With the passage of the law raising the H-1B cap on October 21 and the long-awaited health care worker regulations being issued on October 14, we have been receiving hundreds of inquiries from professionals regarding what steps they should take to insure that they will receive H-1B visas and permanent residence.
Here are general answers to some of their most frequently asked questions:
If you are a student with an Employment Card based on practical training, apply for a change of status to H-1B now. Don't wait until just before you Employment Card expires next summer. Why? Because there is more than a 50-50 chance that H-1B numbers for fiscal year 1999 will run out by June or July of 1999.
If you are a registered nurse who has yet to have visa petition submitted on your behalf, do so immediately. It currently takes INS's California Service Center between eight and nine months to process a visa petition. Only after the visa petition is approved can you apply for adjustment of status and an Employment Card. If you don't have a job offer, make an appointment to see me. I'll find a job offer (paying a minimum of $19 per hour) for you.
If you are a nurse or an occupational therapist with a pending application for adjustment of status, make sure you are scheduled for CGFNS's VisaScreen or NBCOT's credentials evaluation. Also, take the English test. On December 14, 1998, the INS will start handing out green cards to nurses and OT's. Our clients who are nurses and OT's will be ready to collect their green cards on that date. Will you?
If you are an H-1B professional who has yet to apply for permanent residence, time is a'wasting. The new law will permit the admission of an ADDITIONAL 142,500 H-1B visaholders into the U.S. Most will be natives of China or India, two countries where the quotas are already severely backlogged. The name of the game is to secure the earliest possible priority date. You establish a priority date as of the day that your application is received by the Labor Certificate. Obtaining a labor certificate for a software engineer or a primiary care physician is a piece of cake. What are you waiting for?
 INDOlink
|  Law Forum
|