Health Care Blog

The Department of State has just issued the January 2025 Visa Bulletin. This blog post analyzes this month’s Visa Bulletin.

Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates — Applications with these priority dates or earlier may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment:

Table B: Dates for Filing

The USCIS will use the Table B Dates for Filing chart for I-485 employment-based filings in January 2025. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates

MU Law Analysis

EB-2, EB-3 China and India: EB-2 and EB-3 categories for China and India made the following progress forward in the January 2025 visa bulletin:

• EB-2 China: 1 month
• EB-3 China: 2 months
• EB-2 India: 2 months
• EB-3 India: 3 weeks

EB-2, EB-3 All Other, Mexico, and Philippines: The Visa Bulletin for categories EB-2 and EB-3 for Mexico, the Philippines and all other countries of chargeability moved forward 2 weeks.

EB-1: EB-1 categories made no progress in any chargeability area.

RiceUniversity’s Baker Institute for Public Policy has recently published a report oncurrent and future US health care labor shortages, as well as the roleimmigration policy reform could play in meeting the challenges of a laborshortage.

HealthCare Industry Labor Shortages

Researchfrom the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that fewer people are workingin the health care sector, in part as a result of COVID-19 pandemic job losses.While the industry showed progress in 2023, the sector’s overall employment rateshave not fully recovered to pre-pandemic rates.

RiceUniversity’s report gathersdata from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Forbes, ADAHealth Policy Institute, and the National Association for Home Care and Hospicethat predict health care labor shortages in the coming 10-15 years across manypositions in the industry, including physicians, nurses, clinical laboratoryspecialists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, and home care workers.

ProposedImmigration Policy Reform Targeting Health Care Industry Needs

RiceUniversity cites the Migration Policy Institute’s research that immigrants madeup 18% of employees in a health care occupation in the US in 2021, including26% of physicians and surgeons and almost 40% of home health aides. Immigrantsmake up roughly 14% of the US population, meaning immigrants’ representation isoutsized in the health care sector.

Toalleviate the labor shortages in the health care workforce, Rice University’sreport recommends immigration policy reforms, including:

• Raisingthe annual cap for H-1B visas for health care workers;
• Creatingnew sector-specific visa categories with expedited processing;
• Leveragingexisting programs, such as the TN visa program, for RNs who are citizens ofMexico or Canada to work temporarily in the US;
• Reformingthe public charge rule to exclude direct care health workers, such as frontlineworkers, to reduce the chance of entry denial based on potential use of publicassistance;
• Increasingfunding and resources for immigration processing to shorten lengthy processingperiods, reduce delays, and ensure timely entry for health care workers. 

MusilloUnkenholt endorses the report’scontention that implementing comprehensive reforms such as these would help tomeet the country’s growing health care needs, support economic growth byimproving access to efficient health care, maintain high-quality patientservices while promoting greater access to care, and create a more flexible andresponsive health care workforce.

The forthcoming TrumpAdministration’s proposed immigration policies may have significantimplications for employers.  Join our  FREE webinar on Wednesday, November 20th at 2pm EST toexplore new regulations, compliance strategies, and best practices for adaptingto these changes.

Discussion topics willinclude:

• Overview of the policies attempted and enacted in Trump’s first term

• Potential Administrative Changes to Employment-Based Visa Programs

• Possible legislative initiatives in 2025

• I-9, E-Verify and Compliance Requirements: What employers can do to ensure compliance?

PLEASE JOIN US!

TheDepartment of State has just issued the December 2024 Visa Bulletin. Thisblog post analyzes this month’s Visa Bulletin.

VisaBulletin

Table A: FinalAction Dates — Applications with these priority dates or earlier may beapproved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visaappointment:

Table B: Datesfor Filing

The USCISwill use the Table B Dates for Filing chart for I-485 employment-based filingsin December 2024. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates

MU LawAnalysis

EB-1, EB-2,EB-3: The Visa Bulletin for categories EB-2 India and EB-3 India movedforward 2 weeks and 1 week, respectively, in the Final Action Dates Chart. Allother categories have not changed.

TheJanuary 2025 Visa Bulletin is expected to progress forward to begin the newfiscal quarter. In previous years, the January Visa Bulletin has progressedseveral months in employment-based categories. 

In April 2022, MUfiled a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, requesting a completedataset of all I-140 registered nurse immigrant petitions approved betweenFiscal Year (FY) 2018 – Fiscal Year 2022. The USCIS finally responded, producing a 443 page list of I-140immigrant petitions approved between FY 2018 – FY 2022 for registered nurses. MUhas summarized the data provided by the USCIS below:

As indicated bythe data produced by the USCIS, there has been a steady increase in the numberof approved I-140 immigrant petitions for registered nurses, with a notablejump in FY 2022, reflecting a critical need among U.S. employers for foreignnational registered nurses. The demand among U.S. employers, coupled with agrowing nursing workforce shortage should persuade Congress to embrace legislation,such as the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act, which seeks to address thenation’s shortage of nurses in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In summary, thedata produced by USCIS not only illustrates the urgent demand for foreignnational registered nurses but also reinforces the need for legislativemeasures to address this critical shortage in healthcare.

As ofOctober 25, 2024, USCIS has added InternationalEducation Evaluations, LLC to the list of organizations authorized to issuecertificates and certified statements for Registered Nurses. Notice of theorganization’s addition was provided in the Federal Register.

Immigrationregulations require that when filing a nonimmigrant or immigrant petition forcertain healthcare occupations, including Registered Nurses, the Petitionermust include a healthcare worker’s certificate (sometimes called a Visa Screen)from an authorized credentialing organization.

The immigrationregulations expressly authorize the Commission on Graduates of Foreign NursingSchools (CGFNS), the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy(NBCOT), and the Foreign Credentialing Commission on Physical Therapy (FCCPT), toissue valid healthcare workers’ certificates.

USCIS mayalso approve additional organizations for issuance of certificates by providingnotice in the Federal Register. MU previously published an August 2021 blog post on theaddition, via Federal Register notice, of Josef Silny Associates, Inc. to thelist of authorized organizations.

On September 30, 2024, the Department of Statelaunched Applicant Visa Information Tracking System (AVITS), a new scheduling website for US visa applicants incertain countries.

AVITS will replace the previous scheduling system, US Travel Docs, for visa applicants applying for visas at USembassies located in the following countries:

• Belgium
• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• France
• The Gambia
• Ghana
• Liberia
• The Netherlands
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone

Appointmentsscheduled on the previous website will remain on the original date selected.Applicants whose appointment was scheduled on the previous website must createa new account on AVITS using their previously registered email address.