Foreign-born Nurses: Permanent Residency and Temporary Work Status

Working in the United States as a foreign-born nurse requires either that he or she obtain permanent residency or acquire a temporary work visa. DURRANI LAW FIRM can help you with either procedure, especially the correspondence and interview sometimes required for permanent residency. Familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of immigration for nurses with the information below.

How can a foreign-born nurse currently living abroad obtain permanent residency in the United States?

Usually, the first step in securing employment in the United States for a foreign-born nurse is having an employer sponsor permanent residency. If the nurse abroad, he or she must have:

A diploma from a nursing school in her home country

A nursing license from her home country

A license to practice nursing in the applicable state OR a certification that she passed the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) examination OR evidence that she passed the NCLEX-RN (state licensing) examination but does not have a license because she does not have a social security number.

There are only eleven states that do not require that foreign nurses pass the CGFNS examination before taking the state licensing (NCLEX-RN) examination. They include:

· California
· Delaware
· Mississippi
· Nevada
· New Mexico
· New York
· Ohio
· Oregon
· Tennessee
· Utah
· Wisconsin

According to the Department of Labor, there is a shortage of nurses and physical therapists working in the United States. Therefore, employers who want to immigrate a nurse are exempt from having to submit an application for alien labor certification.

How does the immigration process for a nurse work?

An employer must submit an immigration visa petition (Form I-140) to the USCIS office holding jurisdiction over the nurse’s intended place of employment. The petition must be accompanied by Labor Department forms ETA-750A and B and by additional documents, including those listed above. A filing fee is also required. Response and (in some cases) invitation to interview for permanent residence should typically come in about two to three months.

If the nurse is immigrating from one of ten selected countries (including Canada, China and the Philippines), the USCIS send the petition to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire. If there is no backlog of petitions from the nurse’s native country, the Center sends a packet to the nurse or her attorney containing requests for biographical information and a list of documents to be presented at his or her interview for permanent residence.

The nurse or her attorney sends the completed forms to the U.S. consulate where the interview will take place. Documents to be presented at the interview include:

· Application for Immigrant Visa
· Police Clearance
· Birth Certificate
· Marriage Certificate, if any
· Divorce or Death Certificate of Spouse, if any
· Valid Passport
· Medical Exam Report
· Photographs
· Job Offer Documentation (or Contract)
· Financial Information about Future Employer
· Government Filing Fee
· VisaScreen Certificate (contact the CGFNS at 215-349-2651 or at support@cgfns.org

Usually, the entire process of obtaining permanent residency take between 12 and 18 months.

Can foreign-born nurses obtain temporary work visas?

Yes. There are certain circumstances in which temporary work visas can be acquired:

1. Trade NAFTA (TN) Work Permits

Nurses who are citizens of Canada are exempt from visa requirements. They can work in the U.S. under a TN visa if they:
· have an offer of employment from a U.S. employer for a period under a year
· are licenses in both Canada and their intended state of employment
· have proof of Canadian citizenship
· pay a small fee to enter the United States

TN status can be renewed yearly, although TN nurses are not supposed to intend to stay permanently in the United States.

Nurses who are citizens of Mexico can also qualify for TN status, although the procedure is much more complex than that for Canadians. The potential employer must submit a Labor Condition Application (LCA) to the Department of Labor and a nonimmigrant visa petition (Form I-129) to the USCIS Service Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Once the LCA and petition are approved, the nurse must apply for a TN visa at a U.S. consulate in Mexico.

2. H-1B Specialty Occupation Status

Normally, H-1B visas are reserved for those with occupations that require a four-year university degree. Although not all nursing jobs fit this requirement (as most require only a two-year associate degree), if a facility can justify that a four-year degree (or the equivalent) is the minimum requirement for the job (and the nurse has such a degree from her native country) a nurse can be granted an H-1B visa.

3. H-1C Nurses In Medically Underserved Areas

The Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act (NRDAA) allows hospitals in medically underserved areas to employ nurses as temporary foreign workers for up to three years under H-1C visas. Only 500 of these visas are granted annually during the four-year program (ending in 2004).

H-1C nurses must meet the same educational standards as those for nurses applying for permanent residency (see above).

To qualify to hire nurses under H-1C visas, an employer must meet the following criteria:

· be a ‘subpart D’ hospital under the Social Security Act
· be located in a Health Professional Shortage Area
· have at least 190 acute care beds as of 1994
· have a Medicare population of 35% as of 1994
· have a Medicaid population of 28% as of 1994

Health Professional Shortage Areas designated by the Department of Health and Human Services can be found at http://www.bphc.hrsa.gov/databases/newmua/

Durrani Law Firm can help you obtain your H-1B visa. We are available for consultations and can be contacted by email at info@durrani.com or phone at 1-866-DURRANI.