Strained US hospitals seek foreign nurses amid visa windfall

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

With American hospitals facing a dire shortage of nurses amid a slogging pandemic, many are looking abroad for health care workers.

And it could be just in time.

There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the United States — twice as many as just a few years ago. That’s because U.S. consulates shut down during the coronavirus pandemic weren’t issuing visas to relatives of American citizens, and, by law, these unused slots now get transferred to eligible workers.

Amy L. Erlbacher-Anderson, an immigration attorney in Omaha, Nebraska, said she has seen more demand for foreign nurses in two years than the rest of her 18-year career. And this year, she said, it’s more likely they’ll get approved to come, so long as U.S. consular offices can process all the applications.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-travel-business-health-525b951967525e75ba40a0a03433c3bf

An awful lot of our nurses are foreign born if you've noticed.

[left-of-center2012]

1. Not the first time we've used foreign nurses

I remember in the 1970s and the 1990s we had a lot of Irish nurses come over to work in the US.

[mitch96]

3. I remember that.. Philippines also.. Great work ethic, they just dove in and did the work..nt

[madville]

2. More and more US nurses are refusing to work for what

Hospitals and nursing homes are willing to pay regular staff nurses. A couple of RNs I know flat out refuse to ever go back to a permanent staff position, they travel, make 3-4x the pay and take 4-6 months a year off now.

Hospitals and nursing homes are all too eager to lure in some eligible foreign nurses, pay them pennies and hold their work visa over their head knowing their eligibility to stay in the US is dependent on their employment status.