New Certification Requirements for Nurses
and Occupational Therapists
Posted Feb 25, 1999

As we reported in earlier Law Office of Sheela Murthy Bulletins, section 343 of the 1996 Immigration Act imposed new certification requirements for certain non-physician healthcare workers, including nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists, among others. We also reported that implementing regulations have been issued with respect to nurses and occupational therapists, and those regulations became effective in mid-December 1998. (As we may have mentioned before, these are only interim, not final, regulations.)

Heath care workers in the above categories had their I-485 applications put on hold by INS. Now that the new regulations are in effect for nurses and occupational therapists, however, INS has begun issuing requests for the new certifications. However, those requests provide a very short time frame for responses.

AILA raised this issue with INS Headquarters, specifically with respect to nurses. They pointed out that it will generally not be possible to provide the needed information within the 90 day time frame because the application process for the new certificate can be lengthy and can require certain English language examinations which are only given at certain times, generally twice a year.

Fortunately, INS was sympathetic to this situation. However, the problem is that 90 days is the maximum response time in the regulations. The agency is currently considering options to alleviate this problem but we do not have a solution to date. The Law Office of Sheela Murthy will post additional information as it becomes available.