Society Supports the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act

The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would reallocate visas previously authorized by Congress that have not currently been used. Of these, 15,000 visas would be reallocated for foreign-born physicians and 25,000 visas for foreign-born nurses. While meeting the demands posed by the current public health crisis, the legislation would ensure durable immigration status for this vital workforce.

These visas would be drawn from a pool that Congress had previously authorized but that have since gone unused. Country caps would not apply to these visas and they would be issued in order of priority date. Premium processing applies to qualifying petitions and applications in order to ensure timely action.

All individuals considered under this legislation would be required to meet the licensing requirements, pay required filing fees, and clear rigorous national security and criminal history background checks before they are eligible to receive recaptured green cards. Employers of these medical professionals would also need to attest that the immigrant medical professional has not displaced and will not displace an American worker.

The Senate version of this legislation, S. 3599, was introduced by Sens. David Perdue (R-GA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Todd Young (R-IN) and Chris Coons (D-DE); the House version, H.R. 6788, was introduced by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL), Abigail Finkenauer (D-IA) and Don Bacon (R-NE).