Some new developments on the EB-3 fix occurred overnight. The House and Senate Conferees reached agreement on the total Supplemental Funding Bill and all the associated amendments. Our EB-3 amendment is definitely still attached. Once Conferees reach agreement on a Bill and Amendments, no further changes can occur.
The House is supposed to vote on the Bill tomorrow and the Senate will vote on either Monday or Tuesday of next week when they return from their recess. Then on to President Bush for his signature.
Next we will be monitoring how quickly the State Department gets itself in gear to issue visa numbers to the various U.S. Embassies so end stage visa processing begins again. We will keep you informed as we see movement on this front.
To reiterate the EB-3 deal: The recapture of 50,000 unused visa numbers to be used specifically for Schedule A jobs which are Nurses and Physical Therapists.