Are any changes on the horizon to speed up immigration processing for nurses?
The Schedule A category for nurses was exhausted some time ago. This resulted in a situation where foreign nurses, who previously had an expedited route to becoming legal permanent residents, were now thrown into the regular processing channels with their attendant delays of several years under the visa bulletin. However, the nursing shortage has not gone away in the United States and with the aging of the “baby boomer” population, the demand for foreign nurses is even higher. While USCIS has recently indicated that it will attempt to process the I-140 forms for nurses more expeditiously, there will not be any significant relief for the situation until Congress passes a law reinstating Schedule A visa relief. There is growing political pressure on the new Congress and the incoming Obama administration to provide this relief either as part of comprehensive immigration reform or independently. Check back to this site on a regular basis as we will provide updates as the political/legislat
