January 10, 2005  American Hospital Association's Response to the Retrogression of Visas for Healthcare Workers from the Philippines, India, and China   The recently published Visa Bulletin issued by the US Department of State shows that the employment-based 3rd preference category visas (for skilled workers, such as Registered Nurses) are backlogged for China, India and the Philippines. This means that currently visa numbers are available for petitions that were filed prior to January 1, 2002 for the above three counties. This does not apply to any other countries. Visa numbers for these three countries are backlogged for approximately three years in this category, resulting in additional delays for RNs wanting to work in the US.   In response to this retrogression, the American Hospital Association (AHA) has published the attached letter encouraging Congress to exempt nurses.   The attached AHA letter also highlights the current shortage and the anticipated future need for nurses, which can lead to 1.1 million job openings by the year 2012.  These statistics were published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.   We invite your healthcare facility to write to Congress as well, which will pressure Congress to act on this issue.    We also encourage healthcare facilities to look at their current need of RNs and consider recruiting international nurses from other countries. Recruiting nurses from foreign countries to work in the United States remains a viable strategy for easing the US nursing workforce shortage.   There is Congressional Legislation pending which would greatly reduce this delay. Healthcare facilities are encouraged to monitor these proposals, and to continue with their recruitment efforts.   Please contact our office at 603-228-1277 for further information!   Please see the following link to the USDOS web site, where you can view Visa Bulletins: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html If you have any comments on our newsletter, any topics you would like to see reviewed or if you have news, events or other items of interest that you would like to share - please forward your comments and suggestions to abouley@goffandwilson.com. Copyright 2003 Goff and Wilson Professional Association - www.goffandwilson.com - unsubscribe One Capitol St., PO Box 347, Concord, NH 03302-0347 v: 603.228.1277    f: 603.226.0791    info@goffandwilson.com