Tanya Friedman:
I think we’re live, right?
Chris:
Yes, we are.
Tanya:
Okay.
Hi everybody.
Good morning to all the [inaudible].
This is Tanya Friedman, calling here from a beautiful New York City this morning and
I want you to welcome everybody.
Today, we have our esteemed panel of lawyers who are going to be answering your immigration
questions.
Just a quick introduction, as I said, my name is Tanya Friedman.
I am the chief operating officer of Kinetics.
We are a recruitment company.
We specialize in the direct hire of nurses all over the US hospitals, nursing homes,
surgery centers, etc.
And on the panel, we have a Carl [inaudible], Chris Marcello and Jacob Sapochnick.
And usually, when we do our Facebook live sessions, we do it on a Friday.
So, this is a surprise for everybody.
It's not Friday today, but we are doing this Facebook live session because we have had
a lot of people who are asking questions about the latest legislation that's in Congress.
And we wanted to make sure to answer your questions because we know that a lot of people
are worried about this.
And there has been some talk, obviously, About the retrogression and I think, we didn't raise
that in the last session that we had without esteemed panel.
But today, the purpose is not going to be taking questions from the [inaudible].
Today, the purpose is just to talk about the legislation and just to share as much information
with everybody.
Obviously, we know that people are worried, there's been a lot of talk about the new legislation
in the news and retrogression, and what happened the last time is fresh on everybody's minds.
So, we want to make sure that we give accurate information so that we all know what we're
talking about.
And before we start, I just wanted you to give a quick shout out again to the La fora
team.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity.
The purpose here is really to counteract any rumors and false information and to make sure
everybody has accurate access to information that is taught right on topic.
So, to get started, we're going to talk about three different pieces of legislation that
are currently in the news.
We're going to be talking about the fairness of high skilled immigration act, which is
known also as HR 1044.
We're going to be talking about S-386 amendment.
And we are also going to be talking about the BELIEVE Act.
So, Carl, if I can start with you.
If you want to just share with everybody what HR 1044 is all about.
I know, we did speak about it on one of the previous calls, but if you want to share with
everybody what's that all about.
Carl:
1044 is a legislation to remove the per-country caps on people that are immigrating to the
United States through their employment.
We have, sort of, a broken system in the US.
People who get different visas like, the TF under the H-1B, they could all be from one
country.
I mean, there's no particular caps on temporary working visas, but when their employers want
to apply for them to get green cards, the rules for the last 50-something years say
that no more than 7% of the total amount of people can be from one country.
Well over the last 10 to 20 years, most of the H-1Bs have been people from India, mostly
in the IT industry.
So, because of the 7% cap, when they try to go from H-1B to green cards, the waiting times
have mushroomed like crazy.
Only about 5,000 can get green cards every year.
The backlog has grown to almost half a million.
So, if you look at it that way, it could be a hundred-year wait to get a green card, which
makes no sense at all.
And Congress for the last 10 years as tried to get a bill through to get rid of those
per-country caps.
So, the Indians and everybody else can be treated equally.
The problem is they didn't pass this until last week, which was... or two weeks ago on
the July the tenth, it passed overwhelmingly through the House of Representatives.
And now, it's too late in my opinion, to just have a bill that gets rid of the per-country
caps because you have so many people waiting in line that what it means is that almost
no one except Indians would be able to get green cards for the next few years through
employment, if they took away the per-country caps.
Nurses from the Philippines, it would probably take 10 years for a nurse to get a green card.
And not only is that unfair to nurses, but it's really not smart politics because our
country has this huge shortage of nurses.
There's no real temporary visas for most nurses.
So, if hospitals are going to wait 10 years to get in a nurse, they're going to stop applying.
So, even though HR 1044 passed overwhelmingly in the house, it's companion bill, S-386,
in the Senate was stopped by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and we're going to talk about
the act that he introduced, which is called the BELIEVE Act.
But basically, you need a two-part of bill to really make this work.
One is to wipe out the per-country quotas, which HR 1044 did.
But the other is to increase the total amount of people that can immigrate through employment.
And if you do that, it works.
We'll talk about, what kind of...
I think Chris will talk about what kind of chance Senator Paul's BELIEVE Act has in the
US senate, but HR 1044 has been effectively, the counterpart in the Senate has been effectively
blocked.
Chris:
Yeah.
So, as Carl said, the 386 bill, which the Senate bill has been blocked.
And we do not think that that bill is going to go forward in the short term, in the next
month or two.
But come the fall, I think, we're in agreement that there are folks in the Senate who are
bound to try and move that bill.
So, that's the bad news.
The good news is, Senator Paul is... it seems to be very firm and he has introduced another
piece of legislation called the BELIEVE Act, as Carl said.
And the BELIEVE Act would be a terrific piece of legislation because it takes the entire
Fairness Act that is out there, which is the one that will really help the Indian community
and then layers on, protections for nurses along with several other employment-based
immigration groups.
So, that's the bill that certainly is the better of the two bills.
But the BELIEVE Act has only been out there for about two or three weeks.
And so, it's just now starting to work its way through the congress.
But my sense is, is that there may be able to be some sort of a compromise, maybe midway
between those two bills, for what we think is important for the Philippine nursing community
right now to recognize, there's a few things.
One, while these bills are out there, they are not law and there are still several hoops
that need to clear before they would become law.
Among other things, Senator Paul would have to be convinced to release his hold, that
would be one thing.
Second hurdle that needs to be overcome is even if Senator Paul released his hold, the
current version, the Senate Bill 386 and the House Bill 1044 are not actually the exact
same bill.
There is... the Senate bill contained some H-1B changes that the House bill does not
contain.
And so, since those bills are similar but not identical, they actually would have to
be another negotiation even after... even if Mr. Paul release his hold in order to create
compromise law.
I don't want to get too far into the details other than to, again, make sure everybody's
aware that there would have to be several steps beforehand.
And then the largest step might be, some of this is a major rewrite of the way green cards
are issued in the United States.
And there is no guarantee that the President or other folks would be willing to pass an
immigration bill on the employment side without dealing with some of the other perceived gaps
in US immigration policy.
So for that reason, we don't think anyone needs to be panicked.
Today, we will obviously be keeping everybody informed over the next few weeks and months.
And I think, the most important thing that the Philippine community can do is if they
have relationships with hospitals.
Perhaps you have friends and family who are in the United States with hospitals who believe
that this issue is important, that the nurses are protected in any sort of bill, if they
can get in touch with Carl or myself or Tanya or Jacob.
We have some sample letters that hospitals can write to the US senators to inform them
that they think that the Fairness Bill has a lot positive for it, but it doesn't need
to be fixed in this one area to protect the nurses.
And the legislation is out there.
It's already been written.
It's really just a question of trying to create some sort of a compromise provision.
Tanya:
Okay.
Well then, can you see me okay?
Because I'm getting some messages that I can't…
Chris:
Yeah, you're pixelated.
Carl looks very clear.
And then, we know Jacob is in Europe and he was having problems.
With Tanya, your…
Jacob:
We're coming in and out.
Tanya:
I hope you can hear me.
Jacob:
Yeah, we can hear you.
Chris…
Tanya:
Yeah.
I'm so sorry.
I'm actually not in my office, so maybe that's why I'm having some connection problems, but
if you can hear me.
Okay.
So I think, the clear message for everybody listening is not to panic.
And I think, as was mentioned…
Chris:
Yeah.
Tanya, you've cut out.
Jacob, I think you wanted to say something, maybe you can…
Jacob:
Yeah.
I wanted to mention some of the questions that with BELIEVE Act, they are also going
to be raising the cap on employment and which is something we've been waiting for a long
time.
And I think, was it the from 142 to 270,000, something like that that we've been waiting
for.
And I think, this is something that, and for us... and in the nurses as well, but for us
getting the numbers up is going to major in a hope, because I think Carl, and correct
me if I'm wrong, I think, since the early nineties, there hasn't been an increase.
Right?
Carl:
Right.
I mean, I guess I'd been around so long that I can remember, but it was like 52,000…
Jacob:
That is why I asked you.
[inaudible]
Carl:
Yeah, exactly.
And then under a Republican President George Bush in the 1990s, they almost tripled.
It went from 50...
[Inaudible]
Jacob:
Right.
Carl:
What Ram Paul is suggesting, the 270 is not quite doubling yet, but I don't know.
I'm not...
I don't claim to be a congressional expert, but President Trump did make this speech about
a month before this 1044 in the house.
And he said, "I think that not 12%, which is the amount of immigration that's employment-related
[inaudible]... quite a leap, but he didn't add new numbers.
So basically, they would get rid of the diversity visa, with the visa lottery and they would
take some of the family categories... [inaudible]
Chris:
We are...
I don't know, I'm having problems hearing Carl as well.
I don't know if people can hear me, but…
Jacob:
Hello?
Can you say something?
Carl:
Yeah.
So, I can hear you fine, Chris.
I don't know... but I think, that the logical compromise will be that there will probably
be some reductions in the lottery and family categories to make up for the increases in
the employment category.
But since, in some professions, particularly registered nurses and physical therapists
have been designated as shortage occupations, I think, that most everybody can get together
to agree that we shouldn't shut them out of the employment-based immigration... [inaudible]
Jacob:
I think, we lost Tanya for a second.
[inaudible]
Tanya:
Can you hear me?
Chris:
Yes.
Yeah, we can hear you.
Jacob:
I think, the bandwidth here is a little bit weak and so, but it's... we are doing our
best.
Tanya:
Can you see me?
Can you hear me okay?
Jacob:
Yeah.
Tanya:
Okay, perfect.
So, I think that the information that the panel has shared has been very helpful.
The main message, I believe, coming across, and I'm so sorry I seem to be having some
connection issues this morning, but I think, the main message for everybody listening is
not to panic.
We will keep you informed as this evolves and... [inaudible] availability for green
cards and we will keep you posted.
[inaudible]
Chris:
All right.
Tanya:
Okay.
I am so sorry for the connection problems.
I hope everybody got our main message and we will keep you posted.
Carl:
Bye-bye.
Jacob:
Thank you, guys.
Carl:
Thank you...
enjoy the beach.
Jacob:
Thanks.
Carl.
I will be back next week and I'll let you know next time I'm going to be up there.
Because you're in Orange County every other week, right?
Carl:
Yeah, pretty much.
Jacob:
Okay, perfect.
Carl:
Okay. [inaudible]