An amendment to recapture 130,000 unused immigrant visas to end the three-year retrogression of employment-based (EB3) immigrant visas for beneficiaries from China, India and the Philippines – 50 percent of the total unused visas are reserved for registered nurses and physical therapists – passed the Senate on April 20 on a voice vote. Congress is poised to vote on the amendment in the weeks to come and President George W. Bush is expected to sign it in May 2005.

“This is certainly a good piece of news and an unexpected relief for many immigration firms, health care recruiters and, most of all, Filipino nurses and physical therapists who would have endured three years or more delay in filing for the EB3 visas due to the retrogression,” said Attorney Alfredo R. Lagamon, Jr., an immigration lawyer with an office at the Empire State Building.

“The current priority date of the EB3 visa numbers is June 1, 2002, so giving 50 percent of the lost visa numbers to nurses and physical therapists from China, India and the Philippines, is certainly a cause for pure rejoicing,” Lagamon added.

Lobbying efforts by members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association with members of the Senate and Congress, headed by various immigration lawyers, notably Attorney Carl Shusterman, pushed U.S. lawmakers to approve the amendment.

Len Madlansacay, president of the Philippine-based ManAsia, Inc., a leader in health care personnel recruitment, said that his company has put on hold the recruitment of nurses and physical therapists, but with the recapturing of the lost visas, “it is again all systems go!” he informed the Filipino Reporter from his office in Emerald Avenue in Pasig, Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, as reported by this writer in a previous article for the Filipino Reporter, EB2 visas for beneficiaries from China and India which used to be current, have already retrogressed to a few months due to heavy demand, and is expected to retrogress soon for beneficiaries from the Philippines as well.