1. The RN must be in possession of:
a. A diploma from a nursing school in her country;b. An RN license in her country; and
c. A full and unrestricted license to practice professional nursing in the state of intended employment, or a certification that she has passed the examination given by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS).
2. RNs together with physical therapists are listed as shortage, or ?Schedule A?, occupations in regulations (20 C.F.R. §656.22) issued by the Department of Labor. An employer who wishes to immigrate an RN is exempt from having to submit an application for alien labor certification to the Department of Labor or to a State Employment Security Agency.
The immigration process begins when an employer submits an immigrant visa petition (Form I-140) to the office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) having jurisdiction over the nurse?s place of intended employment. The petition must be accompanied by Labor Department forms ETA-750A and B and by various documents including those listed above. The petition should be accompanied by a check for filing fees. Typically, the INS will approve the visa petition in two to three months.
3. If the RN is a native of one of ten selected countries (including Canada, China, India and the Philippines), the INS first sends the approved visa petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If there is no backlog for immigrant visas from the RN?s native country (her ?priority date? is ?current?), the NVC forwards a packet to the nurse or her attorney containing biographical information forms to be completed by her and her family members, and a list of documents that must be presented at her interview for permanent residence.
4. The RN, or her attorney, sends the signed and completed forms to the U.S. consulate where the nurse will have her interview for permanent residence. At this interview, the nurse must present various documents including the following:
The INS regulations provide that the only organization authorized to issue VisaScreen certificates to RNs is the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), the organization which is listed in §343. The CGFNS is located at 3600 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-2651; telephone: (215) 349-8767; fax: (215) 349-0026. The CGFNS web site www.cgfns.org.
The INS interim VisaScreen regulations (8 C.F.R. §212.15) provide that even if a foreign-born RN is educated, licensed and trained in the U.S., she still must obtain a VisaScreen certificate. Obtaining such a certificate requires a significant expenditure of time, effort and money (over $300) on the part of the nurse.
In addition, unless the nurse was educated in an English-speaking country (U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom or Canada - all provinces except Quebec), she must achieve a certain score on tests in written and spoken English administered by TOEFL or MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment Battery) in order to qualify for a VisaScreen certificate.
Generally, the process of obtaining permanent residence may take between 12 to 24 months assuming that the immigrant visa quota from the RN?s country of birth is not backlogged. Currently, none of the employment-based quotas are backlogged. However, it is probable that backlogs will develop in the near future for RNs born in India, mainland China, and possibly the Philippines.
If the RN is in the United States, the nurse may be able to start working for the employer more expeditiously than if she resides abroad:
Nurses who are citizens of Canada are exempt from visa requirements. They may work in the U.S. in Trade NAFTA (TN) status if:
- 1.They have an offer of employment from a U.S. employer for a period not to exceed one-year;
- 2.They are licensed in Canada and in the state of intended employment;
- 3.They have a proof of Canadian citizenship; and
- 4.They pay a small fee to enter the U.S.
TN status may be renewed on a yearly basis either by having the nurse reenter the U.S. with the documents listed above, or by requesting an extension of TN status from the INS Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.Nurses who are citizens of Mexico may also qualify for TN status. However, for Mexican RNs, the procedure is considerably more complex than for Canadians. The employer must submit a Labor Condition Application (LCA) to the Department of Labor and a nonimmigrant visa petition (form I-129) to the INS Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Once the LCA and the petition are approved, the RN must apply for a TN visa at a U.S. consulate in Mexico.
A TN nurse is not supposed to have any intention of remaining permanently in the U.S.
At the present time, the VisaScreen requirement is waived for all nonimmigrant nurses.
The H-1B visa is a temporary work visa for professionals, good for up to six years. In most professions where a college degree is necessary, an employer may petition for a worker to obtain an H-1B.Registered nurses usually aren't considered professionals for purposes of obtaining an H-1B since most hospitals routinely hire staff nurses who lack a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN).However, where a facility can justify that a four-year degree is the minimum entry requirement for a job (e.g., nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, certain nurses in supervisory positions, etc.), such an RN may be granted an H-1B visa.Health care organizations must follow a three-step process to obtain H-1B status for a professional employee.
Step One is a Prevailing Wage Determination. U.S. immigration law requires that all H-1B employees be paid the prevailing wage for their occupation or the actual wage being paid by the employer to other professionals in the same field - whichever is higher. The safe way to establish the prevailing wage is to obtain a letter from the State Employment Service Agency (SESA) outlining the prevailing wage for the profession in the state where the professional will be employed.
Step Two is called the Labor Condition Application (LCA). Once the employer has established the prevailing wage it may submit a LCA to the U.S. Department of Labor. The LCA requires the employer to attest that the foreign professional's working conditions will not adversely affect working conditions of U.S. professionals similarly employed. The employer also must attest that there is no lockout or strike taking place in the employee's occupation, that employees or their bargaining representatives have been given a copy of the LCA, and that a copy of the LCA has been given to the employee. By law, the Labor Department must take action on an LCA within seven business days. Severe penalties may be imposed for misrepresentations or failure to comply with statements contained in the LCA.
Step Three is the H-1B Petition. Once an LCA is approved, the employer may submit an H-1B petition to the INS. Documents demonstrating the employee's education, experience and any required licenses must accompany the petition, and the employee cannot begin work until the petition is approved. The employee's spouse and children under 21 may be granted H-4 status, allowing them to stay in the U.S. and attend school, but not to work. The processing time for an H-1B petition varies according to the INS Service Center where it is submitted, but is generally within ranges from 30 to 90 days.
In November 1999, the President signed the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 (NRDAA). The law provides an opportunity for certain hospitals in medically underserved areas to employ up to 500 nurses nationally in temporary ?H-1C? status.The Labor Department regulations implementing the H-1C nurse law (issued on August 22, 2000) state as follows:"The (Labor) Department believes, based on information from the Health Resources and Services Administration of HHS, that only fourteen hospitals satisfy all of the criteria for a 'facility' eligible to participate in the H-1C program. These apparently eligible hospitals are: