you can consider this thread as closed since information posted here became obsolete on may 11 2005, once president george w bush signed the apropriations bill in to a law to make additional 50,000 visas available for nurses. this thread was started on dec 11 2004 when the worst news hit rn community that the pd dates have been retrogressed to jan 2002 and nurses will be the hardest hit.
now its official.
pd dates for eb3 cases from india,china, philippines retrogress to jan 2002.
this is worst news for the rn community who wish to migrate to us.
this means that, rns who are already in us will not be able to file i485 (aos) after dec 31 2004 till the priority dates become current. its not clear how long it will take.
those who have managed to file aos will have a huuuuuuuuuge waiting time for their gc apporval.
those who are outside us, will have a loooooooong wait
for someone who is in us and has either cgfns/ncelx (with or without visascreen), the only option is to get an employer to file for i140 and 485 before dec 31 2004. this will make them eligible for ead and legal status in us.
considering the rn shortage, there are chances that they may introduce a new visa category or an exception for nurses. depends on how hard the empoyers lobby the congress.
