer Marketing News, published by the popular Findlaw.com web site gives a favorable review to my new book, The Lawyers Guide to Marketing on the Internet, 2nd ed., which has been published by the American Bar Association. And the American Hospital Association quotes me in a news story they released on the expansion of the Conrad 20 program. These articles are linked on our web site at www.visalaw.com/news/ .
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://visalaw.wpengine.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-343-4890 or 901-682-6455.
Regards,
Greg Siskind
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. The information provided in this article has not been updated since its original posting and you should not rely on it until you consult counsel to determine if the content is still valid. We keep older articles online because it helps in the understanding of the development of immigration law.