April 26, 2023
Providers | Tea Leaves
  • Newly announced limits on visas for foreign nurses threaten to further a staffing strain on hospitals, nursing homes, and other major health employers. The State Department, in its May Visa Bulletin, announced that nearly all the available green card slots that nurses are eligible for had been filled. Only people who applied prior to June 1, 2022, will be eligible to continue with visa interviews, even if an applicant already had a job offer in the U.S. Those with more recent applications will have to go back in line when the quota resets in October at the start of the next fiscal year, resulting in a backlog and further delaying the entrance of new nurses into the workforce. Foreign nurses comprise about 15 percent of the nursing workforce. (Article here)