Navigating Uncertain Times: Whew - That Was Close!

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