Aftermath of retrogression. What to expect?

Rep · Sep 7, 2005

Dale,

I totally agree with your post.

Ray

suzanne4, RN · Sep 7, 2005

Me too.............. :)

dhel28 · Sep 7, 2005

Thanks for the analysis Dale.

Although it appears that there were no significant or "speedier" movements, I got an impression that NVC and the US embassies made some efforts to facilitate the processing of Schedule A. This maybe the result of allocating the manpower resources to the schedule A. I also think that come the new fiscal year (Oct 1), processing of Schedule A cases will slowdown, applying the logic of re-allocating resources to other cases.

I also read an article on "easing of Nurses shortage", it mentioned about hospitals getting more applicants for nurses thus the lesser need to get "foregn" trained nurses. This may mean that there are an increase in US nurses graduates, or the "faster" processing o foreign nurses resulted in the alleviation of nurses shortage. If this is accurate, it is not anymore a question of availability of visas, which we all know already that the 50k visa is enough "until the foreseeable future, but rather a question of demand of hospitals. If hospitals needs are already met, even if there are available visas, the need to hire foreign nurses will decrease. For hospitals, this will be more cost efficient because getting a foreign nurse is quite expensive, lest a long process. Again, this may or may not be accurate. Some say the US nursing shoratage in the US will last another decade, some says otherwise. If you remember back in 1991-1992, there was also a similar scenario where US also had a nursing shortage, and they said it will last for 20 years. But alas, come 1995, hiring of foreign nurses comes to a full stop.

These are all analysis and possible trends, it may or may not happen...but a strong probability.

God bless.

NYrnTX · Sep 7, 2005

Well written, Dale.

To everybody,
Since the BEST NEWS thread has been closed. I will be starting a new one. Topics that will be posted here would be experiences related after retrogression. What really happened to those applications that were pending before retrogression? Did the NVC completely cleared pending cases?
Based on my experience and from what i have read from other posts... I completely agree with Suzanne that NVC did not SPEEED THINGS UP and NVC did not cleared the backlog for Schedule A completely. In other words their processing is the same as even there is no retrogression for EB3. Although the good thing is that nurses were able to get interview appointments and visas.
The most anticipated date would be September 15, 2005. This will be the date (on or before) that the October VISA BULLETIN will be released. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act...October 1 marks the first quarter of the U.S. Fiscal Year 2006. It is stated on their law that new visa numbers will be released during this month.
EB3 applicants that were affected by retrogression particularly TECH workers are anxiously waiting and praying that visa numbers CUT OFF DATES will move. They are hoping that the EB3 category will change to U (unavailable) to a new cut-off date.
WHAT IS THE IMAPACT OF THIS TO SCHEDULE A???
Many are curious what is the impact of the new numbers to Schedule A/ EX Category that will be released this October. If logical analysis would be done, effect would slow down the processing of Schedule A workers because NVC resources would be allocated to other EB3 applicants.
The same logical analysis was done when the EB3 was shut down last June 2005, but it did not SPEED THINGS UP with NVC for the processing of Schedule A.
So i will agree with Suzanne that there will be no effect. Cases will be processed according to priority date or Cut Off Dates and it would still be slow.
THE GOOD NEWS FOR SCHEDULE A...
According to the law, Schedule A workers can EAT UP THE VISAS from the normal pool of visas that will be available as long as their cut-off dates are included in the EB3 visa bulletin. It means that instead of the 50k visas will be depleted, they will be depleting first the allocated visas for the first quarter of the U.S. Fiscal year 2006. More visas for Schedule A this October.
Please post questions, comments, experiences here!
still_DALE

jonRNMD · Sep 8, 2005

ackkkk! have to process my papers ASAP :uhoh21:

nimishavarghese · Sep 8, 2005

Dale....

I have a question... Since Schedule a is categorised as EX and not E3 how will we able to eat from the normal EB3 pool. Since that is only for EB3.

R they considering EX as a sub category under EB3 or is it an independent category???

himdale · Sep 9, 2005

Dale....
I have a question... Since Schedule a is categorised as EX and not E3 how will we able to eat from the normal EB3 pool. Since that is only for EB3.
R they considering EX as a sub category under EB3 or is it an independent category???

There is a big difference from E3 and EB3... E3 is a non-immigrant working visas dedicated solely for Aussies...while EB3 stands for Employment Based Immigrant Visas Third Preference Category.

Generally speaking Schedule A workers are under EB3 simply because of their qualifications. ( A Bachelor's Degree or a four year course). There are three U.S. Government Agencies responsible for processing of an immigrant visa petition. The first one is the Department of Labor (DOL) --- the DOL is the one that listed PT's and nurses as shortage occupation so they are classified as Schedule A by DOL. As a benefit of being a Schedule A, they are exempted from the lenghty labor certification process. It saves time on processing.

The second gov't agency is the USCIS (INS before). They are the one the reviews the Employment Based petition like if the applicant and sponsor met the criteria to be approved.

The last is the Department of State, under the DOS is the Visa Office and NVC and ofcourse with the Consular Post. Schedule A are normally under EB3 that is why they were affected by retrogression before. But because of the special law that was created...a special category was created for schedule A...simply to separate the Schedule A from the normal EB3 pool.

Actually the problem remains with the NVC on how they would use/allocate these numbers and how they would interpret the law. According to the law, the 50k allocation for Schedule A will only be used once the normal alloted visas for EB3 are exhausted. Since October 1 will mark the 1st quarter of the U.S. Gov't fiscal year 2006 EB3 visas will be available...and Schedule A can take up a share on these visas as long as their PD's met the cut off date.

Dale

nimishavarghese · Sep 9, 2005

I meant to say EB3 Before people used to say E1 E2 E3... like that

Well... So defnitley we will have our folks with a cut of date. And we will be able to use the normal EB3... Great....

popy05 · Sep 10, 2005

Hi I Saw A News In Shusterman Saying Retrogression Again What Does It Mean What Changes You Expect I Have Started A Thread Name' Retrogression Again; For Same

suzanne4, RN · Sep 10, 2005

Anything related to the Retrogression, current or in the near future, should be posted right here. There is no reason to open another thread for the same topic.

himdale · Sep 11, 2005

Hi I Saw A News In Shusterman Saying Retrogression Again What Does It Mean What Changes You Expect I Have Started A Thread Name' Retrogression Again; For Same

First of all Schedule A WILL NOT BE AFFECTED BY RETROGRESSION. I am 100% sure until the end of Dec. 31, 2005. Or the first quarter of the U.S. fiscal year 2006.

Retrogression has been defined a thousand times. It simply means that demand for U.S. visa numbers is greater than the supply. Retrogression is triggered when there are no available visas for a given fiscal quarter. The effect of this is that CUT-OFF dates for Employment Based Categories rolls back several years...

Atty. Carl Shusterman (entitiled to one of "The Best Lawyers In America" in the field of immigration law) states that there would still be retrogression for EB3 simply because the demand is still greater than the supply EVEN VISA NUMBERS would be released this October. THIS IS NOT ANOTHER RETROGRESSION. RETROGRESSION WAS NEVER LIFTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

The ony good thing is that Congress allocated additional 50k visas for Schedule A >>> segregating them from the rest of EB3 that is retrogerssed. Congress has no interntion to eliminate retrogerssion, they only PATCHED the problem temporarily because there is pressure from the Healthcare Sector that U.S. needs foreign healthcare workers.

With PERM running smooth, USCIS eliminating the backlog, the bottleneck would be the NVC...more delays will be expected for the future unless new laws are formulated.

Dale