Page 25 - Sonoma County Gazette 6-20
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IMMIGRANT cont’d from page 22
WA A
artificial recruitment process. These jobs fall under “Schedule A”, a short list of pre-certified occupations, where there is a continuous shortage of qualified U.S. applicants.
To qualify for this faster path to permanent residence, nurses must be RNs, not LPNs. They also must be sponsored for their green card by a medical facility, offering them a suitable professional position with an appropriate salary.
Proposal to increase the number of visas for medical workers.
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Of course, all of these jobs are limited by quotas which restrict the number of immigrants per year and per country. No exception is made for medical professionals.
HANS BRUHNER
However, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation in May to grant 40,000 immigrant visas to foreign health care workers needed to help U.S. medical professionals fight the coronavirus pandemic. The bill would authorize up to 25,000 immigrant visas to go to foreign nurses and up to 15,000 for doctors who are eligible to come to the United States or who are already here on temporary work visas. As of now, there is no indication that the measure will be brought to a vote by Senate leadership.
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No Path for the Undocumented Medical Worker.
The other major restriction in the law applies to those who are undocumented. Many of our elder care and private home health care is provided by immigrants here without status. Typically these are persons who came without a visa, or who overstayed their visas. In the North Bay, many of these health care workers come from Mexico, Central America, the Philippines, Fiji, elsewhere in Asia, Latin America, various African countries and even Europe. Often they fill the lowest paid, most physically-demanding jobs in health care. Yet, they have no path to a green card under current law.
We may think that a health care professional -- possessing an education, skilled medical training and a job in a hospital or medical facility-- would be given preference by our immigration system. Yet, under current law, that’s simply not the case.
WARNING: The article above is not intended to be a substitute for legal advice. We recommend that you get competent legal advice specific to your case.
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This also includes an estimated 30,000 health care workers with DACA. Although they have a work permit for the time being, they have no path to
a green card. (And even their work permits may be lost in June when the Supreme Court issues its decision on the Trump Administration’s termination of DACA).
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