Nurse Legislation Proposed to provide relief for shortage of nurses in the United States (874 hits)
– On May 13, Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced H.R.1929, a bill to provide relief for the shortage of nurses in the United States. The bill will re-establish a Schedule A employment-based immigrant category in which 20,000 registered nurses could qualify for green cards annually. On May 24, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced H.R.1933 which would extend the H-1C program for three years, but would reduce the number of available visas from 500 to 300 per year. We link to the complete text of both bills from our Nurse Immigration Guide.
Filipina Nurses See Long Visa Delays Despite Nursing Shortage For decades the United States has turned to Filipina nurses, such as Baslio, and those from other countries, especially China, the Caribbean and India, to fill its growing shortage of nurses and nurses’ aides. American long-term care companies actively recruit nurses from the Philippines because of its U.S. style health care education programs. Yet, despite the American nursing shortage, so many Filipino health care workers—even those with promised jobs—are caught in an effective freeze on U.S. work visas -- there is a seven year waiting period for admittance to the U.S.
