NURSES

New H-1C Category For Nonimmigrant Nurses

The Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 creates a new H-1C nonimmigrant category for foreign nurses who will work in medically under-served areas of the United States. The law addresses the severe nursing shortage experienced by some health care facilities as a result of the expiration of the H-1A nursing program in 1997. The law’s highlights:

To participate in the H-1C program, the health care facility must:

• As of March 31, 1997 the facility was located in a health professional shortage area (HPSA),

• Have at least 190 acute care beds,

• Have had, since 1994, a Medicaid population of at least 35 percent, and

• Have had, since 2994, a Medicaid population of at least 28 percent.

Facilities participating in the program must make LCA-type attestations designed to protect the wages and working conditions of U.S. nurses. The facility must test that:

• It is eligible to participate in the program (as describes above);

• Employment of the nurse will not adversely affect wages and working conditions of similarly employed nurses;

• The nurse will be paid the same rate as other registered nurses similarly employed at the facility;

• The Facility has taken and is taking timely and significant steps to recruit and retain U.S. citizen and permanent resident nurses;

• There is no strike or lockout in the course of a labor dispute, the facility did not lay off and will not lay off a nurse within the 90 days before and after the date of filing of an H-1C petition and the employment of the H-1C nurse is not intended or designed to influence union activity; and

• Notice of the filing has been provided to the bargaining representative for nurses at the facility or has been posted in the conspicuous location (if no bargaining representative exists)

Attestations are valid for one year from date of filing, or the last day that any H-1C nurse is employed under the attestation (whichever is later), and can be used for filing petitions for one year from the date of its filing. The DOL may collect a fee of up to $250 per attestation to cover its costs for administering the program.

Foreign Nurses participating in the program must:

• Be licensed in the country in which they received their training (U.S.-trained nurses are exempt from this requirement),

• Pass an appropriate nursing examination (to be determined by the HHS) or have a full and unrestricted license to practice as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment, and

• Be fully qualified and eligible under all state rules to practice as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment immediately upon admission to the United States.

H-1C nurses may be admitted for a maximum period of stay of three years. They may present the CGFNS certificate for purposes of satisfying the certification requirement. Facilities may fill no more than 33 percent of their total nursing positions with H-1C nurses (the employer must attest that it will comply with this requirement). The H-1C cannot work at any site not directly controlled by the employer nor can the facility transfer the nurse top another worksite during the course of the employment.

The effective date of this H-1C regulation is June 11, 2001. The H-1C classification will expire on June 13, 2005. All petitions for nurses must be filed by June 13, 2005 and in addition an H-1C nurse may not be admitted to the United States beyond June 13, 2005. Unlike H-1B classification, the facility sponsoring the H-1C nurse will not be required to pay return transportation home.

For further information, send your query to Aparna Davé.