  |
 |
|
02/20/2004 HEALTHCARE IMMIGRATION ALERT:
CGFNS, AHA OPPOSE IMPLEMENTATION OF JULY 2004 VISA
SCREEN RULE
The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) and the
American Hospital Association (AHA) have asked the CIS to delay the
implementation of the forthcoming July 26, 2004 health care worker
credentialing rule (a.k.a. Visa Screen, which is CGFNS' name for the
process). The rule will extend the health care worker certification
requirement to nonimmigrants, including H-1 and TN holders. The rule only
currently applies to immigrant filers, i.e. Green Card Applicants.
The most pressing concern for the industry is that thousands of Canadian
nurses (TN holders) will lose their right to work unless they take and pass
either the CGFNS examination or NCLEX examination. Since it has been many
years since some nurses have taken examination, they are not expected to opt
to even bother with the exam, and will likely return to Canada.
A secondary concern is that since CGFNS is expected to be flooded with Visa
Screen requests that their notorious backlogs will only grow longer. CGFNS
has recently come under attack for their significant delays, mistakes and
sub-par customer service. Critics of the health care certification rule have
called for an elimination of the rule by arguing that state licensing rules
provide plenty of protection for American health care consumers.
Sensing the havoc will cause in the industry, the AHA recently called on CIS
(Citizenship and Immigration Service, successor to INS) to relax the July
26, 2004 implementation date and to exempt nurses who currently hold state
licenses.
CGFNS supports the delay as well. However since CGFNS is the only
organization allowed to issue the necessary health care certificate, it does
not support an exemption for current license holders.
[back to main listing]
|
|
|
