2000 News
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12 FEBRUARY 2000
Update on “Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999”
This update-at-a-glance provides information about recent changes made in the processing of CGFNS certificates for foreign-educated nurses, as required by the “Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999”, which was signed into law by President Clinton on 12 November 1999, and became Public Law 106-95. These changes went into effect on 11 February 2000.
The status of the regulations
A. Issuance of “Certified Statements” by CGFNS for registered nurses trained in certain English-speaking countries.
The Act, Public Law 106-95, created an alternative, streamlined process of complying with that provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) which requires the certification of foreign nurses and other health care workers.
Specifically, Section 4 of that Act provided for a new subsection 212(r) of the INA, which allows certain registered nurses from certain designated countries to avoid the formal certification process established in section 212(a)(5)(C), and instead obtain from CGFNS a “certified statement” of their qualification under the new law.
In order to be eligible to request this alternative procedure, the alien must demonstrate that he or she:
Following its assessment of the quality of nursing education programs and the English language proficiency of those who have completed English-language-medium programs in those countries, CGFNS has designated the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Section 212(r)(1) of the Immigration & Nationality Act, as added by Section 4 of Public Law 106-95 (12 November 1999), requires that CGFNS determine whether a state nursing licensing board “verifies that the foreign licenses of alien nurses are authentic and unencumbered.” Based upon its initial review, the Commission determines that the states of Florida, Georgia, Illinois and New York satisfy this requirement. The Commission will review the practices of any other state board, on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether its foreign-license-review procedures satisfy the requirements of new section 212(r)(1).
This review is pursuant to a new requirement of the Immigration and Nationality Act only, and offers no comment on any other aspect of the licensing policies or practices of any state board.
CGFNS will begin issuing certified statements under this program no later than 90 days after the date of enactment, or 11 February 2000. It will issue such certified statements to qualified applicants not more than 35 days after receipt of a completed application. This 35-day period applies only to foreign nurses described in Section 4 of Public Law 106-95.
B. Authorization of a new visa category, H-1C, to enable foreign nurses to work in “health professional shortage areas”.
The “Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999” also created a new visa category, H-1C, to enable foreign nurses to work in areas designated as “health professional shortage areas” by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The law limits the number of visas issued by the Department of State or the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) annually to 500. Nurses practicing under the H-1C visa may be admitted for three years, with no extensions. The H-1C visa will sunset in approximately four years.
For further information about the “Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999”, do a search on this site, or for the text of the bill itself, visit the Government Printing Office website at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=106_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ095.106.pdf.
