US pauses green card applications for foreign nurses

Editor's Note

The US State Department will not accept any more applications for green cards for foreign nurses this year, and only applications that were submitted by June 2022 will be processed until the backlog eases, the April 24 Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection Control reports.

Current green card processing times are estimated at 10 months, and even if more green cards are made available October 1 (the beginning of the next fiscal year), a new wave of immigrant nurses will likely not be seen until 2025, the report says. Presently, one in six RNs practicing in the US is an immigrant.