“A bill to enhance our Nation's nurse and physician workforce by recapturing unused immigrant visas.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section recaptures unused employment-based immigrant visas from FY1992 through FY2024 (i.e., the difference between visas made available and those used in those years) and increases the number available under INA §203(b) (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) by that amount, reduced annually by visas issued under this provision. Of up to 40,000 such visas available for petitions filed not later than three years after enactment (and for accompanying or following family members under INA §203(d)), 25,000 are reserved for professional nurses and 15,000 for physicians; these visas are exempt from per-country numerical limitations (INA §202(a)(2)), issued in priority date order, and available only if not otherwise immediately available under worldwide or per-country allocations. (As background, employment-based visas support U.S. employers hiring foreign workers in priority categories such as skilled professionals and advanced-degree holders, subject to an annual worldwide limit of approximately 140,000.) Family members receive visas from the recaptured pool without counting against the nurse/physician reservations or the skill-based floor under INA §201(c)(3)(C) (8 U.S.C. 1151(c)(3)(C)). The section further directs premium processing (free of charge under INA §286(u)), expedited shipping of approved petitions to the Department of State, and expedited consular processing; for nurses, it requires a labor attestation that hiring will not displace U.S. workers.