Dec 12 2004

Foreign Nurses Face Longer Immigration Wait Time

The State Department this week informed the public that foreign nurses, after January 1, will no longer be able to fast-track their work authorization process. The fast track system utilized temporary work permits while nurses waited for their green cards to be processed. This enabled nurses, and other foreign workers such as certain doctors and tech workers, to start working in the U.S. within 60 days, as opposed to the three years relegated by portions of immigration law.

This new policy of stricter regulation is based on the government catching up with their backlog of cases. These cases are now being processed. In addition, the government has decided that it will no longer issue these temporary work permits until it fully deals with its backlog, a process that could take many years.

This new limitation will assuredly affect a steady and efficient flow of immigration for foreign nurses and other workers, especially when the U.S. is facing a grave nursing shortage. We are working with advocacy groups and hoping to affect this legislation and explain to the authorities that this will be detrimental to the U.S. populace as a whole.