USSenate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and US Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)introduced a bill, known as the HealthcareWorkforce Resilience Act, on November 2, 2023, to address the nation’s shortageof physicians and nurses.
Ifpassed, this bill will recapture 25,000 unused immigrant visa for nurses and15,000 unused immigrant visas for physicians, from previous years. Thesevisas would not be subject to the per country numerical limit that hasled to lengthy waits for green cards for nurses and physicians from severalcountries.
Spousesand children that are accompanying or following to join these nurses andphysicians, would be eligible for immigrant visas as part of this bill too. Thespouses and children’s visas would not be considered as part ofthe 25,000 and 15,000 allocated visas for the nurses and physicians.
Thenurse and physician cases would be required to be adjudicated by USCIS under USCIS’spremium processing program. There will be no additional fee for the premiumprocessing.