End for an endless wait......DEAR NURSES READ THIS AND CHEER UP!!!!!!

[jomyanto]

DEAR NURSES READ THIS AND CHEER UP!!!!!!

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h112-1929

H.R. 1929: To provide relief for the shortage of nurses in the United States, and for other purposes

(a) Increasing Visa Numbers- Section 106 of the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-313; 8 U.S.C. 1153 note) is amended by adding at the end the following:

‘(e) Visa Shortage Relief for Nurses-

‘(1) IN GENERAL- Subject to paragraph (2), for petitions filed any time prior to September 30, 2014, for employment-based immigrants (and their family members accompanying or following to join under section 203(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(d))), which are or have been approved based on Schedule A, Group I as defined in section 656.5 of title 20, Code of Federal Regulations, as promulgated by the Secretary of Labor, the numerical limitations set forth in sections 201(d) and 202(a) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(d) and 1152(a)) shall not apply.

‘(2) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF VISAS- The Secretary of State may not issue more than 20,000 immigrant visa numbers in any one fiscal year (plus any available visa numbers under this paragraph not used during the preceding fiscal year) to principal beneficiaries of petitions pursuant to paragraph (1).

‘(3) EXPEDITED REVIEW- The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide a process for reviewing and acting upon petitions with respect to immigrants described in paragraph (1) not later than 30 days after the date on which a completed petition has been filed.

‘(f) Fee for Use of Visas Under Subsection (a)-

‘(1) IN GENERAL- The Secretary of Homeland Security shall impose a fee upon each petitioning employer who uses a visa provided under subsection (e) to provide employment for an alien as a professional nurse, except that--

‘(A) such fee shall be in the amount of $1,500 for each such alien nurse (but not for dependents accompanying or following to join who are not professional nurses); and

‘(B) no fee shall be imposed for the use of such visas if the employer demonstrates to the Secretary that--

‘(i) the employer is a health care facility that is located in a county or parish that received individual and public assistance pursuant to Major Disaster Declaration number 1603 or 1607; or

‘(ii) the employer is a health care facility that has been designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area facility by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as defined in section 332 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e).

‘(2) FEE COLLECTION- A fee imposed by the Secretary of Homeland Security pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be collected by the Secretary as a condition of approval of an application for adjustment of status by the beneficiary of a petition or by the Secretary of State as a condition of issuance of a visa to such beneficiary.’.

[Joe.F]

One note of caution: It is a bill, not a law at this point.

Most bills never make it into law. The House of Representatives needs to approve the bill, the Senate needs to approve a Senate version of the bill, both House and Senate versions may have to be consolidated if they are different, then the consolidated bill has to be approved by both House and Senate, and then the President has to sign the bill into law. It is a long process, and there are lots of pitfalls along the way.

So, don't break up in cheers just yet...

[jomyanto]

I know this has just 5% probability to become a law..but still something is better than nothing..

and I think this is the right way to tackle American nurse shortage. I am ready to donate $20000 to US Nursing Education, if I get an opportunity to work as a nurses in US. And I am sure most of the nurses from India will agree with this donation if they get a conditional chance.

Because we put all our efforts to get through the tough processing of NCLEX and Visa screen. American govt. and CGFNS promoted this process by opening up test centers allover world including India also by inviting applications under schedule A category. Now we did our part and it is the responsibility of people who made the offer to follow up the case.

Nurses do not even have the option of H1B or H1C visas.

I think it is not a privilege but the right of each nurse who are in the GC process.