By Thomas J. Joy, Esq.
October 2008 Newsletter
October 1, 2008 marks the start of the new government Fiscal Year 2009 (“FY 2009”). At this time the new annual quota of immigrant visa numbers becomes available. Unfortunately, retrogression is still with us.
The anxiously awaited State Department October Visa Bulletin indicates EB-3 cutoff dates as follows: China (October 1, 2001), India (July 1, 2001), Mexico (July 1, 2002), Philippines (January 1, 2005), all other countries (January 1, 2005). Earlier visa bulletins had predicted that FY 2009 would start with the more favorable cutoff dates that had existed in June 2008 just before the EB-3 category became totally unavailable from July through September 2008.
However, heavier demand from USCIS than anticipated has caused the State Department to establish cutoff dates further back than those that existed for June 2008.
Finally, a note in the October Visa Bulletin states that little if any forward movement is likely until the extent of the USCIS backlog of old priority dates can be determined. As a result, at this time, it is impossible to predict or even guess how soon immigrant visa numbers will become available for later filed cases. We will keep you advised of any new information as it is released by the State Department.
In the area of proposed new laws to increase the immigrant visa quotas for nurses and to recapture unused immigrant visa numbers from previous annual quotas, significant progress has been made as previously reported here. The nurse legislation and the recapture legislation introduced in the House of Representatives has been repeatedly postponed for further hearings and the recapture legislation introduced in the Senate has not yet been scheduled for hearings.
This proposed legislation is the result of bipartisan efforts. With Congress leaving for the upcoming national elections and the ongoing problems with the US economy, it is unlikely that this pending legislation will be enacted this year. However, due to the bipartisan support for and the significant progress of this pending legislation this past year, we are optimistic that same or similar legislation will be reintroduced in the new Congress which will start in early 2009.
As stated here previously, we advise and encourage you to continue to file your Schedule A immigrant visa petitions for nurses. This initial step in the immigrant process is not prevented by the presence of retrogression. By filing now, you will be ahead of the competition when retrogression is lifted by the enactment of the proposed nurse and recapture legislation.
