As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States soars daily, on March 26, the U.S. State Department released a message calling on medical professionals from around the world to come to the United States to help fight the epidemic.
The message reads: We encourage medical workers around the world to apply for U.S. nonimmigrant visas to travel to the United States to help control the epidemic. Especially those who have relevant experience in healthcare workers.
Image source: Official website of the U.S. Department of State
A large number of doctor visas are blocked
According to Bloomberg on March 28, CST, hundreds of nurses in the Philippines could not come to the United States because of visa problems.
Source: Bloomberg
Shari Dingle Costantini, president of the American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment, said a recruitment company received a request to recruit 5,000 nurses in New York. As many as 12,000 nurses from the Philippines and other countries are members of her association, and they can fill vacancies in those positions as long as they can enter the United States, she said.
"We have nurses, they have all kinds of qualifications, they're ready to enter the country, but they can't because they don't have visas," she said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of registered nurses in the United States was about 3 million in 2018, and by 2028, this number will grow by more than 12%. The agency noted that the rising incidence of the elderly population and chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity is the reason for the growing demand for nurses.
Chair of the Department of Nursing at William Paterson University in New Jersey and Board Member of the Philippine Nurses Association of America, Mr. Leo Felix M. Jurado (Leo-Felix M. Jurado) said the Philippines could significantly alleviate this shortage. About 150,000 Filipino nurses work in the U.S., he said, that's up from about 120,000 in 2013.
The picture shows the Philippine Hospital
In 2019, about 5,100 Filipinos were granted EB-3 visas, which are commonly used as nurses, down a third from 2015.
Costantini said: "The Trump administration is definitely harder to recruit people. He is also the CEO of Avant Healthcare Professionals. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services "has been delaying and rejecting visa applications that were once easily approved." ”
2 Lawyer Analysis: The United States Opens a Backdoor
In this situation, the Los Angeles Chinese Information Network invited Huang Xiaosheng Huang lawyer to analyze 5 major problems for everyone!
Which visas will be beneficial to this policy?
Lawyer Huang believes that the new policy is beneficial to three types of visas with medical backgrounds:
H1-B, J1 (Exchange Worker, Exchange Scholar), Labor Certificate (140 approved). A large number of J1 interns in the United States can apply for an extension, and it is very easy for the applicant's institution to do the extension.
U.S. Department of State
Is there a shortage of doctors in the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic?
In addition to not having enough doctors, this is also some of the performance that the US State Department wants to do. In addition to transporting overseas Chinese and transporting overseas Chinese passport holders back to the United States, it is this one achievement, opening up green channels and attracting medical talents from all over the world.
Can Chinese medical personnel come to the United States?
It is very difficult for Chinese medical personnel to think about it, and there are multiple layers of doorblocks that cannot be crossed. The first is that unless the governments of the two countries want to cooperate in the medical field and help each other, it is difficult. Then there is the fact that all work visas must have Sponsor, either in U.S. hospitals or in U.S. medical exchanges. There are many Chinese doctors, many rely on experience, and foreign doctors rely on equipment. But in China, not every doctor has a medical license, the threshold is relatively low, and this situation also greatly increases the difficulty of Chinese doctors to find Sponsor, because in the United States without a medical license is not considered a doctor.
What if you want to come?
First, contact the U.S. hospital to ask if there is a shortage of doctors, if there is, the hospital will help you find a way, will help you solve the Sponsor problem, but you may need to test the corresponding documents.
Second, I submitted my resume to a hospital in California and New York, and wrote to me that I was willing to volunteer to help the United States become a medical worker, and that I had experience in this area. This may allow some hospitals to help you solve sponsor problems directly.
Third, after solving the Sponsor problem, it is necessary to pass 5 or 6 procedures and have multiple exams that must be passed, which is quite trivial.
If I get this visa, will it be easy to apply for a green card afterwards?
Not easy. If it's J1, you'll need a J1 waiver and a hospital to help you with sponsor issues.
The new policy has benefited medical workers of Indian and Filipino descent to the United States.
This open green channel, in addition to the difficulty of Chinese doctors, is very helpful to doctors in other countries such as India. First of all, English is passed, and then they generally have legal documents, Huang lawyer said, it is beneficial to Medical personnel of Indian descent, because they have passed the English pass, and they have passed various US medical license examinations in China.
In addition, according to Bloomberg, this visa is also beneficial for medical personnel of Filipino descent to go to the United States.