Health Care Blog

• Whattypes of cases are impacted?
• Myemployee’s status expires this fall, can it be extended? Or will the employeehave to stop working?
• Whatshould I do if my employee needs to travel?
• Whatcan I do if my employee is currently outside the US and needs to return?
• Myemployee’s spouse and children went home for summer vacation, will the familybe allowed back into the US?
• CanI file a green card case for my employee who is in the US?
• Ismy employee eligible for a waiver from the proclamation?

• PermanentResidents of the US;
• Healthcareworkers and their immediate family members (including those family memberstraveling with the healthcare worker and those family members coming to the USat a later date);
• Otherindividuals coming to the US to perform work essential to combating, recoveringfrom, or alleviating the effects of Covid-19 and their immediate family members(including those family members traveling with the healthcare worker and thosefamily members coming to the US at a later date).
• Spousesand children of US Citizens;
• EB-5investors;
• Individualswho are entering to assist law enforcement or who are members of the US ArmedForces;
• SpecialImmigrants in the SI or SQ Class and their family members; and
• Anyperson whose entry is in the national interest of the US as determine by theSecretary of State or Secretary of Homeland Security.

• Beneficiariesapproved for H-1B and L-1s will not be allowed to enter the US unless theycurrently have a valid visa stamp, even if they have an approved I-797.
• H-1Band L-1 visa stamps cannot be granted at embassies or consulates unless theH-1B or L-1 is for one of the exemption categories below. 
• Ifyou have an H-1B or L-1 approval and you are in the US, you should not traveloutside the US unless you already have a valid H-1B visa stamp in your passportand you intend to return to the US prior to the expiration of that visa stamp.
• H-1Band L-1 amendments, extensions, and transfers continue to be permissible.
• H-1Bcap petitions that are based on a change of status (e.g. F-1 to H-1B) should beapproved with a new I-94 card for the H-1B status.  The ban does not prohibit or effect thechange of status, however, individuals changing status to H-1B should not leavethe US after October 1 as they will not be able to return without a valid H-1Bvisa stamp.  
• Similarprohibitions apply to J-1 and H-2B visas, although the J-1 visa ban is limitedto interns, trainees, teachers, camp counselors, au pairs, and summer workprograms.  Other J-1s may obtain visasand enter the US.
• Theban also applies to the H-4, L-2, J-2 dependent classifications.  Spouses and children in the US as dependentsshould not travel abroad unless each family member has a valid visa stamp in theirpassport.  Dependents who are currentlyabroad will not be allowed to enter the US unless they currently have a validvisa stamp.

• anylawful permanent resident of the United States;
• anyalien who is the spouse or child of a United States citizen;
• anyalien seeking to enter the United States to provide temporary labor or servicesessential to the United States food supply chain; and
• anyalien whose entry would be in the national interest as determined by theSecretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security.

• arecritical to the defense, law enforcement, diplomacy, or national security ofthe United States;
• areinvolved with the provision of medical care to individuals who have contractedCOVID-19 and are currently hospitalized;
• areinvolved with the provision of medical research at United States facilities tohelp the United States combat COVID-19;
• arenecessary to facilitate the immediate and continued economic recovery of theUnited States; or
• are children whowould age out of eligibility for a visa as a result of the visa ban.

The HWRAis legislation that will increase the supply of nurses and doctors into theUS.  These two occupations are among theshortest supplied occupations by US workers.

The US nursing crisiswill only get worse:

• Whilethe crisis is abating in some areas of the country, a COVID-19 vaccine is notexpected for 18 months.  Spikesin infection rates will continue until the vaccine is developed.  
• CDC Director Robert Redfield fears that the virus’s continued assaulton our nation next winter could “actually be even more difficult than the one we justwent through.” Hecontinued, “and when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their headback, they don’t understand what I mean.” 
• Likewise, during the 1918Spanish Flu pandemic some areas in the country did not reach their peaks untilthe following November.  The secondwave was much more deadly than the first wave.
• Infection peaks have notyet happened in most of the country. Seven of the eight counties with the most infections are all in New York. While New York appears to have finallyhit its peak, that state is an outlier.
• Other countries have notyet reached an infection peak.  Asinternational travel comes back on line, it is expected that US infection rateswill re-emerge.
• Maldistribution ofhealthcare workers means that grave nursing shortages exist in some localitiesand specialties.  For instance, employersof dialysis nurses have seen their national shortage triple in the just eightweeks.  New York area hospitals areoffering pay rates at 2 to 4 times a nurse’s usual salary, inan effort to attract nurses from other areas of the country.
• Nursing schools areforcing rushedgraduations in an effort to put nurses immediately onto hospital rosters.  States are even waiving licensingrequirements in an effort to get as many healthcare workers to work asquickly as possible.
• We know based on theexperience of other countries that the coronavirus is a caregivers’ illness. InItaly’s Lombardy region, one of the country’s hardest-hit, as much as 10percent of all nurses and doctors have been infected and placed inquarantine.  Italyis now desperately calling on retried healthcare workers to join theirfight.