Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act
The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would recapture unused U.S. employment-based immigrant visas to boost the supply of nurses and physicians. By amending the 2000 AC21 law, it creates a pool of up to 40,000 visas (with 25,000 reserved for professional nurses and 15,000 for physicians) that can be issued to foreign nurses and physicians and their accompanying family members. These visas would be issued without the usual country caps, in order of the priority date when the petition was filed, and only for petitions filed within three years after the act’s enactment. The bill also introduces expedited processing (premium processing with no fee) and mandatory labor attestations to ensure hiring does not displace U.S. workers. Family members would be eligible from the recaptured pool and would be exempt from the skill-based numerical limits that normally apply to employment-based visas. In short, the bill seeks to address shortages in the health care workforce by freeing up unused visa slots from decades past, prioritizing nurses and doctors, and speeding up the visa process while requiring assurances that U.S. workers aren’t displaced.
Key Points
- 1Up to 40,000 employment-based visas would be recaptured for nurses and physicians and their accompanying family members, with 25,000 reserved for nurses and 15,000 for physicians.
- 2Visas are not subject to the per-country country caps and would be issued in order of the priority date assigned when the petition was filed; only available if not already allocated under other worldwide or country allocations.
- 3Eligible petitions must be filed within 3 years after the act’s enactment; the pool of recaptured visas adds to the usual visa allotments, with the total number gradually reduced as visas are used.
- 4Family members accompanying the principal beneficiary are eligible and are not counted against the skill-based numerical limits; they would be supported from the same recaptured pool.
- 5Premium processing and expedited handling would be provided to streamline adjudication and consular processing, with no premium fee charged; processing of petitions and shipping to the Department of State would be expedited.
- 6A labor attestation requirement would require the employer to certify that hiring the foreign worker will not displace a U.S. worker.