Mar
12
Fast-Track Visas for Cuban Defectors
Filed Under Immigration News, Skilled Workers | Leave a Comment
A six-month old program has made it possible for hundreds of Cuban doctors to legally work in the US under a fast-track visa system.
Hundreds of doctors and medical professionals are waiting in countries such as Bolivia while background checks are carried out, and over a hundred have already been approved and are working in US hospitals and clinics.
The program has been a huge success - the number of Cuban medical professionals who have defected is so huge that Cuban-American groups in the US are working hard to assist them.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Emilio Gonzalez says, “It’s a hugely successful program. The word is getting out, and obviously we get an increased number every week.”
To read more about the fast-track visa program for Cuban doctors in the US, click here.
Feb
21
Small towns are suffering from a lack of qualified physicians after growth in the H1-B visa has caused less medical professionals to use the J-1 waiver.
The H1-B visa allows US companies to hire non-American citizens for jobs that are very specialized and, as a result, hard to fill. Unlike the J-1, the H1-B does not force physicians to spend three years in underserved and mostly rural settings.
The result of this is that the number of foreign doctors on a J-1 visa fell by 45 percent to almost 6,000 in 2005-06, compared to nearly 11,000 in 1995-96.
To read more about this problem and its possible solutions, click here.