Navigating Uncertain Times:
Friday Roundup
Friday April 28, 2017
Whew! That was close… [Check in
again next week]
In the midst of loud announcements and unseen tinkering with
the immigration system, it may have been lost on many persons that several key
immigration programs nearly suffocated today.
But instead they were resuscitated just in time to live for…(wait for
it)… one more…week.
The EB-5 Regional Center program (which attracts large fund
investments from abroad to create additional jobs for American workers) was
tethered to the ‘Continuing Resolution’ that Congress had passed in December of
2016 to keep the U.S. Government from ‘shutting down’.
Another very popular program – the Conrad 30 J-1 Visa Waiver
Program - is an integral tool for rural healthcare systems to attract
physicians to their medically underserved areas by giving physicians trained in
the U.S. with a J-1 visa the opportunity to provide healthcare where other
doctors are reticent to go, without having to return to their home country for
2 years before seeking to return to the U.S. to serve.
Also, religious workers who are not ministers have relied
upon another program – the R-visa – to come to the U.S. to serve in religious
institutions. This was also saved by the
approval of Congress to continue funding the U.S. Government budget with a
Continuing Resolution.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the continuing resolution that keeps
these programs functioning is valid for only 7 days.
And then we get to see if they (our representatives in the
U.S. Congress) will pass another bill next week to keep these important
immigration programs active. If we’re
lucky, we can keep it going perhaps as much as another 4 months!
I have to imagine that the founding fathers of the United
States of America envisioned a much better functioning government than what we
are now living with.
So check back next week to see what happens…
Have a nice weekend,
HS&D Immigration
