US to continue hiring nurses, teachers — DOLE

Filipino nurses, teachers and other workers can still work in the United States despite the freeze in the processing of new visa applications, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.

Acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson belied reports that the US government would stop hiring Filipino workers or issuing H-1B visas to foreign workers.

"The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) will not stop the issuance of H-1B visas but will merely not accept petitions for new visas from October 2004 to October 2005," he said.

An H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa granted to applicants from specialty professions such as architecture, engineering, medicine and computer programming who intend to work in the US. The visa is valid for six years and can lead to permanent residency.

Last February, the CIS announced that it would no longer accept applications for new H-1B visas because the annual cap of 65,000 set by US Congress had already been reached.

But Imson said Filipino nurses are still allowed to enter the US for employment purposes by securing H or EB3 visas from the US embassy.

The US embassy has so far issued 2,644 H visas for Filipino workers and 3,471 EB3 or immigrant-based employment visas.

Imson said the US is allowing nurses to enter under the two visa categories in order to meet the big demand for foreign nurses.

He added that certain employers in the US are exempted from the cap. These employers include institutions of higher education.