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Ways to Enter USA as a Nurse |
After you have passed the necessary exams (usually the Commission on
Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools exam CGFNS) and have been licensed by the
appropriate state agency, they will need to take the National Council Licensing
Exam (NCLEX).
The NCLEX is typically taken after the nurses arrive in the U.S. with their
immigration visas, but it is possible to enter the U.S. to take the NCLEX on a
visitor visa (B-1 or B-2), and then return to the home country and wait for a
green card or work visa to be approved.
Most health care professionals, including nurses, will also need to complete a
screening program verifying their credentials in order to qualify for certain
occupational visas.
I-140 - Employment-based Permanent Residency (Green Card)
The immigration method with the fewest requirements on the nurse and employer is
to apply for an employment-based green card. This allows a nurse to work in the
U.S. indefinitely, as long as the green card is renewed every ten years.
Nursing is one of the few professions that does not require a labor
certification to be filed before applying for an I-140 (unlike physicians), so
I-140`s can be approved in three to six months.
H-1B - For Positions Requiring at Least a Bachelor`s Degree
The H-1B visa can be used to hire skilled professionals that have at least a
bachelor`s degree and are filling a position that requires the same level of
education.
Most registered nurses and nursing jobs do not meet this requirement, but if the
US employer is hiring foreign nurses for supervisory or management positions, or
for subspecialty areas that require a bachelor`s degree, an H-1B might be an
option.
Additionally, if your facility hires nurses with bachelor`s degrees almost
exclusively, it is possible to make a case for using the H-1B to bring in
international nursing talent.
Depending on where your facility is located, approval of an H-1B visa can take
anywhere from two to six months.
H-1B`s last for three years, and can be renewed for another three.
Read more on:
Difficulties in Obtaining H1B Status for RNs
Who is the employer when a consulting company sponsors the H1B visa?
Can a consulting company hire nurses on an H1B Visa stating that the minimum
requirement for the job is an bachelor’s?
See if you qualify for an H-1B
TN - For Canadian or Mexican Nurses
Registered nurses who are Canadian or Mexican citizens can work in the U.S. on
the TN visa, as long as they have a state or provincial nursing license. The TN
visa typically takes from one to six weeks to approve, and is good for one year.
It may be renewed in yearly increments an unlimited number of times.
H-1C - For Facilities in Underserved Areas
The H-1C visa was created in 1999 specifically for hospitals in areas with low
primary care physicians-to-patient ratios, typically in rural or inner-city
locations. Facilities must meet additional stringent standards, so stringent, in
fact, that the U.S. Department of Labor identified only 14 hospitals that
qualified to hire nurses on H-1C visas. These 14 hospitals face additional
restrictions: only 500 H-1C visas will be issued each year by the INS, and the
program limits the number of H-1C`s issued in each state to either 25 or 50,
depending on the state population.
H-1C visas are valid for three years, and usually take two to six months to
approve.
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