REAL ID Act Not All Bad

Though it will be tough for undocumented aliens to secure driver's licenses now that President Bush has signed the REAL ID Act (H.R. 1268), there are some gems associated with this legistlation. Here they are:

1. For H-2B (temporary non-professionals) - numbers will be allocated equally between two parts of the fiscal year to allow more availability of workers in summer positions. Also, returning H-2s will be exempt from the cap for fiscal year 2006.

2. For E-3 aliens from Australia, a new quota of 10,5000 will be available for nationals of Australia. This has the effect of increasing the H cap by allowing Australians another option, freeing up that many H-1s for other nationalities.

3. For nurses and physical therapists filing under Schedule A permanent residence, 50,000 additional visas will be allocated. Finally, some response is available to the nursing shortage in the U.S.

4. The cap on the number of asylees who are eligible to adjust status to permanent residence and the number of those eligible for asylum based on coersive population controls is eliminated.

5. Eliminates the bar to some judicial review.