CHCC applications in USCIS limbo

Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Muña takes exception to accusations that the corporation did nothing to avert the looming manpower crisis it now faces with its nurses.

“People think that we were late in submitting papers. We are not late. In fact, we submitted on time and, if only [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] released the receipts after receiving our employment application for fiscal year 2018, then our nurses will be qualified for the 240-day extension and there will be no disruption to the hospital’s operations,” Muña said.

In a discussion with reporters, Muña cited the timeline the corporation followed in applying for the nurses’ permits.

“The work permits of these nurses expire July 1, 2017. We knew that and we at CHCC, of course, started work on the renewals last year. On Oct. 14, 2016, USCIS issued a notice that it has reached the cap for fiscal year 2017 so the CHCC was unable to file extension petitions on behalf of its employees, including the 18 nurses whose CW-1 permits expire in July,” Muña said.

Since the nurses were “capped-out” last December 2016, as per procedure, CHCC had to wait for six months to turn in the new applications for CW-1 workers, which is supposedly scheduled in July 2017. However, USCIS opened the application for fiscal year 2018 applications on April 3, 2017, and CHCC was notified.

As soon as they learned this, Muña said that CHCC began processing papers for fiscal year 2018—with a start date of Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018—every day and submitted its applications last April 10, 2017.

“We have a FedEx document that says USCIS received the applications. But since then we have not heard from them,” Muña added.

After April 10, 2017, the next challenge was to “fill in the gap.” Knowing how critical and vital the positions are, CHCC, filed a “bridge” petition to USCIS last May 25, 2017, where the timeframe is from July 2 to Sept. 30, 2017.

The objective of the bridge petition is to close the gap between the current expiration of the CW-1 visas on July 1 and the new permit period for these 18 nurses that will start in October 2017.

““The petition was not entertained by USCIS. We received a letter from them saying ‘You are capped out already.’ Their answer was not on point because we are just asking for an extension to bridge the expiration of July to October 2017 and our argument was these nurses were already included in the cap of 2017,” Muña said.

With the rejection of the bridge petition, the nurses have no status from July 1 to October 2017.

She said the office of Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) sent her an email that the 18 nurses are qualified to acquire the 240-day extension given to CW-1 visa holders, so long as they meet three requirements: their CW-1 visa will expire in 2017, an application has been submitted for them to USCIS for fiscal year 2018, and a receipt has been released and given to CHCC.

But Muña said the lack of a USCIS receipt stymies this.

“Our situation is, we can comply with the first two requirements but not the third because USCIS did not issue or release a receipt to us even up to this day. Again the missing link is the receipt,” Muña said.

“So we have been asking USCIS, where is our receipt(s)?” she added.

CHCC also learned that USCIS hasn’t cashed the checks for the employment applications.

Muña said the only evidence the corporation has that it submitted the applications is the FedEx receipt.

“That’s all we have. What is classified as a receipt? Is it our application that was received by the courier or is it the receipt that the application has been entered in the system, because we followed up twice with the local USCIS and they could not give us clear answers. They said they couldn’t identify them in the system. They were not recorded in the system as receipts.”

Muña said that CHCC is exhausting all remedies available to it. “We’ve elevated this problem to the ombudsman of Homeland Security. We just need answers, as simply as that.”

Despite the odds, 12 of the 18 nurses will exhaust the 10-day rule after their CW-1 permits expire.

“I cannot convince these nurses to stay and risk their status. They need something in black and white. Certainty. Majority of them, except for a few, have agreed to take advantage of the 10-day rule and so they are willing to stay up to the 6th but they cannot work until we have something,” Muña said.

“I fervently hope we get answers soon,” she added.