What is the VisaScreen?
The VisaScreen Certificate requirement was imposed by 343, a last-minute amendment to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). It added uncertified health-care workers to the list of persons who are inadmissible to the U.S. See 212(a)(5)(C), INA. Those medical occupations currently covered include nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, medical technologists, medical technicians and physician assistants. A VisaScreen Certificate is issued only after the RN has demonstrated that (1) his/her education, license and training in his/her country are equivalent to education, licensure and training in the U.S. and that (2) his/her level of competence in oral and written English are appropriate to practice professional nursing in the U.S. At present the INS regulations provide that the only organization authorized to issue VisaScreen Certificates to RNs is the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools
