On March 9, the U.S. Senate passed the Fiscal 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill by a voice vote. This bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives in late February is expected to be signed into law by President Obama shortly. In relation to immigration, the appropriations measures in the bill include a provision to extend the EB-5 regional center program and the E-Verify basic pilot program, both until September 30, 2009.

Important to note, however, is that the appropriations bill did not include extensions for the Religious Worker or Conrad 30 (J-1 waiver) programs. It is possible that these programs will be extended in an additional measure sometime in the future.