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Retrogression

“Retrogression” is the term used by the US Government to describe when more people apply in a certain category than there are visas available. The U.S. Department of State ("DOS") establishes a cut-off date, which is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be issued a visa within the numerical limits. Visa numbers are available only to those applicants with priority dates before the cut-off date.

In recent years, USCIS (and its predecessor, INS) had slowed down the processing of green card (I-485) adjustment of status applications for workers in the US on non-immigrant visas, causing a substantial backlog of employment-based cases. This slow processing resulted in fewer immigrant visa numbers being used. In turn, this reduced use of immigrant visa numbers created the impression of visa availability in all employment-based categories. When USCIS began to address the backlog in 2004 by processing adjustment of status applications at a faster rate, however, these available immigrant visa numbers were used up quickly. Because so many visa numbers were quickly used up, there are fewer available, so the DOS had to set a limit on visa distribution in the EB-3 category.

Stated another way, the number of people waiting in line for EB-3 visas did not significantly increase; instead, the number of visas being issued recently increased and resulted in a shortfall for certain countries.

Retrogression History

In December 2004, DOS determined that the visa demand for EB-3 category applicants (skilled and professional workers) from mainland China, India, and the Philippines exceeded the per-country numerical limits in that category. As a result, DOS set the cut-off date for EB-3 applicants from China, India, and the Philippines at January 1, 2002. This roll-back in priority dates is what is referred to as "visa number retrogression" (or regression). The effect is that applicants in the EB-3 preference category may not apply for (or receive) their green cards through adjustment of status at USCIS or through consular processing at a U.S. consulate abroad unless their priority date is before January 1, 2002.

In May 2005, President Bush signed the Iraq/Tsunami Appropriations Bill that included an Amendment to recapture 50,000 unused Permanent Visas to be used for Schedule A occupations. By the end of July beginning of August 2005, the US Consulates in the Philippines and India were once again issuing visas to nurses.

By November 2006, the 50,000 visa were gone and immigration went into Retrogression again stating Priority Dates of 2001.

Current Retrogression

Because the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIR) was occupying the time of the 110th Congress in the spring of 2007, no other immigration measure, such as the repeat of the recapture in 2005 of more unused visas for use by Schedule A, was attainable.

Boarder security and “amnesty” issues were predominate in the debates in the Senate. By June, no consensus could be reached because of the predominate amnesty issue the CIR was taken off the floor.

When this occurred, multiple businesses that, like ours, rely on legal immigration began to lobby to have an immigration measure added to one of the appropriations bills in the Senate. HCCA became a member of the Coalition To Improve Healthcare Staffing (CTIHS.org) of 40 or so staffing and recruitment companies, which hired a lobbying team to lobby the cause.

It became apparent that a lot of education, of both the Congress and the American public, needed to occur in order to accomplish an amendment sponsored by Senators Hutchison (R-TX) and Schumer (D-NY) to recapture 61.000 visas to be used for Schedule A occupations. HCCA and 8 other staffing companies funded a grant for a White Paper by the National Foundation for American Policy to demonstrate the dangerous impact of the US nursing shortage on existing nurses at the bedside, patient care, and more importantly, patient safety. In addition, the coalition funded a grant with the National Foundation for a White Paper on the contribution the International nurse makes to US healthcare.

The White Paper addressing the dangers was picked up by several new sources including the Wall Street Journal’s “Diagnosis Critical” article. This served greatly to quickly education Congress. After working for several months lobbying the Senate, our amendment was placed on the Labor HHS Appropriations bill and passed in the Senate. The bill then went to Conference (members from both the House and the Senate review the bill because it had already cleared the House without all the amendments added in the Senate – the House reps in Conference have to agree the additions or strike them).

Our amendment was stricken from the bill. Supposition is that certain special interest groups did not want any immigration measure on a bill unless it also included their own amendment.

What is next?

Several companies in the Coalition, of which HCCA International is one, formed the American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment in November 2007 (www.AAIHR.org). The Association and Coalition sought advice from Congresswoman Lofgren’s office (Chairman of the House Sub-Committee on Immigration). Chairwoman Lofgren’s staff is working on a small but broader based immigration bill that will keep America moving until comprehensive immigration reform becomes a reality. The intent is to include short term visa exemption for nurses, which includes a $1,500 fee to be paid by the employer. This fee would go into a fund to be used to support domestic incentives to attract US instructors and nursing students.

It was recommended that we develop a free-standing bill that could be introduced on its own, but could also be incorporated into the Lofgren bill. This is the path we are taking while keeping in close touch with Chairwoman Lofgren’s staff.

Additional Immigration News

General information about how bills are submitted to Congress

Tennessee Nursing Workforce (-Jennifer Murray)

Open the Door to Foreign Health Professionals
       (- Susan Nowakowski)

Hospital Leaders Urge Legislators Not to Destabilize
       Florida's Healthcare Landscape ( - Miami Herald)