Visa Retrogression is basically an immigration quota that was introduced some time ago by an Act of Congress. The quota is administered by the Department of State, not the Department of Homeland Security. The quota was suspended a few years ago, because of backlogs in processing. Now that new systems have been introduced, the quota has been re-established.

The Department of State (DOS) has forecasted that three countries will reach their quota limits in January 2005, without being specific about how and to what extent that will affect the processing of visas. There are basically two types of quotas - Family based, and Employment based. Your nurses and our candidates fall into the Employment based category.

The figures released by the Department of State in December, which are a forecast of likely processing dates in January 2005 indicate that they will be processing I-140 applications filed on or before January 2002.

Complete details of the update are contained in the attached Press Release