No nursing shortage so why nursing visas?

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I have been wondering this for quite a while, so I thought I would just ask ya'll:) From everything I have read there is no nursing shortage in the US (quite the opposite in most places)- so why do I keep reading about all these nurses coming over on H1B- C visas?

No specific reason for the question- just seems weird to me to give visas to nurses from other countries when there are lots here out of work!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

H1C visas haven't really been around much and then there was only approx 12-15 hospitals allowed to use them and they was in areas where nursing was in high demand due to poor retention... probably due to the area the hospital was based in. H1b is a skilled visa and many nurses do not meet the criteria and the hospitals that are willing to pay $$$$ for the use of one must really want the nurse who must be bringing something to the hospital that others don't. Also unless the hospital is affiliated to a university then the H1b isn't exempt from cap so the hospital has to apply like every other profession like IT and the numbers are capped and usually all have gone within hours of release and not many have gone to nurses..

Most nurses go straight to immigrant visa (green card) however the ones that are coming now to the country especially from India, China, Philippines have probably been waiting for over 10 years for their visa and then that is because the hospital decided to continue with the contract

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

I came over here on a green card and things have change considerably. The wait is now prohibitively long. I waited 3 years myself and that was back when it was easier. In those days there was a nursing shortage and I had jobs literally thrown at me. Not anymore. However, I'm pretty sure that there are parts of the country where they still have difficulty staffing hospitals because they're just horrible places to work/live.

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Okay, that makes sense. I think I was getting a skewed idea of how many people come over on visas for nursing based on how many post about it here on AllNurses :) So the only way that nurses can come over on a visa (of any kind, I am not really familiar with them all), is if they have a specific skill/specialty that is in high demand, or if the hospital is so bad that no native nurses want to work there? Is there a way to find out what these high demand skills/specialties are?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

It used to be hospitals could look overseas but a lot changed in 2006 and visas became much harder for nurses and some countries due to high demand now take longer to be processed. It is hard to say what sort of skills will work but theatres/ operating departments, ICU/ITU may be areas that are considered especially if there are certification to show further education in these areas

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