On November 12, 1999, President Clinton signed into law the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 (NRDAA), Public Law 106-95. The NRDAA created a new H-1C nonimmigrant category for registered nurses who will work in facilities that serve health professional shortage areas.

The term "registered nurse" means a person who is or will be authorized by a State Board of Nursing to engage in registered nurse practice in a state or U.S. territory or possession, and who is or will be practicing at a facility which provides health care services.

The NRDAA imposed three requirements on an alien seeking H-1C nonimmigrant status.

• First, the alien must have obtained a full and unrestricted license to practice professional nursing in the country where he or she obtained nursing education, or the alien must have received nursing education in the United States.
• Second, the alien must have passed an appropriate examination (recognized in regulations promulgated in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services) or have a full and unrestricted license under state law to practice professional nursing in the state of intended employment.
• Finally, the alien must be fully qualified and eligible under the laws (including such temporary or interim licensing requirements which authorize the nurse to be employed) governing the place of intended employment to engage in the practice of professional nursing as a registered nurse immediately upon admission to the United States and be authorized under such laws to be employed by the facility.

An H-1C petition for a nurse shall be accompanied by evidence that the nurse:

• Has obtained a full and unrestricted license to practice nursing in the country where the alien obtained nursing education, or has received nursing education in the United States;
• Has passed the examination given by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), or has obtained a full and unrestricted (permanent) license to practice as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment, or has obtained a full and unrestricted (permanent) license in any state or territory of the United States and received temporary authorization to practice as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment; and
• Is fully qualified and eligible under the laws (including such temporary or interim licensing requirements which authorize the nurse to be employed) governing the place of intended employment to practice as a registered nurse immediately upon admission to the United States, and is authorized under such laws to be employed by the employer. For purposes of this paragraph, the temporary or interim licensing may be obtained immediately after the alien enters the United States.

The petitioning facility shall submit the following with an H-1C petition:

• A current copy of the DOL's notice of acceptance of the filing of its attestation on Form ETA 9081;
• A statement describing any limitations which the laws of the state or jurisdiction of intended employment place on the alien's services; and
• Evidence that the alien(s) named on the petition meets the definition of a registered nurse, and satisfies the all requirements.

The licensure requirements for the H-1C visa are as follows:

• A nurse who is granted H-1C classification based on passage of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS)CGFNS examination must, upon admission to the United States, be able to obtain temporary licensure or other temporary authorization to practice as a registered nurse from the State Board of Nursing in the state of intended employment.
• An alien who was admitted as an H-1C nonimmigrant on the basis of a temporary license or authorization to practice as a registered nurse must comply with the licensing requirements for registered nurses in the state of intended employment. An alien admitted as an H-1C nonimmigrant is required to obtain a full and unrestricted license if required by the state of intended employment. The Service must be notified when an H-1C nurse is no longer licensed as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment.
• A nurse shall automatically lose his or her eligibility for H-1C classification if he or she is no longer performing the duties of a registered professional nurse. Such a nurse is not authorized to remain in employment unless he or she otherwise receives authorization from the Service.

• If the Secretary of Labor notifies the Service that a facility which employs H-1C nonimmigrant nurses has failed to meet a condition in its attestation, or that there was a misrepresentation of a material fact in the attestation, the Service shall not approve petitions for H-1C nonimmigrant nurses to be employed by the facility for a period of at least 1 year from the date of receipt of such notice. The Secretary of Labor shall make a recommendation with respect to the length of debarment. If the Secretary of Labor recommends a longer period of debarment, the Service will give considerable weight to that recommendation.
• If the facility's attestation expires, or is suspended or invalidated by DOL, the Service will not suspend or revoke the facility's approved petitions for nurses, if the facility has agreed to comply with the terms of the attestation under which the nurses were admitted or subsequent attestations accepted by DOL for the duration of the nurse's authorized stay.

Yes. An alien admitted to the United States as an H-1C nonimmigrant alien can change H-1C employers provided that the alien has not reached the limit on his or her maximum period of stay in the United States. The maximum period of stay for an H-1C nonimmigrant is 3 years. An H-1C petition filed on behalf of an alien in the United States in H-1C status may be approved for a period of time not to exceed the third anniversary of the alien's initial admission into the United States. In addition, H-1C petitions filed by a subsequent facility will be counted against the numerical limitation for the state of the alien's intended employment if the subsequent employment is in a different state.

An H-1C nonimmigrant alien may not change employers until such time as the Service approves a new H-1C petition filed in the alien's behalf by the new employer.

No. The statutory language of the NRDAA clearly limits the stay of an H-1C alien to a period of three years. To allow an alien to circumvent this 3-year limitation merely by leaving the United States and immediately returning defeats the purpose of the 3-year limitation on the alien's period of admission.

No. Unlike the H-1B and H-2B nonimmigrant classifications, the NRDDA does not require a facility to pay the H-1C alien’s return trip transportation home.

Yes. The NRDAA allows for a petitioning facility to include more than one alien nurse on a single petition. If the number of alien nurses included in a petition exceeds the number available for the remainder of a fiscal year, the Service shall approve the petition for the beneficiaries to the allowable amount in the order that they are listed on the petition. The remaining beneficiaries will be considered for approval in the subsequent fiscal year.

If an H-1C petition is revoked because the alien never assumed his or her employment with the petitioning facility, that number will be returned to the pool of unused numbers and will then be made available to the state in which the petitioning facility is located in the final quarter of the fiscal year in which the petition was revoked. H-1C petitions that are revoked by the Service where the alien worked for the petitioning facility will not be returned to the pool of unused numbers.

Yes. The H-1C classification will expire 4 years after the date that the regulations are first promulgated. As such, all petitions for H-1C alien nurses must be filed by June 13, 2005. In addition, an H-1C nurse may not be admitted to the United States beyond June 13, 2005.