Senate Passes Legislation Easing H1B Extensions
Posted Oct 11, 2002

The U.S. Senate passed the Department of Justice Authorization Bill on the evening of October 3, 2002. This bill, which had previously passed the U.S. House of Representatives, contains important and favorable immigration law changes. We covered the provisions of this bill in our October 4, 2002 MurthyBulletin article, Important New Legislation Pending, available on MurthyDotCom. The bill will not be effective until the President signs it. However, the President must act within 10 days, and it is expected that he will sign the bill into law any day.

A very important provision of the bill pertains to the extension of H1B status beyond the six-year limit. The new law would allow for extensions of H1B status in one-year increments, provided an individual is the beneficiary of a filed application for labor certification that has been pending at least 365 days.

Presently, in order to obtain an H1B "seventh-year" extension it is necessary to have an employment-based green card case which continues to be pending at least 365 days from the date of the initial filing (usually a labor certification, unless within a category exempt from this requirement) AND has reached at least the I-140 stage. For cases requiring a labor certification, this means that the labor certification has been approved, as required for the I-140 filing. Given the lengthy backlogs at the Department of Labor in many jurisdictions, an individual easily uses up the six years allowed in H status before the labor certification application is adjudicated.

Another important and favorable portion of the bill is the extension of the "Conrad State 20" program and the increase from 20 to 30 available positions each year for medical doctors working in medically underserved areas in participating states. This program provides a means for medical doctors, present in the U.S. on J-1 visas, to obtain a waiver of the two-year home residency requirement based upon employment in designated, medically underserved areas and health professional shortage areas.

We will report on the progress of this legislation, either in a NewsFlash or in the MurthyBulletin. The passage of this legislation would be an enormous relief to many J-1 physicians, as well as to those on H1B status and their families who await the approval of labor certification filed over a year ago.