Working as a Nurse in the United States
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 The Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 introduced the
H-1C visa which allowed foreign nurses to temporarily work in the United States.
The time period was limited to three years with no extensions. The U.S.
Department of Labor classified registered nurses as a health professional
occupation with significant shortages. The nurse shortage was not only affecting
the United States but other countries as well. The shortage of
nurses was said
to be occurring on a worldwide scale and in the next decade this will become
more apparent. To reduce the nurse shortage, hospitals throughout the U.S. have
increased wages and limited work shifts to no longer than 12 hours among other
improvements. While this has helped attract more individuals to the
nurse
profession, the shortage still continues. Many are concerned that some of the
current nurses will be retiring in the near future and that the number of
individuals seeking medical care continues to rise. Demand for nurses heavily
outweighs the supply of registered nurses.
Associations such as the ANA (American Nurses Association), which has the
largest membership of registered nurses, has publicly voiced concerns about
increasing the number of H-1C visas granted. Some of the ANA’s arguments are
that allowing an increase of H-1C visas could lead to exploitation of foreign
nurses due to the unreasonable hours that the foreign nurses may be forced to
work. Other times they are forced to work as aides to other nurses. The ANA
claims that they are too often hearing about these types of cases when it comes
to foreign nurses. In addition, the ANA believes that the U.S. needs to address
the nursing shortage by first concentrating their efforts domestically rather
than trying to recruit foreign nurses. The organization argues that there is a
worldwide shortage of nurses and by taking nurses from their home countries that
country is made worse off. Others believe that the ANA is trying to disguise
their true intentions of acting in the best interest of their members. While
some of these claims may be valid, there are other reasons why foreign nurses
may find the U.S. to be an attractive place to work. Working conditions, wages
and opportunities may be better than in their home countries. In addition, the
foreign nurses allowed to work in the U.S. must be qualified so not just any
nurse can work here. Due to current nursing shortage, bringing in foreign nurses
to work even if it is only on a temporary basis helps American hospitals provide
better services to its patients. The H-1C visa classification expired on June
13, 2005.
There is currently no separate nurse visa classification in the United States.
However, there are two ways that foreigners wishing to work as registered nurses
in the United States can apply:
- H-1B Work Visa
- TN Work Visa (NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement)
The H-1B Visa has been successfully used to employee registered
nurses (RN)
in different states. In order for the petitioning employer to hire a foreign
RN, the registered nurse must qualify for a specialty occupation. Although
general RNs will not typically be eligible for H-1B status, certain
specialized nursing occupations are likely to require a bachelor’s or higher
degree as the minimum requirement for entry into that specialized field.
Consequently, those positions have a great chance of satisfying the
H-1B
requirements.
Canadian and Mexican citizens may under the NAFTA agreement work in the
United States in a specialty occupation, this visa classification is called
TN visa. Working as an RN is on the NAFTA
list over approved professional occupations. However, there are particular
requirements such as professional skills and criteria that need to be
satisfied.
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