Immigration Q&A Session | July 2026 Visa Bulletin and Immigration Updates for EB-3 Nurses

[00:00:01][music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Mhm.

[00:02:09]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are tuning in from.

[00:04:57]Welcome to Onwards and Upwards, the show where you learn everything you need to know about living and working in the United States as a healthcare professional. My name is Deirdre O'Regan. I am the senior director of recruitment at AMN International and your host for today. So excited. This is one of our favorite shows. We just got a visa bulletin earlier this week and we have our panel of experts who are going to take as many questions as they can and talk us through what happened this week. We had some good news for rest of world. Philippines remained unchanged.

[00:05:34]We'll get deeper into that and and also of course answer your questions on the band and the pause countries. I see them coming in right now. But before we bring out our panel of experts, we love to see where you are calling in from. So, please plug that in the chat. We have Omasora from Nigeria. Welcome. We have Fancy from Kenya. Welcome. Welcome.

[00:05:59]Continue to pop that into the chat for us. We love to see where our viewers are tuning in from and we always have representation across the globe. So, very, very excited. Particularly on this on our immigration shows where you all have lots and lots of questions and we will get to as many as we can, but we do have some team members who are in the chat and will answer any that they can that we do not get to today.

[00:06:24]So, we have got Godrick from Kenya.

[00:06:28]Hello. Welcome, Godrick.

[00:06:30]Fast and furious questions are coming in. I do want to say it's a very, very stormy day here in Savannah, Georgia.

[00:06:37]So, if we get some thunder and lightning, you may hear Theo the golden doodle reacting to that. So, I am really hoping that he's on his best behavior today, but want to put that disclaimer out there. Very, very stormy here today.

[00:06:53]Okay, so if you have not applied to AMN International, do not delay. Apply today. So, we are going to put the link to apply up here for you throughout the show today. It is AMNhealthcare.com/international.

[00:07:11]If you are if you have a current priority date, we want to hear from you today. We have opportunities across the United States that are looking for candidates with a current priority date.

[00:07:24]But in in addition to that, we are also continuing to newly recruit new petitions. So, if you qualify and by qualify means currently working in an acute care setting at the bedside, we want to hear from you. Of course, you have to have passed your NCLEX. If you have not passed your English yet, that is okay. We do partner with an amazing organization called Niner that will help you prepare for that all-important English exam, but don't let that delay you in applying today. We want to hear from you AMNHealthcare.com {slash} international. Apply today. We are the only organization that offers both direct hire and staffing opportunities, and we have both available. So, we want to hear from you.

[00:08:11]We want to assist you on taking the next step in your American dream. If you have a priority date, we want to hear from you today. Okay, so without further ado, I am going to bring out our panel of experts. So, we have got Mike and Maria.

[00:08:30]Welcome to you both. So, Mike and Maria may be familiar faces to a lot of you who are tuning in today, but for those of you who are new, welcome, welcome. We are so glad that you were able to join us today. Let's take a moment to introduce our panel, and I will start with Mike.

[00:08:48]>> Hi, my name's Mike Hamman. I'm an immigration attorney based here in Cincinnati, Ohio. I've been doing this for a little tiny bit longer than Maria has, um, but not much.

[00:09:02]Um, and I'm just happy to be here.

[00:09:05]>> Thank you, Mike.

[00:09:07]Maria, welcome back. We're so excited to have you.

[00:09:11]>> Thank you. Yeah, I'm so I'm a bit of a pinch hitter, I guess, with Chris being out of town. Um, many of you may know my law partner, Chris Musillo, who's at the American Immigration Lawyers Conference right now, so I'm filling in in his stead. Uh, my name's Maria Schneider.

[00:09:23]I'm also coming to you from Cincinnati, Ohio, only a few blocks, actually, from where Mike is sitting, and happy to be here, as well.

[00:09:30]>> Thank you so much, Maria. Thank you for for sitting in for Chris. We always love having you.

[00:09:36]Um, okay, so let's get right into all of the questions that are coming in.

[00:09:43]So we had the Visa Bulletin released earlier this week we saw the rest of world move by two months and the Philippines remained unchanged. So Mike, was that was that what you were expecting? Were you surprised? Can you give us your feedback on the Visa Bulletin this week?

[00:10:04]>> Sure. Yeah, generally speaking in the summer we see very little movement in the Visa Bulletin. In fact, we often see retrogression.

[00:10:14]And that's because the US system works on a use it or lose it system and our our year the fiscal year ends in September.

[00:10:22]So the idea is they want to use up all of the immigrant visas available by September 30th because if they're not used they are lost.

[00:10:32]So we typically see retrogression because they've been processing cases throughout the first three quarters of the year and and retrogression this summer we all don't view as a negative thing we view it as a positive thing because that's better than leaving things out. Now I will tell you this has been obviously an unusual year.

[00:10:51]And I will say that I am personally surprised that there was no movement in the Philippines for July.

[00:10:58]And the reason I'm surprised is because we had about a dozen Filipinos at uh different consulates not from Manila but other consulates who do not have current priority dates but were scheduled for interviews for July in June.

[00:11:16]And to me it made no sense that they're being scheduled for interviews since their priority date wasn't going to be current.

[00:11:24]So I interpreted that to mean that we were going to get some forward movement and obviously I was wrong. So whether or not the consulates are simply getting ahead with certain people and doing some interviews in advance or those were simply errors made by three different consulates, I have no idea.

[00:11:40]Um but if we take out that little blip of of my thinking, which turned out to be wrong, um I think we should be pretty excited that there was still some movement in the rest of the world cuz that's a little bit unusual. There were some warnings, uh which is always on the last page of the Visa Bulletin. I know most of us only look at the charts cuz that's what what is most important to us. Uh but there are usually some explanations and some predictions uh in the um uh last page. And so, they talked about further retrogression of India EB-1.

[00:12:13]They talked about further retrogression of China EB-2. And they talked about further retrogression in Filipino uh EB-3 throughout the rest of the fiscal year. And again, so that should be expected by all of us. Not bad news, just a reflection of the fact that that many people are getting approved. So, overall positive bulletin.

[00:12:37]>> Thank you. Thank you, Mike. And and I I I want to pose the same question to Maria, but I do want to circle back with you particularly on on the Philippines.

[00:12:46]Um so, uh Maria, same same question to you.

[00:12:50]>> Yeah, I mean, I would pretty much echo everything Mike said. Um you know, we didn't have specific in in uh interview notices. I was going to say invoices. That's obviously the wrong word. Interview notices for Philippines.

[00:13:02]Um but I think we were expecting maybe at least, you know, a a smaller movement that it wouldn't necessarily match with rest of the world, but maybe a little bit of movement. Um so, a little bit disappointed not to see any progression there, but um but you know, I agree with everything he was mentioning about the summertime is typically when we do see the the bulletin either sort of stagnate or retrogress. And the notes in particular, as he mentioned, I think were um were really key this month.

[00:13:27]>> Yeah. Mhm.

[00:13:29]Thank you. Um and uh yeah, very very interesting um the um interview piece.

[00:13:35]Uh but, Mike, you mentioned last month that on last month's Visa Bulletin, there was a note that, and I hope I phrase this correctly, that the Philippines could possibly become unavailable this month, and there was a similar note, if not the same. Uh is Do Do we expect the Philippines to become unavailable in the next Visa Bulletin? I know you said you were expecting some forward movement, but uh was that a similar note, and how did you interpret that? You may have answered that already.

[00:14:07]>> Yeah, no, it's fine. Yeah, no, it's important. Yeah, I I think it is. Um the note basically says that sufficient demand um and use uh may make it necessary to retrogress or the category unavailable in the coming months. So, I think that's a pretty much a word for word. If you looked at the bulletin this month, you saw a U under the India EB-2 category.

[00:14:33]Uh for many years, there was a gentleman in charge of the Department of State Visa Bulletin, and uh Charlie um I can't remember Charlie's last name.

[00:14:42]Oppenheimer, maybe, but Charlie. Uh and he did not like to use the U uh because he thought it freaked people out and caused panic, uh because it means unavailable.

[00:14:52]Uh and so, he liked to just retrogress dates. Obviously, whoever's there now is completely comfortable using the U.

[00:14:59]Uh so, it would not surprise me, since they used that language in their warning, that they uh put a U in uh Filipino EB-3 in uh either August or September.

[00:15:12]>> Thank you. Very, very helpful. Uh Maria, um so, we saw uh forward movement of 2 months um for rest of world. Um, do you anticipate, and I know that we don't have a crystal ball, but do you anticipate rest of world continuing to move for this fiscal year, or do you think that will stop we we won't see much movement for the continuation of the fiscal year?

[00:15:42]>> Yeah, I mean, I think the big variable here, I know a couple of months when I was on couple months ago when I was on Mike and I were discussing this is the public charge man, and I think that's the biggest question mark. Um, folks aren't familiar, there's sort of two different kind of flavors of travel bans right now, if you will. The first is security related, so that's covering 39 countries. Some of those countries are banned entirely from entering the US, and some have a partial ban. Um, and then there's a second group of 75 countries that right now are paused only for green card cases, um, related to the public charge rule, which concerns like how you're going to monetarily support yourself, and if you're likely to need public benefits when you enter the US.

[00:16:23]So, the 39 country ban, I think the conventional wisdom is that's probably not going to change. Uh, you know, there might be a country or two that goes on or comes off, but but that security-related pause will be in place probably for the duration of the Trump administration. It's very similar to what we saw under the first administration. The public charge ban, however, that covers 75 countries, again, that's only a pause on green cards, not on H-1B's or student visas or any of these other things.

[00:16:49]Um, and there was a new public charge rule that was proposed earlier this year. It was under review and comment in the spring, I think around March.

[00:16:58]And we're just waiting for that to be finalized. So, our sifting of the tea leaves, if you will, is that once that new rule comes out, the pause will come off, but the standard might be different or the documentation that's required will be different. And so, that new new standard will apply to all countries, but the pause on those 75 will be lifted. So, whenever that happens, I think that's really the key to the rest of the world EB-3 number because if that 75 country pause comes off, there's obviously going to be some pent-up demand that would cause it to retrogress. If the pause doesn't come off until the fiscal year is completed, then I think it probably would continue to move forward maybe incrementally as we we near the end of the fiscal year because again, there's 75 countries that are blocked, so there's obviously more supply available to those that are not blocked.

[00:17:48]>> Mhm.

[00:17:50]Makes sense. So, it's a it's all the math, right?

[00:17:54]So, a follow-up question to that. I know that we've talked about it over the last number of shows and we get this question all the time is we were expecting some regs to be issued surrounding the deposits and the bans.

[00:18:12]When do we expect to receive those or do do we know?

[00:18:18]I get back to Mike.

[00:18:19]>> Oh, sorry. No, no.

[00:18:21]Either one.

[00:18:22]>> [laughter] >> I'll give you a break, Maria. We'll get back to Mike.

[00:18:26]>> [laughter] >> Okay.

[00:18:28]>> Yeah, I mean the answer with when regs are going to come out is anybody's guess because they've already gone through their public comment period. Which means that they could be released at any time.

[00:18:42]They also could have gotten public comments to the extent or that raised a particular issue that they felt needed to be revised. We don't know.

[00:18:52]behind the scenes. So, but I agree with Maria that I think that the regs, even though they are designed to be USCIS regs, will form the framework of what the Trump administration wants relative to Department of State processing.

[00:19:13]And so I think they could pretty easily without amending say, you know, the FAM or something, uh, take those same regs and apply them to the Department of State and the visa interviews. Um, but sometimes regs sit for a long time before they get uh, published and they could in theory be published today.

[00:19:32]Well, probably not today cuz it's a federal holiday. Monday. I mean, >> Okay, thank you. Thank you so much, Mike. We just, uh, we just have to wait.

[00:19:43]Um, so let me switch gears and take, uh, question here from, um, from the chat.

[00:19:48]And I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly, Zirex. Uh, so this is a long question, so I'm going to try and paraphrase it here for, for Maria. Um, so Zirex is interviewing in Manila.

[00:20:03]Uh, let me see if I can find my question. But, um, he's getting married after that and, uh, is intending to get married in Canada. Will that have an effect on him entering the United States? I think I got all of the question. It's very long.

[00:20:19]>> So, um, the short version is no, it wouldn't impact the nurse's ability to enter the US. I'm assuming that Zirex here is the, the nurse.

[00:20:27]Um, however, if Zirex is planning to bring, uh, their spouse with them, I would highly recommend ha- to the, sorry, bring their spouse to the US to live in the US, you know, presumably they are they're getting married. I would recommend that they marry, whether that's in Canada or the Philippines, before entering the US on their immigrant visa.

[00:20:48]The reason for that is if you marry before you, even if it's after the interview, but before you obtain, um, the sort of permanent plastic green card, before you enter the US, you can attach your spouse to the case and bring, uh, bring your spouse with you.

[00:21:03]If you marry after you enter the US, then unfortunately you would have to file a separate immigration petition or application for them and there'd be a a backlog while that, you know, just processes through the government. Um it's subject to a similar visa bulletin, though on a different quota because of the family-based nature of the case. So, if you can marry before you enter the US on the green card, that's really the best way to do it and then you can attach them and they can join you in the US whenever they're ready to do so.

[00:21:31]>> Thank you. So, thanks for that question, Zenex. Hopefully, that helps you.

[00:21:35]Um let's switch gears a another little bit. Lots of questions about the the bans and and the pauses. Maria explained that very well earlier. Um so, if you have a chance to go back and listen to to the show afterwards, um you can hear her commentary. We do not have regs yet.

[00:21:50]We are waiting on them and we'll discuss as soon as we receive them. Um so, switching gears a little bit to H-1B. Um Mike, uh over the last couple of weeks, there's been a couple of things come out um regarding the $100,000 fee.

[00:22:07]Um any updates on that and how long do we think that will remain in place? Will it be long-term, forever? What's your opinion on that?

[00:22:16]>> Yeah, so there's quite a few moving parts on this and there could be new news today that I haven't seen yet or even late last night, but a a federal judge out of Boston ruled that the $100,000 fee was um an illegal and unlawful tax, you know, uh fee.

[00:22:37]Uh and so, put a um basically told the the USCIS that they cannot enforce it.

[00:22:44]However, that federal judge also issued a stay of the decision going into effect pending the government filing an appeal, which was expected, and they gave them the appeals court gave them until today, I believe, June 19th to file a motion in support of that stay.

[00:23:08]I'm assuming because of the holiday that we're not going to really hear anything until early next week. But, the expectation is that the government will ask for a stay and it will continue, which means a $100,000 fee will stay in effect. Now, that fee was only in effect for 1 year. It was issued last September.

[00:23:29]So, we will know whether or not the administration on its own it has by most accounts it has cost the USCIS in filing fees something like over $250 million uh dollars um in unfiled cases. Uh they expected more cases to be filed as of about a month and a half ago, the last time they gave a tally, there'd only been 80 some cases filed.

[00:23:59]Um uh throughout. And so, the numbers of the amount of money they brought in was really small.

[00:24:05]Uh this administration likes money. All administrations like money.

[00:24:09]>> [laughter] >> Um and so, it is possible there are some rumors that uh they may not renew it um simply because of uh how much money they're losing. But, we'll see. So, there are a lot of things happening on the 100,000. We've got that uh federal case out of Boston. We also have a Chamber of Commerce case uh that was filed that was up on appeal and the appeals court out of DC is expected to rule sometime in June. That was the kind of guess. Um so, a lot of things happening on the $100,000. But, today, as we sit here today, it's still in effect. But, there have been some positive things recently that might uh hopefully mean that it's going away. And keep that in in mind that it affects individuals overseas.

[00:24:58]It does not affect individuals in the US. So, if you're here in the US and you're a recent US grad and you're say a med tech or something like that where you're going to uh get uh and have a cap-exempt employer, you can do the H1 and the $100,000 does not apply you to you. It's only overseas cases.

[00:25:20]>> Thank you.

[00:25:21]Thank you very much. Um okay, lots of moving parts in regards to that $100,000 fee and we will continue to keep you updated as we get more information. Um Kimberly, I do just want to answer your question on um your your experience.

[00:25:37]Yes, uh current bedside experience is required um in order to qualify for our program, but I see you have an employment gap and currently looking for other employment. As soon as you secure other employment, we would be happy to assist you. Um so, once you once you secure a job at the bedside, then um we can absolutely help you. Uh so, Maria, um another thing that came in that we saw over the last few weeks was on adjustment cases and the possibility of having to return to home country to process the adjustment. Can you talk us through what that means and how that may have an effect? I know it depends on the or it's it's the officer or whatever.

[00:26:24]So, just explain that to us cuz it can it can get a little complex with with everything happening all the time.

[00:26:32]>> Yes, yes. So, um just to take sort of one step back and kind of level set a little bit. So, the memo um another memo that came out, like you said, there've been a flurry of court decisions and memos in the last month or so here. Um so, there's sort of two options or two ways to obtain your green card. The first way is through um what's probably most difficult for the nursing population, which is a consular process.

[00:26:55]So, what that means is we file your case here in the US. Eventually, it goes through the Department of State through the National Visa Center, the NVC, and then you're scheduled for an embassy interview in your home country or your country of residence. After you've cleared the embassy interview, you come to the US and you get work. That's again probably most nursing cases follow that pathway, though not all. The second option is something called an adjustment of status, which is a fancy sounding group of words that basically just means the the domestic or the in US way of obtaining your green card. So, the I-140 process for both of these is the same, but when we reach the I-140 approval, if you're inside the US, instead of typically instead of returning home to be interviewed at the embassy, we would instead file another application here domestically for you to obtain your green card.

[00:27:45]Um and then you would just kind of wait out the processing in the US and eventually obtain your green card that way.

[00:27:50]So, this memo that came out said that that adjustment of status, that domestic process, um is sort of discretionary on the part of the Immigration Service and that it should only be approved in sort of the, you know, the best cases or the, you know, the specific It doesn't give like specific facts, but in in extreme situations, basically.

[00:28:11]That the default should be that you leave the US, you go through the embassy, and you reenter on the green card.

[00:28:17]So, most of the the language that the Immigration memo, that the Immigration Service's memo was kind of citing to or pointing to, is language that's always been in the regulations, always been in the law. They're just sort of underlining or highlighting certain words like extraordinary, discretionary, and really focusing in on those words.

[00:28:36]So, how they're going to implement this or apply it, we don't really know yet.

[00:28:41]It's again less than a month old, so we have to sort of live into it a a bit, unfortunately, and and see what happens.

[00:28:47]Um but my guess is that it really um for for some cases it probably won't have any impact at all, but the ones that we would really want to take a little bit closer look or maybe a slower um pause on or maybe we would recommend that you leave the US and and interview at the embassy would be if you had any kind of past immigration violations, even if those have been cured, it might be safer to go through the embassy um because they're not looking back at your previous status typically when you go through the embassy. They're really only looking at your current application.

[00:29:19]Also, if you had any sort of criminal violations, again, even if minor, even if you've paid any fines or been, you know, the action's been dismissed or you were found not guilty or whatever the situation might have been, um it might still be safer for you to consular process. And then the last third group I would say is if you're on um what we would say as like a single intent visa, meaning like a student visa or a TN, um an E-3, something that's not an H-1B, and you're applying for adjustment of status, historically, that's been accepted under most circumstances, um but it might be safer, particularly for like a TN, to just go back to Canada, interview at Montreal, and then reenter on the green card um because of this new policy. So, it's really a case-by-case sort of a decision.

[00:30:05]Obviously, those facts are not going to apply to everyone, but um we would want to really closely review your situation if if you fall into any of those three categories, and then advise accordingly if it might be um safer for you to return home, interview, and then come back once your green card is approved.

[00:30:22]>> Thank you so much, Maria.

[00:30:25]Uh we are so fortunate to have all of this experience, knowledge that uh Mike and Maria share with us every month, and and of course Chris as well. Um so, hopefully, you're getting as many of your questions answered. We always recommend that if it is a question specific to your case that you do contact your your attorney. Um, great if it's Micro Maria or your case specialist so that you get the most accurate information. Um, we do our very best to give uh generic in information that helps the the majority. Um, but if it's specific to your particular case, we always always recommend that you speak to your attorney directly. Um, okay, so we have a couple of pre-submitted questions um for people who uh were unable to join and lots of questions about the timelines for getting an I-140 approval. Um, Mike, what factors contribute to that timeline and is this timeline that we're seeing now, is that approval or is it longer than what we've seen?

[00:31:33]>> Yeah, so a couple of things. There's two ways an I-140 can be filed. There's something called premium processing and regular processing.

[00:31:41]Premium processing carries with it a fee over around $3,000 and will process a case in 15 business days. It is most typically used for individuals who already have an old priority date and they're recapturing that priority date and they are going to be current.

[00:31:59]Um, so that they can move forward. Maybe they even already have an interview scheduled with their prior I-140 petitioner.

[00:32:06]Maybe they don't, but they already are current. For everyone else that's not current, cases are generally filed regular and there's no legal advantage to filing under premium.

[00:32:17]Unfortunately, the processing time of regular cases is approaching 2 years right now.

[00:32:22]>> Mhm.

[00:32:23]>> Um, the USCIS has said that they uh process cases uh based upon when a next action can happen. In other words, they they view their workload as if you can't move to the next stage, what's whether you have an approval in your hand today or tomorrow doesn't really matter. And so and that has made sense from a just a operational perspective. That doesn't make sense to all of us on this call who would like to have cases approved in a timely manner.

[00:32:53]But that is the process they've been taking. Um some of us who are somewhat cynical, not Maria, but let's call it Chris since he's not here to blame.

[00:33:04]>> [laughter] >> He's the cynical one. He thinks just a basis to get more premium processing fees out of people. I I don't know.

[00:33:14]Uh but um you know, but right now it's don't be alarmed if your case has been sitting there for 18 months and you haven't heard a thing.

[00:33:22]Uh you most agencies will give you your receipt number so you can track it yourself. You can get notifications of what's going on and and see what's happening.

[00:33:34]So it is a pretty transparent system, but but there's nothing wrong with your case if it's been sitting there 18 months, 20 months, 22 months.

[00:33:44]>> Perfect. Thank you so much. And there's lots of questions regarding timelines in here.

[00:33:49]Um so Mike answered that. Don't be alarmed if it's been sitting there for 18 months plus.

[00:33:55]Uh it's still going through the process.

[00:33:58]Um so Maria, kind of follow-up question to to that. Uh getting a lot of questions around around I-140s. Does an I-140 approval expire?

[00:34:10]>> No, but I'll put a little bit of of gloss on that. Um so once your I-140s you So let me back up one step. So you don't have a priority date until your I-140 is approved. So if your I-140 was filed 18 months ago and it's still pending, if it was withdrawn today, unfortunately, you just lose that that time. So once um once it's approved though, that priority date is locked in or at least, you know, it's recapturable in some sense.

[00:34:36]Um once that I-140 has been approved for more than 180 days, so if it was approved today, if it's, you know, January and we're looking at filing a new case for you with a different employer, even if the original employer withdraws that I-140 that was filed 2 years ago, the priority date still stands. If it's before the 180-day mark and the I-140 is withdrawn, then the priority date, again, just sort of evaporates, unfortunately, and it goes away. You don't get to keep it. Um so the the approval itself doesn't expire. If you had an I-140 filed 5 years ago, we could still recapture that theoretically if that employer was still interested in you coming to the US, you could still enter on it. Um but the the main thing to know is that it has to be approved for more than 180 days to avoid any kind of problem with the recapture procedure.

[00:35:27]>> Thank you, Maria. And um so we are experts here at AMN International on recapturing priority dates. So if you are in that situation, please reach out to us. We would be happy to help you.

[00:35:41]We'll put the link up here again for you to apply. Uh our expert recruiters are on hand to help and we would be happy to um have you continue with your American dream. Um the Rebecca asked a question um earlier on in the chat that I just wanted to um to reference real quick. It said, "Can you file an I-140 without a job offer?" Yes. Um so that would be our staffing arm of AMN International. Um so that would be your your best bet. Yes, we do file your your I-140 pending a job offer. This is you have time to choose where where you want to be and as you become closer to being visa eligible, we will present you with those opportunities. So apply today, get your process started, and we will get you filed as soon as your file is ready to do so. Um okay. Uh so, Mike, and one more question on I-140s, and then we'll move on. Um we got it a pre-submitted question. What happens if this partic- if an I-140 is denied? Are there any next steps that this individual can take?

[00:36:50]>> Well, I mean, I think the answer is it depends upon why it was denied.

[00:36:54]>> Mhm.

[00:36:55]>> Um some denials can be cured.

[00:36:59]Maybe there was an issue with the posting notice. Maybe the right documentation wasn't submitted.

[00:37:07]Through a variety of reasons why a denial um could be cured.

[00:37:12]The question would become is filing an appeal or a motion to reopen or reconsider better than a new filing? And I think most of us think new filings are better than appeals. Um so, often, even if you think that the USCIS, you know, overlooked something or they made an improper interpretation, often a new filing is a better route to go. But that's a very specific question that if you had a denial, you're going to want to talk to your uh petitioner, your agency, the attorney involved. Uh in I-140 cases, I will say they are extremely rare.

[00:37:53]Um I can't even remember any, which that doesn't necessarily mean anything, um but uh um >> [laughter] >> Uh but yeah, there are there are ways around them.

[00:38:06]>> Thank you so much. So, again, it depends on why your petition was denied. So, the advice is going to be consult with your attorney, your case specialist, and um and they can they can help you. So, uh Uh, hopefully that helps. Um I forget who who submitted that question for us, but uh, um wanted to make sure that we got that answered for you. Um, so Maria, we have a question here. Um, this uh, particular individual is a dual citizen, but the EB-3 application was made which from a country which is now banned. Can they switch that to their other country of citizenship which is not?

[00:38:48]>> Yes. Yes, so we've actually seen this happen a few times in the last 6 months since that ban was issued in December.

[00:38:54]Um, the particular cases I'm thinking of were Nigerian um, citizens, but also had British citizenship cuz they've been living and working in the UK for some time. So, we can still get them through the process um, utilizing their British passport. We might just have to make some updates to the the filing to you know, um, explain that they have both both um, types of citizenship of passports and and get them through.

[00:39:20]>> Thank you so much. So, that's good news um, for everybody on who is in that same situation. We had at least two questions. So, the answer is yes.

[00:39:29]Um, Emily Marshall is asking a question. We can um, give this to to Mike and again, this is just going to be our our opinion. With the lifting of the 39 countries um, the on the USCIS hold, once those applicants with early priority priority dates start using visa numbers, do we see the wait time going back to 3 years plus? So, I guess the question that Emily's asking, if these bans uh, pauses rather, if these pauses are uh, lifted, will we see will we retrogress more? Uh, because of course more numbers are are going to be used. I think it's going back to the math question that um, Maria explained to us earlier.

[00:40:10]>> Uh, yeah. No, I think the answer is yes.

[00:40:13]Um, if the travel ban is lifted, uh, right now what, 2 weeks ago we had a pause lifted.

[00:40:22]Uh, however, that is likely to be appealed and we have not seen any um, actual paused cases that were lifted having any action since then, even though some of them are premium process.

[00:40:38]Uh, so maybe they're waiting to see if the appeal is going to happen and if there's a um, a stay.

[00:40:44]Uh, but but to your question, yes, absolutely. If the travel ban is lifted, I think Maria earlier in the call talked about if the public charge rules are finalized and the 75 country pause um, is um, changed, then it will create additional retro aggression because there will simply be more numbers of people who are now eligible to be adjudicated.

[00:41:10]>> Thank you, Mike. Appreciate that. So, the the short answer is yes, cuz more numbers will be will be used, but we'll keep you posted on when we receive additional information regarding those pauses. Maria already stated earlier in in the show that the bans are expected to to be for the duration of this administration, but nobody knows. So, we'll keep you we'll keep you informed. Um, Abby has asked a question earlier, Maria, and um, I'm not familiar with this. I think that Chris may have touched on this uh, last month, but Abby is asking for an update on waivers for banned nurses. So, so nurses from banned countries, she's asking for an update on a waiver.

[00:42:00]Um, so I think she might be talking about an exemption. I'm not sure. Can you explain if there is a waiver for nurses and how that works?

[00:42:10]>> Sure. So, I'm assuming she's talking about the green card process, but she may also be talking about H1B, so I'll maybe get sort of a short answer and then a longer answer.

[00:42:20]>> The H1B, there was a national interest waiver policy about this 100,000 fee that you could ask for the fee to be waived, for the 100,000 fee to be waived if you could demonstrate that the approval of the H1B was in the US's national interest.

[00:42:36]That policy was announced, I guess, last fall. There's so many things that have happened since then.

[00:42:44]When the [clears throat] previous Department of Homeland Security Secretary was there, those were to be submitted via email, a bunch of them were, I think they've pretty much universally been denied or just gone unanswered, unfortunately. I know at least for us, they've all been denied or been unanswered, and and most of the ones we filed, if not all of them, were for nurses.

[00:43:04]On the green card side, with this 39-country ban, there's no sort of official policy or test for asking for a national interest exemption, but you could always request from the embassy an exemption from the ban and try to explain why your case is in the national interest.

[00:43:23]I personally have not done that, and I don't know of anyone that any request for exemption that have been successful, but again, that doesn't mean that you couldn't make that that request and see if your particular embassy or your particular case is able to get through.

[00:43:40]>> Thank you so much, Maria. And um yeah, the the the person who asked the question didn't elaborate if it was EB-3 or or H1B, so hopefully that that helps you.

[00:43:52]The we have a question on F1s.

[00:43:56]So, we have a listener Mike who is currently on an F1 and wants to wants to adjust to an EB-3.

[00:44:08]What is the process for that? Maria may have touched on this earlier, but we do have a number of other questions coming in regarding that. What is his next steps in adjusting to an EB3?

[00:44:19]>> Yeah, so I'll give you the answer now.

[00:44:22]The answer could change within an hour or two only because the there's a new F1 regulation that was released by OMB last night or Wednesday night. Yeah, within the last 24 hours. It has not yet been published or at least it wasn't published this morning. It is expected to completely revamp the F1 rules.

[00:44:48]Um and so you know, next week there'll probably be a different answer. Now, with any new regulation, we don't know exactly what it says. We know what it was proposed as, but we have no idea what it says until it comes out.

[00:45:01]The there was also expected to be litigation as there is with everything that this administration and uh Trump one did and most that litigation ultimately was successful.

[00:45:14]Uh so we'll see.

[00:45:15]Uh but right now uh the F1 to EB3 route is very viable.

[00:45:22]A lot of individuals do it. The problem is that the your F1 OPT, which is a work card that you're given when you graduate, is only good for a year and for RNs you cannot extend that.

[00:45:35]Uh and the wait time, the queue or retrogression line, the visa bulletin, is longer than a year.

[00:45:43]So you have to figure out what do I do during the gap? Uh and historically, for the last I don't know, 6 7 8 years, uh people have gone back to grad school and done something called first day CPT which allows them to go to school and work at the same time.

[00:45:58]That is one of the things that some people are anticipating that's going to be removed from the new F-1 regulation. There's a lot of other people who are saying it's not going to be removed because it's heavily used in the research field, in science field, and teaching fields.

[00:46:17]Um and um that there was a lot of uh pharmaceutical companies and other types of companies that this administration tends to like um that weighed in of how devastating that would be. So, until the final word comes out, we don't know.

[00:46:33]Uh but assuming that remains an option, most people uh continue to work on CPT uh while going to grad school, while waiting for their priority date to move forward in the line.

[00:46:45]And once they move forward in the line, then they file the 45. Uh Maria talked about the new memo from uh 3 weeks ago on the 45. Right now, we're still filing them uh until we see a series of cases being denied under that new memo, we're going to continue to pursue them.

[00:47:05]Um and not do the consular processing route for individuals who are in the US, but that may ultimately end up being the route we go. We also, you know, um know that there's a a time limit to a lot of these rules. Um so, for right now, there's a clear path.

[00:47:22]Uh a lot of nurses use it in the US who are in grads.

[00:47:26]That path may be very murky by Monday.

[00:47:30]>> Mhm.

[00:47:31]All right. So, that you heard it here first, hot off the press, just last night, new F-1 regulation. So, uh we will keep you posted um on all of that, but lots and lots of moving parts. Um Mike and Maria, just lots and lots going on.

[00:47:48]Uh honestly, I don't know how you stay on top of it all, but thank you for sharing uh your your expertise with us each uh each and every month. Um I have a question on an RFE. So uh one of our listeners um Maria, they their application was was RFE'd. It was responded to. How long typically does it take for that to be and I hope I use [clears throat] the right word re-adjudicated?

[00:48:16]>> Sure. So um this goes back a little bit to what Mike was talking about before, the sort of two methods of filing an I-140. Um one option is under premium processing, one option is under regular processing. So if it's under premium processing, once the response is submitted, that 15-business-day clock sort of restarts, but from the beginning. It doesn't pick up where it where it left off. So they would get another roughly 3 weeks to um issue some type of response. Typically, that's a decision, though in rare cases, we do see a second RFE, but I would say most of the time the decision is issued within that 3-week period. If it was filed under regular processing, unfortunately, there's no sort of specific timeline, no like deadline like there is with premium processing. So I would say typically, once the RFE response is filed, we usually get a decision within about 60 to 90 days.

[00:49:04]Again, that's not required, so it could be longer, um but it goes back to what Mike was saying earlier about they're really prioritizing cases, the USCIS is prioritizing cases based off if you're eligible to move forward to the next step. So if in the time that the RFE was issued and responded to, the dates had retrogressed, um unfortunately, your case might not be the RFE might be be processed very quickly because you're not eligible for that next step. But most of the time if it's reached the front of the line that they've issued the RFE, they're going to want to, you know, finish up that case and issue a decision within, again, roughly 60 to 90 days after the response is received.

[00:49:41]>> Thank you so much, Maria.

[00:49:43]Um okay, so uh one one question we get uh each each month and I'll ask I'll ask Mike and then we'll know, we'll wrap up with our predictions for next month. Um, so we know that there are embassies that um have are suspended in in the Middle East. Uh, if we do have listeners that are um delayed because of that, can they switch their embassy back to their home country, let's say the Philippines?

[00:50:10]>> Uh, yes, and we have been encouraging people to do so.

[00:50:15]Uh, and that um if you'd asked us this question a year ago, I think Chris and I or Maria and I would have both said, "Anytime you're changing embassies, you can expect pretty significant delays, and there better be a good reason."

[00:50:31]Now, uh I think that because of what's happening in the world, uh that um the embassies have been the NVC and the Filipino embassy in particular has been very good about getting um people transferred who were scheduled for Dubai or Qatar. So, we're encouraging people to change.

[00:50:54]>> Okay. So, you heard it here from from the experts. If that is um an option for you, then you are encouraged to to do so, and if that changes, we will certainly let you know. So, uh So, that time just flies each and every month. Um we are almost almost at uh the top of uh top of the hour, and um we do want to have some time at the end of the show to talk about our upcoming shows and our new segment, "What's on Your Mind?" So, let's uh let's start with Maria, and what is your prediction? And again, we don't have a crystal ball, but what is your prediction for next month's Visa Bulletin?

[00:51:34]>> So, I think last time I was on, we predicted it would stay current, and Mike was joking with me before the call that I should make some some great pronouncement cuz it'll come true. Um I think as far as the chart B is concerned, again, that pivotal thing is really that public charge regulation.

[00:51:52]I'm going to guess that for August at least it stays current. I don't know that we're going to get those regs in time for the August Visa Bulletin, but we'll see.

[00:52:01]And when I say stay current, I mean of course EB3 rest of the world.

[00:52:05]Philippines I think will probably hold steady, especially given that repeated note that we were discussing earlier.

[00:52:12]>> Thank you, Maria.

[00:52:14]Mike, same question for you.

[00:52:16]>> Well, I I like to do this with Chris.

[00:52:18]Whatever he says I try to do something different. That way one of them has a shot of being right.

[00:52:25]It's worse when we're over two, you know?

[00:52:28]So I'm going to say we're going to see retrogression in August.

[00:52:35]>> Okay.

[00:52:37]>> [snorts] >> Thank you so much.

[00:52:39]So we have a lot of questions regarding applying to AMN International etc. that I will take when our expert attorneys leave the show.

[00:52:52]So I want to say thank you very much to to Mike and to Maria.

[00:52:58]So much going on in the immigration landscape and it is just so helpful for our listeners. I learn something every single time on on these shows and I've been doing this for a while.

[00:53:12]But thank you so much for answering all of our questions, giving us your expert opinions and also just keeping us up to date and knowledgeable on all of the happenings in the immigration landscape.

[00:53:26]So thank you so much.

[00:53:29]Hope you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to having you on next month.

[00:53:36]Thank you.

[00:53:36]>> Thank you.

[00:53:37]>> Have a great weekend, everyone.

[00:53:38]>> Bye-bye.

[00:53:39]>> Have a great weekend. Thanks, Maria.

[00:53:40]Thanks, Mike.

[00:53:41]Okay, so there was so much information going on with new regulations. I mean, how how great was it that you heard it here for a first new F1 regulations that were just released last night.

[00:53:56]Um so that is why these shows are so helpful, so beneficial. Again, if you do have questions uh pertaining to your own particular circumstance, the advice is to always reach out to your personal uh your personal attorney or your case specialist. So there are a number of questions that have come through. I do want to address Raquel's question. Um she said that she had a previous I-140 approval from quite some time ago and could we recapture it. So please get in touch with us. We will absolutely do everything we can. We will let you know if we can recapture it, but we would be very very happy to assist you.

[00:54:37]Uh so please reach out to us. Um there is something in there that the link is not working. We will pop it in again. Um but in the meantime, what you can do is you can go directly onto our website and apply there. But we will um we'll get the link posted for you again. Um thank you for all the interest in applying. We are so excited uh to help you uh move to the next step in realizing your American dream. So there are lots of questions in the chat about your job offers being rescinded.

[00:55:10]So I am so sorry that you were in that situation, but the great news is is that by applying to AMN International, not only do we have direct hire and staffing opportunities available, but we have clients that are looking for current priority dates and we can get you moving to the next step very quickly. So I know that this is very discouraging, but it can be be pause in your process, not a stop. So, please reach out to us today.

[00:55:41]Um we have helped many many nurses that are in similar situations, and I would recommend that um if you are open to to location that is going to get you placed a lot faster, and that is our goal is to get you placed very very quickly. So, if you are in that situation, please reach out to us. We want to help you. If you have a current priority date, we want to hear from you ASAP. We have opportunities available for you today. We have a great staffing opportunity um which is in the beautiful beautiful state of Iowa, and they are looking for international nurses like you. So, if you are not currently with AMN International, please make sure that you take the next step today. Again, we have opportunities all over the United States, and we want to help you.

[00:56:40]So, there are questions here about experience and what do you need in order to qualify? So, you do need to be working currently at the bedside. We do see some questions here about gaps in in employment. That doesn't necessarily disqualify you from qualifying. So, what we want to do is reach out to us. We will take a look at your credentials. We will have a conversation with you, and we will see if you qualify. But, if you don't qualify right this minute, we will give you a plan in order to to qualify very very quickly. So, just because you may have a gap in employment, that's not that's not going to It's not the end of the world um because in in certain cases, you may still qualify if it is your goal to get back to the bedside soon. So, So don't let that deter you from reaching out.

[00:57:34]Um so let's talk a little bit about English. So we talk about it all the time and we have some great shows coming up in the coming weeks all around English preparation. So I think that when we consider the the requirements for coming to to the US, English is just as important as NCLEX. So please put the urgency and the importance around preparing for your English. Don't be discouraged if you have failed once or twice. That's okay. That happens. Work with AMN International and we will make sure that you have all of the tools in order to be successful. So let us help you. That is a tremendous milestone that that you will be able to accomplish. And once you have it done, then you have it done.

[00:58:21]We do recommend that you take IELTS because it is just more it is accepted more broadly here in the United States.

[00:58:31]And if you are certain if you want to go to a certain state and that English exam is not recognized, then you would have to take another English exam and you don't want to do it twice. And also we've seen some score changes over the last few weeks particularly with PTE. So we always recommend that you take IELTS or TOEFL in order for you to qualify for positions across the United States because it is more widely accepted. Um the there's lots and lots of questions about how to apply. We'll put the link up again. Hopefully it works for you this time, but if not, just hop on our website and we will make sure that we get in touch with you.

[00:59:15]So they is hello Ma from Qatar. Really really happy to see you here today.

[00:59:23]So let's talk about our upcoming shows.

[00:59:26]So we have got uh our next week actually because we they the Visa Bulletin was a little bit delayed. So, next week we have a very exciting and fun show. So, we are going to have I want to say maybe four or five of our international nurses join us next week and they're going to talk all about their journey to the US. So, this is going to be our our last show before uh 4th of July which as we all know is a um very important holiday here in the United States. So, we're going to have some fun. We're going to have some games and some quizzes and you'll hear directly from international nurses like yourself who are now here in the US thriving. They're going to talk to us all about their journey and we're going to have a lot of fun next week. So, please make sure that you are joining us. Have your friends join us so that we can have some fun next week before we go into the 4th of July holiday. And then on July 17th, we will have our monthly immigration Q&A which we just wrapped with our expert attorneys. So, hopefully we have a Visa Bulletin um at that stage that we can share with you and uh share their predictions as well. But, we also have some AMN Academy shows that are coming up in the in in the next few weeks. So, we talked a lot about English and the first Wednesday and the third Wednesday of every month we do some English preparation classes that are presented by our partner Niner. So, you'll notice that it's Wednesday and we did switch the day up to really accommodate our our viewers, our participants um because we said that Wednesday was probably easier than a Monday. So, that day did change. Um so, it is the first and the third Wednesday of each month.

[01:01:25]Highly encourage you to attend those shows. There is a lot of tips and tricks about how to pass your English exam on the first attempt and well worth a 30 minutes to get some of those amazing tips and tricks. And then the fourth Wednesday of each month, we have our very own Joy Bansac who is our placement manager and she talks about dream jobs.

[01:01:47]So during that segment, she'll talk about particular jobs that we have in certain states. Again, we are the only organization that offers both direct hire and staffing opportunities. So please make sure that you are tuning in to Joy the fourth Wednesday of each month to learn all about it.

[01:02:07]Um, okay, so there was a lot of questions that we did not get to today and we do have a team member that will be going in periodically throughout the day and answering as many as we can.

[01:02:22]Um, if your question was not answered by the attorney, then please hold it. We do have one of these every single month.

[01:02:30]Things are changing very quickly and so we'll keep you up to date with each change. But in the meantime, if you have questions regarding your application, I do see some questions in there. We are of course prioritizing and NCLEX passers. So if you have not at this point passed your NCLEX, then please let us know once you have and we would be happy to to help you. So get your application in today. Again, we have opportunities across the United States in both staffing and direct hire. If you are in the unfortunate position of your job offer has been rescinded, we want to hear from you. We have opportunities available. We can place you very quickly and have this just be a pause in your process, not a stop.

[01:03:22]Um, so thank you very much for everybody um for joining us today. I hope that this was very very uh very very informative for you. I know it was for me and I know that there were many many questions that that we did not get to.

[01:03:39]Um, but that's always the case on on these shows. I do want to take one more question. Uh, how about one whose visa screen is about to expire? Is there anything an applicant can do to extend the visa screen from expiring? So, reach out to us um Uchichi, I just took your name and I will make sure one of our licensure experts reaches out to you to give you the most accurate information. But again, if you have not scheduled your English exam, please work with us to do that. That is very important as the visa bulletin continues to move like we hope it does. You don't want that to delay you. You want to be ready to go. So, let us help you and we'd be happy to assist you on your next steps in realizing your American dream. Thank you to everybody who asked a question. Thank you to everybody for participating and putting in your location. We love to see it and until next time, onwards and upwards.

[01:04:37]>> [music] [music]