(NewsNation) — A recent decision by the U.S. State Department to stop granting visas to international nurses for the rest of the year could possibly make a current shortage of health care workers worse, advocacy groups are warning.
Now, the American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment, as well as the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, are pushing for the passage of the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act. Introduced last year in the House of Representatives, the bill would recapture 25,000 authorized but unused green cards for immigrant nurses as well as 15,000 for physicians.
“We’re reaching a dangerous inflection point where acute nurse staffing shortages feed burnout in a force-multiplying cycle that grows worse every day,” AAIHR President Patty Jeffrey said in a statement. “Until we can correct capacity issues that force nursing schools to reject thousands of qualified applicants annually, international nurses will remain essential to safe nurse staffing. This latest visa freeze halts the flow of qualified international nurses when American hospitals need them most, and the only way to correct it is through congressional action.”
Nursing Shortage
U.S. Chamber of Commerce projections show 193,100 predicted job openings on average per year for registered nurses. While this is supposed to last until 2032, the Chamber of Commerce only expects an additional 177,400 nurses to enter the workforce until now and then. As the organization points out, that is less than what is needed to fill one year of projected openings. By 2030, as many as 42 states could experience a lack of available nurses, which is one of the major contributing factors to the increased number of hospital closures across the country.
Pandemic burnout, combined with demanding work environments and compensation concerns, have caused low retention rates for nurses. The turnover rate for the job can be as high as 37% in some regions, the Chamber of Commerce said. A 2022 study found that around half of all nurses felt “a sense of depletion,” exhaustion, fatigue and burnout.
“Our nation’s healthcare system, and in particular, our long-term care sector, needs nurses and other caregivers now more than ever,” Clif Porter, senior vice president of government relations with AHCA/NCAL, said in a news release. “This decision halts a critical way for nursing homes to try to find the caregivers they desperately need to keep their doors open to seniors.
State Department Visa Freeze
To enter the country, international nurses can get what’s called an EB-3 visa, which is a permanent residency green card that includes occupations requiring at least an associate’s degree but not a master’s. The total number of EB-3 visas given out is limited to about 40,000 each fiscal year, according to NewsNation partner The Hill.
A bulletin from the State Department went out this month announcing that nearly all available green card slots that nurses are eligible for had been filled, The Hill reported. Only those who applied for the document before Dec. 1, 2021, could continue visa interviews — even if they had secured a job in the United States.
Nurses from other countries, per The Hill, make up about 15% of the workforce. The AHCA/NCAL estimates about 10,000 international nurses are currently waiting to have their visas processed.
“It’s nonsensical that the Administration will issue a staffing mandate and then close off an essential path to growing the long-term care workforce,” Porter said. “Once again, we urge Washington to support access to care instead of impeding it with bureaucracy.”