Calling visa restrictions on foreign nurses "ridiculous" during the current shortage, U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, vowed to create a law to help undo the bureaucratic tangles.
"I will introduce a bill at the start of the new Congress that will allow unused visas from prior years to be devoted immediately to alleviate this urgent problem," Lantos announced.
He also promised to explore longer-term solutions to a growing lack of visas for new and qualified nurses who want to work in California and nationwide.
Beginning Jan. 1, the State Department will only process qualifying applications from the Philippines, China and India if they had been filed prior to 2002. The government announcement also noted immigrant visa quotas for these three countries are approaching its maximum, leaving ongoing applications to be processed only as new visas from those countries open up.
Lantos said with congressional action, unused visas for people from countries with unmet quotas can be re-assigned to these three other locations. A bill authorizing the practice would help alleviate the immigration backlog and ease an ongoing nursing shortage epidemic.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Woodside Musical Theatre proudly presents Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert — the company’s … Read moreJESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in Concert
“Side-splittingly funny and brilliantly chaotic” Read moreThe Play That Goes Wrong
John Baker said:
CA Is Burning said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.