WASHINGTON, DC: Foreign trained nurses, who can prove employment as nurses for at least three years, will have the right to apply for permanent resident status. Recently passed Nursing Relief Act of 1989 will automatically grant permanent immigration status to almost 16,000 nurses who entered United States before Jan 1, 1987 under a visa to work as a registered nurse.
Most of nation’s hospitals are experiencing nursing shortages with larger hospitals in urban areas facing the most serious problems. Many hospitals in New York and several other major metropolitan cities have turned to recruiting nurses from foreign countries to augment their staffs, the bill signed by President Bush would allow 1,200 nurses in New York and Los Angeles cities alone to stay.
The INS estimates that in May of 1989, about 240,000 foreign nurses over 70 percent of them from the Philippines were working in U.S under temporary visa permits.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 26, 1990
