Chris Musillo on Nurse and Allied Health Immigration

by Chris Musillo

The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin guru, Charlie Oppenheim, hosts monthly meetings with the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Charlie Oppenheim is the Department of State’s Chief of the Control and Reporting Division. He is the officer who is responsible for producing the Visa Bulletin each month.

This month’s Check In With Charlie featured projections for EB-2 and EB-3, which are the most popular categories for readers of this Blog. Here are some of this month’s highlights, along with our analysis:

EB-2 Worldwide. The Worldwide EB-2 should return to current in October and remain there for the rest of this calendar year.

EB-2 India. This category is expected to use the full allotment of visas in September, which may result in the category becoming temporarily unavailable. Charlie hopes to advance the final action date to December 2008 in the 1Q 2018. It may advance into 2009 at some point in late FY2018.

EB-2 and EB-3 China. In FY2018, EB-2 and EB-3 will return to the prior inverted condition where China EB-3 has a smaller retrogression than China EB-3. History tells us that this leads to China EB-3 “downgrades”.

EB-3 Worldwide. This category will remain current or close to current for the foreseeable future.

EB-3 India. This category will advance about one retrogress month by one real calendar month in FY 2018.

EB-3 Philippines. It is not expected that FY2018 will be as positive as FY2017 was to this category. Charlie speculates, and Musillo Unkenholt can confirm based on our internal metrics, that progressions will slow in FY2018. We expect an average of about a 1.5-2-year retrogression in FY 2018.

Please read the Musillo Unkenholt Healthcare and Immigration Law Blog at www.musillo.com and www.ilw.com. You can also visit us on Facebook, Twitter and LinknedIn.

Senior Associate, Maria Schneider, will be speaking to attorneys in Birmingham on August 24, 2017 as a part of the Alabama State Bar Association’s Lawyer University.



Lawyer University is an initiative of the Alabama State Bar that monitors changing economic and technological trends affecting the state’s attorneys and helps the attorneys to obtain the practical skills needed to meet these challenges and trends.



Schneider will speak on the basics of business-based immigration and the shifting landscape under the Trump Administration. Schneider will be joined by other lawyers, speaking on personal jurisdiction, cybersecurity, and electronic discovery.

Please read the Musillo Unkenholt Healthcare and Immigration Law Blog at www.musillo.com and www.ilw.com. You can also visit us on Facebook, Twitter and LinknedIn.

by Chris Musillo

The Department of State has just issued the September 2017 Visa Bulletin. This is the final Visa Bulletin of Fiscal Year 2017. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin.

NOTE: Please be sure to read our Post, "What does the August Visa Bulletin Mean?"

September 2017 Visa Bulletin


Applications with these dates may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card).

EB Class	All Other	CHINA	INDIA	MEXICO	PHIL'PNES
EB-1	C	01JAN12	01JAN12	C	C
EB-2	01JAN16	15MAY13	22AUG08	01JAN16	01JAN16
EB-3	C	01JAN12	15OCT06	C	01NOV15

MU Law Analysis


All Other: The EB-2 has been current for many years. The slight retrogression is temporary and will revert back to Current in October 2017. The EB-3 progression has long been effectively current, and is, in fact, current in this Bulletin.


China (mainland-born): The DOS instituted a retrogression for China EB-1 with the June Visa Bulletin, which remains. The continued high level of demand for EB-1 numbers for USCIS adjustment of status applicants has required the establishment of a date for June. It is expected that this EB-1 retrogression will last until October 2017.


The China EB-2 date again moved up, by about one month. The DOS recently noted that there has been an extremely large increase in EB-3s during the past month. The China EB-3 date remains at January 2012, which is where it was in July. It is now slower than China EB-2.

India: As with China, India EB-1 now is retrogressed. It is expected that this EB-1 retrogression will last until October 2017.

EB-2 India moved ahead by a month. EB-3 India jumped into late 2006, which was a pleasant surprise. The DOS is clearly trying to ensure that all visa numbers are used in FY2016.


Mexico: Mirrors All Other in all aspects.


Philippines: EB-3 moved ahead to November 2015! This is yet another incredible progression. The Philippine EB-3 number essentially cleaned out all of the 2010 through 2015 EB-3 visas in less than one year. This is even more positive than we expected.

Our internal metrics see the Philippine EB-3 number continuing to progress at a rapid clip for the rest of 2017.


The retrogression of the EB-2 (Phils) number is nothing to be concerned about. It will return to Current in October 2017. Note that all EB-2s retrogressed, which reflects heavier demand than usual in the entirety of the EB-2 category.

Please read the Musillo Unkenholt Healthcare and Immigration Law Blog at www.musillo.com and www.ilw.com. You can also visit us on Facebook, Twitter and LinknedIn.

Musillo Unkenholt Immigration Law is hosting a live in-person conference for business professionals in the Greater Cincinnati area on the topics of H-1Bs and immigration under the Trump Administration.

REGISTER HERE

This Cincinnati Immigration Seminar will feature these topics:

• · Business Immigration visas: H-1B, L-1, TN, OPT, F-1
• · Business Immigration Green Cards: PERM, I-140, I-485
• · Entrepreneur and investor options: EB-5, E-1, E-2
• · Immigration Compliance: I-9s, E-Verify, Public Access Files
• · Impact of Pres. Trump’s policies on business immigration
• · Legislative and Regulatory changes that may be on the horizon

The conversation will be led by MU's immigration lawyers who have a combined experience in immigration of over two decades.

The conference will begin at 8 AM and go to 10:30 AM. A courtesy continental breakfast will be provided at the beginning of the event.

Parking is available underneath the hotel in their parking garage, as well as on the streets surrounding the hotel.

Please do not hesitate to contact us via email with any more questions you may have regarding the presentation or our services.

by Chris Musillo

In April Pres. Trump nominated Lee Francis Cissna to be the Director of the USCIS. USCIS is a sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security. USCIS is tasked with processing immigration applications and petitions. The Director normally reports directly to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Because it is such an important position, any nomination for Director requires confirmation by the Senate.

Three months have now passed since the President’s nomination of Mr. Cissna. Although the President has complained loudly about Senate Democrats holding up confirmations, that does not seem to be the case with Mr. Cissna's nomination.

In mid-May, Pro Publica reported that Mr. Cissna had spent much of the last few years ghost-writing letters on behalf of Sen. Grassley (R-IA). These letters were aimed at dismantling much of Pres. Obama’s immigration policies. On May 31, Mr. Cissna testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Three hundred immigration stakeholders have since pushed the administration to withdraw Mr. Cissna’s nomination.

Why did Sen. Tills delay Cissna's confirmation? Sen. Tillis wanted an increase of H-2B visas, which are temporary visas used in seasonal occupations. North Carolina uses more H-2B visas than 47 other states, trailing only Texas and Colorado. In mid-July, the President caved into Sen. Tillis’ demands and released an additional 15,000 H-2B visas. Only then did Sen. Tillis agree to lift his hold on the confirmation.

Yet Mr. Cissna’s confirmation continues to sit. Right-wing media, who are fans of Mr. Cissna’s views, are ramping up the pressure on the GOP Senate to move forward.

Because the Cissna nomination is still stuck, questions remain: Is Mr. Cissna going to be confirmed before the August recess? Is his delay more about him or more about the Senate’s packed schedule? Will the forthcoming DHS Secretary withdraw Mr. Cissna and want to appoint his own candidate? We should know a lot between now and the recess.

Please read the Musillo Unkenholt Healthcare and Immigration Law Blog at www.musillo.com and www.ilw.com. You can also visit us on Facebook, Twitter and LinknedIn