As America Struggles For Oxygen, A New Bill Offers A Pandemic Solution

A bipartisan group of senators introduced new legislation recently to grant 40,000 unused green card slots to foreign health care workers needed to help U.S. medical professionals fight the coronavirus pandemic. 

In introducing the legislation, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill said, “Consider this: One-sixth of our health care workforce is foreign-born. Immigrant nurses and doctors play a vital role in our healthcare system, and their contributions are now more crucial than ever. Where would we be in this pandemic without them? This bipartisan, targeted, and timely legislation will strengthen our health care workforce and improve health care access for Americans in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Durbin’s colleagues, Senators David Perdue, R-Ga., Todd Young, R-Ind., and Chris Coons, D-Del co-sponsored the legislation.

Roll CallGreen card bill would bring more foreign doctors, nurses to US – Roll Call

In what he thought could be a tremendous boost to health care workers on the front lines of treating COVID-19 patients, Immigration attorney Carl Shusterman, a partner

at Clark Hill and former INS trial attorney noted that,

“Given the huge shortage of physicians and nurses in the United States, it is extremely important for us to use green cards that were lost in prior years to bring qualified healthcare professionals to care for citizens of our country.” 

The bill would:

·         Authorize the recapture of 25,000 immigrant visas for professional nurses and 15,000 immigrant visas for physicians;

·         Allow these visas to be issued in order of the priority date, regardless of per-country limitations;

·         Issue visas for the immediate family members of these individuals (not counted toward the 40,000 limit);

·         Require the Departments of Homeland Security and State to more quickly process these applications/petitions;

·         Mandate that a petitioner attest that in hiring the professional nurse a U.S. worker has not or will not be displaced.

“I think this is a really surgical intervention, to use a relevant term,” said Bruce Morrison, a former congressman who lobbies for the American Hospital Association. “At a time when the problem we have on the front lines of our response to the pandemic is that there aren’t enough resources, doctors and nurses,” he said. “This is a tailored and targeted response to precisely that problem.” 

Shusterman added, “It is really important to understand that under this bill we would not be increasing the number of green cards being issued. Instead, we would be recapturing those green cards that failed to be issued in previous years. With the passage of this bill it would be possible to expedite the processing of these green cards so these health care workers can come to America and help us in the struggle to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic within a matter of months.”

Every year, 160,000 employment-based green cards are slated to be given out, but not all of the slots get filled. The ones that don’t get used get taken off the table for that year. That has led to an accumulation of about 200,000 such unused green cards over the last three decades. Under the legislation introduced Thursday, the government would be allowed to “recapture” around 40,000 of those visas. 

As already mentioned, the U.S. health care system already relies heavily on immigrants. They make up 17 percent of all health care workers and more than one in four doctors. At a time when corona virus is pushing America to the limit of its resources, these health care workers will be all the more critical.

In response to the critical need for more help, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs is trying to speed up the inflow of foreign medical workers. It has posted an advisory on its website asking medical personnel to check the website of their nearest embassy or consulate for procedures to request a visa appointment. While the Department of State has suspended routine visa services at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates on March 20 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department has indicated that embassies and consulates will continue to provide emergency and mission-critical visa services “as resources allow.”

Should the new bill succeed in Congress, the procedure for bringing the foreign health care workers into the country on an expedited track appears ready to be used. It’s just a matter of passing the bill.

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