Immigration Policy Essential to Ease U.S. Healthcare Staffing Crisis

Legal immigration pathways remain necessary to meet U.S. healthcare staffing needs for positions throughout the industry, including Registered Nurses, physicians, and nursing aides. A recent article from NPR highlights how Trump administration policies limiting legal pathways for nurses and other healthcare workers compromise healthcare throughout American hospitals, nursing homes and the entire healthcare system.

Citing research analysis by JAMA Network, a consortium of peer-reviewed, general medical and specialty publications, NPR emphasizes the prevalence and essentiality of foreign-born workers in the U.S. healthcare system:

• 25% of physicians in the U.S. were born outside of the U.S.
• Nearly 17% of the total healthcare workforce, or roughly 3.4 million workers, were born outside the U.S.
• 1.1 million healthcare workers in the U.S. are noncitizens without permanent residency in the U.S.

The Trump administration has enacted a series of measures and threatened others to end legal protections for millions of U.S. immigrants, creating uncertainty not only for immigrants, but for their employers. The administration has attempted to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for millions of legally authorized workers in the U.S. and has threatened the status of immigrants, including doctors and nurses, brought to the country illegally as children who receive legal protection through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

Even prior to President Trump’s reelection, staffing shortages in the U.S. healthcare workforce have restricted access to healthcare in the U.S. A 2024 survey from the American Healthcare Association found that nearly half of nursing homes in the U.S. said they’ve had to limit new admissions because of staffing shortages, and the JAMA Network letter reports that shortages of nurses and other personnel caused two-thirds of hospitals to operate below full capacity in 2023.

If Trump administration policies continue to restrict legal immigration pathways, current healthcare staffing shortages will be further exacerbated, hospitals will face bottlenecks and healthcare facilities will be unable to meet healthcare needs in the U.S. Legal immigration pathways for nurses and healthcare workers are an essential tool in providing healthcare in the U.S.

TPS HOLDERS MAY NOW BE ELIGIBLE FOR ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS: USCIS RESCINDS ITS DECISION IN MATTER OF Z-R-Z-C

In a memorandum issued on Saturday, July 2, 2022, USCIS announced a new policy that will broaden a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holder’s ability to permanently remain in the United States.

The memorandum announces USCIS rescinded its decision in Matter of Z-R-Z-C, which barred TPS beneficiary’s from using admittance to the United States after authorized travel as a way to satisfy the requirements to adjust status (file for a green card).

The new policy allows TPS holders who return to the United States after authorized travel to be considered “admitted and inspected” and “present in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission”. This will satisfy the law and give TPS holders a new path to apply for permanent residency within the United States.

USCIS may also allow past, authorized travel of a TPS holder to count towards adjustment of status if the travel satisfies the following requirements:

·         The TPS holder obtained prior authorization to travel abroad temporarily on the basis of being a TPS beneficiary;

·         The TPS was not withdrawn, terminated, or expired during the period of travel;

·         The TPS holder returned to the United States in accordance with the authorization to travel; and

·         Upon return, the TPS holder was inspected by immigration officers at a designated port of entry and paroled or otherwise permitted to pass into the United States in accordance with the TPS-based travel authorization.

If you are a TPS holder and have questions about your specific situation, please reach out to your MU attorney.