Ang Therapist

After 6 months of unavailable visa priority dates for EB-3 status for H1-B conversion to permanent residence status, some good news is here. In April 2009, the significant backlog in the processing of permanent residence applications for this category has caused visa priority dates to backslide from May 2005 to March 2003 and visa priority numbers were unavailable since then. On September 9, the U.S. Department of State released the Visa Bulletin for October 2009 with new priority cut-off dates for all immigration categories. This means that greencard numbers numbers are available again. The bad news is the priority dates backslides further back to June 1, 2002 for EB-3 category. For those who are waiting for their priority numbers to become current, check your priority dates and find where you are in the process. It may still be a long wait, but we are all already in line. Let us continue living the good life. God bless us all.

Click here to view the official document released by U.S. Department of State.

This news is for foreign-trained Occupational Therapists in the United States who are working on converting their H1-B visas (work visa) to permanent resident status (greencard).

According to Immspec.com (U.S. Immigration Forms Processing Service for Foreign Nurses and Pharmacists), a company that describes itself as “an in-house immigration administration support specialist”, the Visa Screening program is described as follows:

Visa screening program verifies that the education of an alien healthcare worker seeking job in the United States is equivalent to that of his/her US educated counter part

An overview of visa screen certification:

U.S. immigration law now requires that healthcare professionals (except physicians) qualified outside the United States complete a screening program in order to qualify for certain US working visas. VisaScreen™, also known as Visa Credentials Assessment, enables healthcare workers to meet this requirement by verifying and evaluating their credentials to ensure compliance with the government’s minimum eligibility standards.

VisaScreen™ program is administrated by the International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP), which is a division of CGFNS (Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools). Candidates who successfully complete this program receive a VisaScreen™ Certificate. This certification authenticates that the foreign national’s education, license, training, and experience are comparable to that of a US healthcare professional.

Visa screen certificate can be presented to a consulate office, or in the case of Adjustment of Status, the Attorney General, as part of application process of an occupational visa. The visa screening program normally involves licensure verification, educational credentialing, English language proficiency testing (TOEFL, TSE, TWE), and a predictive exam (CGFNS Certificate).

The healthcare professionals who are required to obtain a VisaScreen™ Certificate before they can get an immigrant visa or permanent residence (“green card”) include occupational therapists, physical therapists, nurses, speech-language pathologists, medical technicians (or clinical laboratory technicians), medical technologists (or clinical laboratory scientists), and physician assistants. With respect to the green card process, the VisaScreen Certificate is not required for an employer to file an I-140 immigrant petition on behalf of a foreign national to sponsor them for lawful permanent residence (i.e. green card). However, once the I-140 immigrant petition is approved, the beneficiary and foreign national must obtain the VisaScreen Certificate before they can be issued an immigrant visa.

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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued an important memorandum last May 20, 2009. This update has also been featured on the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) website.

USCIS CLARIFIES QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER VISAS

The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently been misinterpreting the educational requirements sited in the 2008-09 Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Labor. This language misinterpretation has had a devastating impact on internationally educated occupational therapists who are either applying for or renewing their visas.

The NBCOT has been informed of a newly released Memorandum of Understanding from the USCIS. The memorandum clarifies the educational requirements of individuals seeking visas to perform services in a specialty occupation (such as occupational therapy). The USCIS will approve all occupational therapists provided that the beneficiary holds at least a Bachelor’s degree. Please see the USCIS memorandum of understanding for further detail.

There have been a lot of discussions regarding denials of H-1B petitions by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Such denials are based on the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2008-09 Edition which states that:

Occupational Therapist
Individuals pursing a career as an occupational therapist usually need to earn a master’s degree in occupational therapy from an accredited college or university, which includes 6 months of supervised fieldwork.

Education and training. A master’s degree or higher in occupational therapy is the minimum requirement for entry into the field.

Physical Therapist
Individuals pursuing a career as a physical therapist usually need a master’s degree from an accredited physical therapy program and a State license, requiring passing scores on national and State examinations.

Education and training. According to the American Physical Therapy Association, there were 209 accredited physical therapist education programs in 2007. Of the accredited programs, 43 offered master’s degrees and 166 offered doctoral degrees. Only master’s degree and doctoral degree programs are accredited, in accordance with the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. In the future, a doctoral degree might be the required entry-level degree. Master’s degree programs typically last 2 years, and doctoral degree programs last 3 years.

The Foreign Credentialing Commission on Physical Therapy (FCCPT) and the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc (NBCOT) have written the following letters to USCIS. We hope this matter has been settled.

• FCCPT letter re language in final PT report
• NBCOT Letter No. 1
• NBCOT Letter No. 2

Quoted below is the USCIS Update dated June 11, 2008. It’s time to contact your California wine clubs and celebrate. This is definitely good news for fellow therapists who are on their sixth year in H-1B non-immigrant status.

USCIS to Offer Premium Processing for Certain Form I-140 Petitions
Service Begins June 16, 2008

WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that on June 16, 2008, it will begin accepting Premium Processing Service requests for Forms I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker) filed on behalf of certain alien workers who are nearing the end of their sixth year in H-1B nonimmigrant status. 

Premium Processing Service offers 15 calendar-day processing for designated employment-based petitions and applications upon request.  There is a nonrefundable fee of $1000 for this service.  During the 15-day period, USCIS will issue either an approval or denial notice, a notice of intent to deny, a request for evidence, or open an investigation for fraud or misrepresentation.  USCIS previously designated certain classifications under Form I-140 for Premium Processing Service in the May 23, 2006 issue of the Federal Register.  See 71 FR 29662.

USCIS is limiting Premium Processing Service for Form I-140 petitions that are filed on behalf of aliens:

• Whose sixth year will end within 60 days;
• Who are only eligible for a further extension of H-1B nonimmigrant status under section 104(c) of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (AC21); and 
• Who are ineligible to extend their H-1B status under section 106(a) of AC21.

Section 104(c) of AC21 permits applicants to extend their stay in H-1B nonimmigrant status in increments of up to three years, provided they are the beneficiary of an approved Form I-140 and an immigrant visa is not immediately available.   Section 106(a) of AC21 permits applicants to extend their stay in H-1B nonimmigrant status in increments of up to one year, provided the Form I-140 petition or underlying labor certification has been pending for at least 365 days.

For more details on Premium Processing Service for the Form I-140 petitions described in this announcement, see the “How Do I Use the Premium Processing Service” page in the Related Links section of this page or the Fact Sheet also linked in the Related Links section.

Source: USCIS