June 2007 Immigrant Visa Bulletin Update

While much of the focus lately has been on H-1B visa applicants, some movement has taken place for those who are working towards an immigrant visa to the US. To all who have their priority dates for EB-3 (Schedule A) visa on or before June 1, 2005,  you may expect that your application is now at the National Visa Center (NVC).  Once the NVC receives notification from the US Embassy in Manila that they may take new applicants for interview, then the NVC will forward your petition for interview.  The embassy will schedule an interview date for you according to the order your petition is received.  It  usually takes two to four months before you can get an actual interview due to the volume of applications received at the embassy.  For now, a significant movement in processing the pending employment-based immigrant visa petitions for nurses is showing.  As regular readers might know we have called for a special visa for Filipino nurses to be created to fill the great demand for our skills in the US. There is also some hope that the Nursing Relief Act of 2007 might be passed, in the meantime though this movement gives hope that the retrogression issue might end in the near future. You can check the Visa Bulletin link on the left side column of this website to check the current status of the priority dates from the US Department of State as they are released.