15 Minutes of Your Time will Make the Difference
Congress is actively considering Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). It is expected that they will continue to hold formal hearings and debates throughout most of May. Many of the proposed legislative measures contain very favorable improvements to the business immigration community, such as progressive H-1 quotas, increased healthcare visa numbers, and enhancements to the Labor Certification system. There is a real chance that CIR could be signed into law this summer. None of us want to go through a one-day H-1 season ever again!

CIR will only happen with action. HLG specifically requests that you take a few minutes and do two things:

1. Send a letter to your Congressional Representatives and Senators.

2. Let HLG know if your company has been negatively impacted by this year’s quick H-1 cap.

http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/alerts/make_the_difference.htm

HLG Blog: Retrogression Battle Continues
Read about HLG’s ongoing effort to work on Congress to have a Schedule A visa bill passed that ends retrogression. This month’s Blog entries include entries on our lobbying trips to DC, a summary on a variety of pending bills, our “crystal ball” predictions, and many other entries. Are you checking it regularly?
http://hammondlawgroup.blogspot.com/

USCIS Filing Fee Increase: Update
Hammond Law Group has learned that the USCIS proposal to increase filing fees may soon go into effect, possibly as early as July 2007. In January 2007 the USCIS issued a fee increase proposal to raise average immigration filing fees by 66%, as reported in the HLG Immigration Alert of 2/1/07.
http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/alerts/USCIS_filing_fee_increase_update.htm

FY2008 H-1b Master's Cap Reached
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Friday, May 4th that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to meet the 20,000 H-1B master’s cap exemption for those individuals who have earned a master’s degree or higher from a US institution.
http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/alerts/h-1_masters_cap_reached.htm

End of Substitution Imminent
As of Friday, April 27th, 2007, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared its review of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed regulation that would eliminate substitution of aliens in labor certification proceedings, bar the payment by the alien of the employer’s attorney’s fees and other labor certification costs, institute a 45 day validity on labor certifications and enhance penalties for violations of labor certification regulations.
http://www.hammondlawfirm.com/alerts/h-1_masters_cap_reached.htm

Modern Healthcare: RN's See Dire Consequences of Nursing Shortage
(Registration required)
Registered nurses hold a far bleaker view of the nation’s nursing shortage than do doctors, chief nursing officers and chief executive officers, according to newly released results from four surveys.
http://modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Emory Nursing Leader Urges U.S. to Adopt Strategies to Cure National Nurse Shortage
The future health care of millions of Americans will be compromised if the U.S. doesn’t develop innovative strategies to tackle the national nursing shortage, says Emory University nursing leader Marla Salmon, ScD, RN.
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=33962

HLG's Symposium on the International Recruitment of Healthcare Workers
HLG held its annual New York City Symposium on the International Recruitment of Healthcare Workers on Friday, May 4, 2007 at The New York Helmsley Hotel. The event was attended by one hundred healthcare executives and included sessions on Retrogression, Employment and Labor Law, Hot Topics, and the State of the Industry. Speakers included HLG attorneys and representatives from other law firms and CGFNS.  Our generous attendees also raised $1,141 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
http://hammondlawgroup.blogspot.com/2007/05/nyc-symposium.html

Teleconference for Clients: Retrogression for RN's and PT's: Update & Strategy
On April 11, 2007 at 12 noon PT/3PM EST HLG held a free teleconference for all HLG employer-clients. The teleconference agenda included: Retrogression and legislation update, HLG's efforts to lobby for positive retrogression, regulatory changes, and advice on what you could do to end retrogression.

Hammond Law Group, LLC Event Calendar

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