Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act
The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would increase the number of employment-based immigrant visas by recapturing a portion of unused visas from past years, specifically to boost the U.S. nurse and physician workforce. It sets aside a total of up to 40,000 visas (with 25,000 reserved for professional nurses and 15,000 for physicians) for employment-based petitions filed within three years after enactment. These visas would be exempt from per-country caps and issued in order of the priority date assigned when the petition was filed. Family members accompanying or following to join a principal beneficiary could use visas from the recaptured pool but would not count against the nurse or physician caps. The act also modernizes processing by requiring premium/expedited processing (without charging a premium fee) and speeding up petition routing to consulates, while requiring a labor attestation that hiring the immigrant would not displace a U.S. worker for nurse hires. The pool of recaptured visas would be calculated from unused visas through 2024 and would decrease over time as visas are issued under this act.
Key Points
- 1Recapture mechanism: Increases employment-based visas by the number of unused visas from 1992–2024, subject to a cap and procedural rules in the bill.
- 2Cap and allocation: Up to 40,000 visas total, with 25,000 reserved for nurses and 15,000 for physicians; petitions must be filed within 3 years of enactment.
- 3Country caps and priority: Visas are not subject to per-country numerical limits and are issued in order of the priority date at petition filing.
- 4Eligibility scope: Visas issued only to beneficiaries and their accompanying/follow-to-join family members; family members are drawn from the recaptured pool and not counted against the nurse/physician quotas.
- 5Processing speed: Requires premium processing and expedited handling (DOS and DHS coordination) with no extra premium fee charged to applicants.
- 6Labor protection: For nurse visas, a labor attestation is required stating the hiring will not displace a U.S. worker.
- 7Fund/flow mechanics: The number of available recaptured visas is the unused total for 1992–2024 minus the cumulative visas used since enactment; family members and principal beneficiaries draw from this pool accordingly.
- 8Statutory alignment: Includes a rule-of-construction clause to avoid altering certain existing immigrant visa provisions (e.g., specific provisions under 8 U.S.C. 1151).