Visa Bulletin to Reflect New Schedule A Category
Posted May 20, 2005
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The May 11, 2005 passage of the bill known as H.R. 1268, or Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005 has created a number of changes in immigration law. Among these is the reallocation of previously-unused visa numbers from 2001-2004 to the exclusive use by those considered to be under the Schedule A category who are exempt from the labor certification process. This includes Nurses and Physical Therapists. More information regarding this aspect of H.R. 1268 can be found in our May 6, 2005 MurthyBulletin article, Bill May Provide Limited Relief for Retrogression and H2Bs, available on MurthyDotCom.
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This change has given rise to questions about when the extra numbers will be available for this special subset of the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB3) category. It appears that this matter is likely to be resolved in the very near future. We have received reliable information from the U.S. Department of State (DOS) indicating that the Visa Bulletin, possibly for July 2005, may contain a separate category for the Schedule A cases. This would provide significant relief to employers of nurses and physical therapists. The DOS also indicated that they may amend the already-released June 2005 Visa Bulletin to include this new category as required under the recently-passed law. As of this writing, no update has been made.
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Thus, it appears that this much-needed relief may be available soon. We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy are happy to provide MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers with this information that likely will be updated in the U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin in the near future.
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