Cap On Nurses Green Card May Soon Close

U GUYS SAW THIS :

The Citizenship and Immigration Service is indicating that available green cards for foreign nurses may soon be reached. This applies to foreign (RN) nurses who have passed the NCLEX test (and are presently in the U.S. on visitor, student or other work visas) to apply for permanent status under schedule A.

Up to now, nurses here legally are allowed to stay in the United States and work as health care professionals while their applications for green cards were being processed. There is a 245k provision of the law that even allows nurses to apply to stay and work in the U.S. up to 180 days after their legal status has expired. This is about to change, according to CIS bulletins, when the present number of visas available for immediate processing reaches the cap established by Congress.

Once the cap is reached, nurses may still apply but cannot get a work permit or stay in the U.S. as a green card applicant. They would have to wait for the work based priority date to come up for their green card. This date is about four years away based on the last State Department visa bulletin issued in September.

If they want to stay in the U.S. while waiting for the priority date, they will have to stay in another visa status, such as a student or a non-immigrant worker (like a H-1B visa). For most nurses, this will require leaving the U.S. while they wait for the priority date to come up.