Nurse Migration Rates Held in 2024 But Aren’t Sustainable

• A new nurse migration report shows that nearly 25,000 nurses from more than 100 countries applied for a visa to work in the United States. 
• Of those, the majority were from the Philippines. 
• It’s unclear how the new White House administration’s immigration policies will affect visas for international nurses. 

Nearly 25,000 nurses across more than 100 countries applied for visas to work in the United States last fiscal year. 

The data — from the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) International’s 2024 Nurse Migration Report — all but confirms that U.S. healthcare systems “continue to depend on nurse immigrants” to address staffing shortages, according to the organization’s leadership. 

“Disruptions to this pipeline of qualified nurses would have far-reaching consequences, exacerbating workforce shortages, increasing patient care loads, and worsening nurse burnout,” Dr. Peter Preziosi, CGFNS president and CEO, stated in a news release. 

Breaking Down Nurse Migration Data

CGFNS data is pulled from its VisaScreen applications, which were down 4.6% from 2023 but still 198% higher than in 2018. More than 50% of applicants were from the Philippines. 

Overall, 86% of the VisaScreen certificates issued went to registered nurses (RNs). 

CGFNS attributes the decrease from 2023 to 2024 to “visa retrogression,” a situation the organization said nearly doubled wait times for employment-based visas. But with the new fiscal year in October, “wait times eased to below two years,” the report stated.  

One type of work visa, the H-1B, historically hasn’t included RNs because the role only requires a two-year degree, which doesn’t meet the “specialty occupation criteria.”  

“Despite this long-standing limitation, a surprising shift occurred between 2022 and early 2024 as USCIS, without public announcement, began approving H-1B applications for some nurses working in specialized roles at magnet hospitals,” the report stated. “While these approvals initially provided a new pathway for advanced practice nurses and those in specialty roles, and thereby offering hospitals a chance to address critical staffing needs, the trend halted in the spring of 2024, creating uncertainty for applicants and employers alike and highlighting the complexities and unpredictability of H-1B visa availability for nursing professionals in the U.S.” 

Will White House Immigration Policies Affect Nurse Migration? 

Legal and immigration experts anticipate work visas to come under additional scrutiny with the new White House administration. 

“Although the new administration has yet to announce specific changes to the H-1B visa process, changes made during President Trump’s first term placed high scrutiny on the interpretation of a ‘specialty occupation,’ which led to an increase in Requests for Evidence (RFE) and H-1B visa petition denial rates,” one law firm stated. 

Tara Watson, director of the Center for Economic Security and Opportunity at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., recently spoke to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and predicted the White House will slow legal routes for immigrants to work in the U.S. 

The president has said he’ll continue issuing H-1B visas for the tech industry, but, as Preziosi stated in the CGFNS report, it’s unclear how new immigration policies could affect nurse migration. 

“But we do know that nurse migration alone will not solve the worldwide nursing shortage so long as it consists of nurses leaving their home countries to work in lower-skill jobs elsewhere,” he stated. 

Last year under a different White House administration, the U.S. Department of State froze work visas, particularly those that nurses are eligible for, because the maximum number of applications had been received.  

The Bottom Line

A new report on nurse migration to the United States shows that while the number has dipped slightly from fiscal year 2023, it’s still higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it’s unclear at this time how the new White House administration’s immigration and work visa policies could affect the number of nurses seeking employment in the United States. 

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