There are several important recent changes in immigration law that will seriously impact the ability of foreign medical graduates to obtain H1-B visas and to obtain permanent resident status in U.S.A.

• The yearly quota for H1-B visas increases to 195,000 effective immediately for years 2001, 2002, and 2003. This quota is effective retroactively for petitions filed for fiscal years 1999 and 2000.

• Institutions of higher education, institutions affiliated with them, non-profit research organizations, and governmental research organizations are permanently relieved of quotas.

• J-1 physicians who obtained waivers under the Conrad State 20 program are now exempt from the cap in obtaining an H1-B visa until they fulfill their obligation for permanent residency.

• H-1 holders may begin new employment even before new petitions are approved if the new employer filed a complete, non-frivolous petition and the employee has not been out of status or working without employment authorization (this rule is very hard to understand and to implement, so it will take some time until INS issues clear instruction regarding this rule).

• H-1 holders who have petitioned for Immigrant Worker (Form I-140), an Adjustment of Status (Form I-485), or a Labor Certification pending for one year or more may be granted an extension of H-1 status beyond the 6-year limit in one year increments until a decision is made on their Immigrant petition.

• The fee for new H1-B petitions and first extensions is increased from $500 to $1000, but institutions for higher education, institutions affiliated with them, non-profit research organizations, and governmental research organizations are exempt from these fees.

• J-1 holders no longer need a duplicate of IAP-66 to renew their visas in their passports when traveling outside the U.S., but do need to have a pink copy of their IAP-66 form endorsed on the reverse side by the Responsible Officer of the J-1 program.

• The Employment Based immigrant visa beneficiaries whose I-485s have been pending for at least 180 days can now change employers without losing their approved immigrant status. The only condition is that a new job must be in the same or similar occupational class as the job for which the original petition was filed.

• Some countries such as China and India have yearly quotas for employment based immigrant petitions resulting in waiting periods of months or even years to be decided. Now the unused visas for other countries can be spilled over and used for those countries that have already used their own quotas.