Today Hammond Law Group held a phone conference with its employer-clients: Retrogression for RNs and PTs. The purpose of the call was to distribute the latest information to our employer-clients. We are cross-posting the summary to the blog:

1. The long-term goal is the enactment of a law that takes Schedule A occupations out of the usual employment-based immigrant quota. This will likely be accomplished through the enactment of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). The House has already introduced their version of CIR, which is called the STRIVE Act. The STRIVE Act includes a provision to exempt Schedule A occupations from the ordinarily employment-based green card cap until 2017.

The Senate is expected to introduce their version in the next month or so. It is conceivable that both Houses of Congress (The Senate and the House of Representatives) could pass CIR in the May/June period. The President will surely sign CIR into law.

If CIR is not passed before the middle of the summer, HLG does not expect that it will be passed until September/October, if ever.

2. Since the prospects for passing CIR are favorable but not certain, HLG, along with its Coalition partners, is pushing for a bridge legislation. The goal of the bridge legislation is to convince Congress to immediately allocate a small number of visas (50-90,000 visas) for Schedule A occupations.

What you can do to help?

Our lobbyist allies tell us that the most persuasive way to make our case is for hospitals and health care facilities to personally telephone and call their Congressmen and Senators. The next most persuasive way is for recruiting companies to call their Congressmen and Senators.

Here are the key Congressmen and Senators:

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- MA)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)

We have a very real chance of solving retrogression, but it will only be solved by stating our case with these important people.

If you are a Hospital or a Staffing Company that places employees in the districts of these Congressmen, and would like help, please contact Chris Musillo (cmusillo@hammondlawfirm.com) or the HLG attorney that you ordinarily work with. We have talking points and sample letters that we can provide you with. HLG attorneys are also available for conference calls and face to face meetings. We will donate our time toward this effort and will not accept any professional fee. We know that this retrogression effort is important for everyone.