[Rehab] Question about Policy Change re Work Authorizations for Immigrants Seeking VR Services

Sat Sep 27 18:48:51 UTC 2025

Hi Justin,

Since I entered my career in VR over 15 years ago, work authorization in
the United States has been a requirement for individuals in the receipt of
employment services. The passage of WIOA in 2014 further clarified the
standard with the dissolution of the homemaker outcome and the inclusion of
language that services provided must be in support of the participant’s
employment outcome. It’s important to remember that although we (the blind
community) think of any service being attained from the state services for
the blind as VR, that’s simply not true. Each federal award has different
criteria for who may access the programs being funded, and the state agency
is responsible for enforcing the terms they agreed to when accepting the
federal award. Failing to adhere to regulatory mandates would open the door
to expenditures being deemed disallowable because services would be
considered nonauthorized. The agency would then be forced to reimburse the
US Treasury for expenditures found to fall in this category – potentially
totaling Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Generally, the
receipt of Independent Living Services and Pre-ETS do not require work
authorization.

WIOA brought tremendous overhaul to the delivery of the public VR program.
In my opinion, most state agencies were stymied by figuring out which
regulation to tackle first. I venture most agencies landed on focusing on
WIOA performance measures that would lead to financial sanctions if not
met. Getting a handle on delivering Pre-ETS, tracking measurable skill
gains, implementing Section 511, and properly tracking employment after
exit were the initiatives occupying agency leadership.

Right as agencies were getting the hang of their new reality, 2020 said
hold my beer. Agencies had to pivot to the challenges of the simultaneous
crises of implementing remote service delivery models; decline in
participants engaging with VR; loss of agency and CRP employees; and
ultimately finding solutions to legally obligate federal awards. Now that
the overall public VR program has spent the federal grant, and state
agencies can collectively breathe again, I am not surprised that Minnesota
SSB is only now having an opportunity to discuss an official policy
adoption for a matter that has been effectively addressed by practice.
Although I do not have a personal relationship with the Minnesota SSB
director, I have observed her professionally and believe she will work with
the blind community to responsibly design a policy that meets mandatory
regulations and best serves the blind of Minnesota.

Daphne

On Thu, Sep 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM Blaine Deutscher via Rehab <rehab at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Good afternoon
> This topic is very interesting to me as I'm looking at coming to the US
> and becoming certified in SD training. I knew to work in the states you
> need a work visa if your not a permanent resident or US citizen. This also
> applies for people looking to do apprenticeship training.
> Blaine
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Sep 25, 2025, at 1:28 PM, Justin Salisbury via Rehab <
> rehab at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Good afternoon, friends and colleagues!
> >
> > I currently live in Minnesota, where our state VR agency serving the
> blind is considering some policy changes. One of them is a bit confusing to
> me, so I'm reaching out to ask if people here have any experience with this
> kind of policy change and if you have anything to share. I think I've been
> told that this policy change has been directly handed down to us from RSA,
> so, if that's the case, then I think people all over the country should be
> in the same boat. I just haven't heard any public discourse in NFB spaces
> about it and want to be informed before I do or say anything on this
> proposed policy change.
> >
> > The proposal is to add this requirement:
> > "If a person is not a legal permanent resident or U.S. Citizen, they
> must provide evidence of work authorization (such as a nonimmigrant work
> visa or Employment Authorization Document) before eligibility can be
> determined. If no evidence can be provided, the case is closed from
> application without an eligibility determination."
> >
> > I wonder what kinds of ethical dilemmas this will cause for anyone
> holding a CRC or any certifications from the NBPCB or ACVREP.
> >
> > On the one hand, there may be people who come to the United States
> looking for VR services so that they can become confident and skilled
> enough to go out and get a work authorization. I think I've worked with
> students who had some kind of medical visa which allowed them to come to
> the US for healthcare, and then we gave them adjustment-to-blindness
> training, which helped them to go apply for a work visa. That wasn't in
> Minnesota, but it could be possible anywhere, I would suppose. Such a
> policy change would seem to eliminate that phenomenon from happening again.
> >
> > On another hand, there could be people here on other kinds of visas,
> like international students who are here on F-1 student visas, who might
> benefit from receiving some access technology instruction.
> >
> > On another hand, we could have people who are here on still other kinds
> of visas that do not allow them to work, who then become blind, who could
> benefit from VR services. These folks may apply for work visas, but do we
> want to make them wait until the work visa goes through before we can start
> serving them?
> >
> > It also occurs to me that other federal policy changes could be under
> consideration that might allow a person to get a work visa if they're
> coming here for VR services, but I doubt that.
> >
> > What do folks here know about these kinds of policy changes?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Justin
> >
> > Justin MH Salisbury, MEd, NOMC, NCRTB
> > English Pronouns: He/Him/His
> > Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
> > ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury<
> https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury&source=gmail-imap&ust=1727538746000000&usg=AOvVaw3uZJqqJkT2wSVxJDa9dD7W
> >
> > LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury<
> https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury&source=gmail-imap&ust=1727538746000000&usg=AOvVaw0XtyTG9WXXQ8TWe6UeU4Nz
> >
> > ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1786-2786
> >
> > "Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the
> hunter."
> > Chinua Achebe
> >
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