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04/20/2005 HEALTHCARE IMMIGRATION ALERT:
RETROGRESSION LEGISLATION:
MIKULSKI AMENDMENT ADDED TO APPROPRIATIONS BILL
The effort to recapture unused immigrant visa numbers (and eliminate
retrogression) took a major step forward yesterday when the Senate added
Sen. Mikulski's amendment to the "must pass" Iraq War Appropriations
legislation. Sen. Mikulski's amendment, which mainly focuses on increasing
the seasonal worker quota, includes language that HLG and its allies have
long sought -- a recapture of about 150,000 authorized but unused immigrant
visa numbers. The recapture legislation sets aside half of the recaptured
numbers exclusively for nurses and physical therapists. The other half may
be used by all occupations.
Once the Senate's appropriations bill is finalized, the Senate and the House
must get their legislation in agreement, a process known as "conference
committee." An earlier House appropriations bill does not include Sen.
Mikulski's language. The House's version includes the controversial REAL-ID
legislation, which could threaten the recapture legislation. Accordingly, we
are now focusing on convincing key House members of the need for immigrant
visas to reduce the dire nursing and therapist shortage.
The actual language of the amendment
The language as modified and accepted by unanimous consent was amendment
#0379 to HR 1268.
Reads: On page 231, between lines 3 and 4, insert the following new section:
Recapture of Visas
Sec.6047. section 106(d)(2)(a) of the American competitiveness in the
twenty-first century act of 2000 (PL106-313; 8 USC 1153 note) is amended-
(1)in paragraph (1), by inserting before the period at the end of the second
sentence "and any such visa that is made available due to the difference
between the number of employment-based visas that were made available in
fiscal year 2001,2002,2003 or 2004 and the number of such visas that were
actually used in such fiscal year shall be made available only to
employment-based immigrants and the dependants of such immigrants, and 50%
of such visas shall be made available to those whose immigrant worker
petitions were approved based on schedule A, as defined in section 656.5 of
title 20, Code of Federal Regulations, as promulgated by the Secretary of
Labor"; and
(2) in paragraph(2)(A) by striking "and 2000" and inserting "through 2004"
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Other HLG
articles outlining the
Retrogression recapture initiative
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