H1B visa

[mcv0928]

Hi. What is the minimum years of clinical work experience does an H1B visa require of foreign nurse applicants?

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

I don't think there is anything actually set in concrete about minimum years of clinical experience but it is a specialised visa so would expect to be a specialist in that area and probably have certificates to support evidence that you are a specialist. Also need to be employed in that area

USCIS H-1B visa

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

There is no specific answer to that question. What is important to realize about the H1B Visa is that for the applicant to be considered employed in a specialty occupation, the minimum training required for entry to practice should be a Bachelor's degree. In the US, nurses are trained either in an Associate's Degree or Bachelor's Degree program to enter into professional nursing practice as an RN. Many institutions do not have a requirement for a Bachelor's Degree for any staff nursing positions even for senior ICU nurses who do work in a very specialized area of nursing. On the other hand, some hospital positions such as nurse managers and case managers require at least a Bachelor's degree. Advanced Practice Nursing positions such as NP, CNS, CNM, or CRNA require at least a Master's degree from a program approved by the nursing board that grants the specific advanced practice title.

Advanced Practice Nursing fields are difficult to break into for foreign nurse applicants trained outside the US because of the strict requirement that the training program must be approved by the specific specialty nursing board in the US in order to receive eligibility to sit for any of the advanced practice certification exams. The trick then is how do you prove as an H1B Visa applicant that you have specialized training and experience in an area of nursing that requires at least the equivalent of a US Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. It has been suggested that the more experience you have in your field of nursing coupled with carrying specialty certification in your specialized field of nursing may possibly convince the USCIS that you fit the criteria to receive the H1B Visa. Again, these have been suggested in these threads but surely, approval of H1B Visas have been largely dependent on individual cases and there seems to be no specific pattern in those who have been approved lately.