Famous immigration attorney Carl Shusterman has commented on the pathetic healthcare situation in the United States. He questioned whether the U.S. has enough physicians to take care of another 40 million people going to be covered by the healthcare insurance. While stressing on the need of welcoming International Medical Graduates (IMGs) he said, that “despite the immense shortage of physicians, it is generally agreed that the physician shortage in the U.S. would be much worse without the presence of many thousands of IMGs.”

In a conclusive remark, Mr. Shusterman said, “given the current budget deficit, Congress is unlikely to appropriate the billions of dollars required to educate and train a sufficient number of physicians in the U.S. Passage of universal healthcare will make the physicians shortage even more severe. Therefore, we need to extend the welcome mat to IMGs wishing to serve U.S. patients.”

For full information, please click: US Needs More Foreign Physicians: Carl Shusterman

With a budget gap that is worsening and has now grown to $26.3 billion, California lawmakers are confronting a major political issue of whether taxpayers should provide services to illegal residents. Anti- illegal immigration activists have launched a campaign for an initiative that would, inter alia, cut off welfare payments to the U.S. born children of illegal immigrants. State welfare officials estimate that cutting off payments to illegal immigrants for their U.S. born children could save $640 million annually if it survives legal challenges. California accommodates 2.7 million illegal residents, according to an April 2009 report from the authoritative Pew Hispanic Center, accounting for about 7% of the state’s population. State officials estimate that they add between $4 billion and $6 billion in costs, primarily for prisons and jails, schools and emergency rooms. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said it is wrong to blame illegal immigrants for the state’s fiscal problems.

For detailed information, please read: California Budget Deficit Rake up Issue of Illegal Immigrants

Lack of information on working rights available to nonimmigrant visa holders (NIV) makes them vulnerable for abuse and exploitations by employers; to curb this menace the Department of State (DOS) has published an informative and helpful pamphlet. Interested individuals may download it by visiting at http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/Pamphlet-Order.pdf. The pamphlet contains address of organizations that can be contacted for help and also contains good number of advisory tips to be followed by NIV holders during their stay and employment in U.S. It is highly advisable for all NIV holders staying in U.S. or planning to go to U.S. to get hold of one of these pamphlets and keep it with them.

For complete information, please click DOS to NIV holders: Know Your Rights!