Posts by Ron Hoppe

U.S. healthcare providers are very well aware of the pernicious shortage of RNs that has existed in varying degrees for decades.  Today, the U.S. is graduating more RNs that ever before and yet the nursing headcount shortage lingers and, in some locations, getting worse.  The reasons for this shortage are well documented across a wide…

Working in a long-term care facility is a new experience for many international nurses. Long-term care involves a variety of nursing and support services designed to meet a person’s health or personal care needs during a short or long period of time. According to NurseJournal, “a career in LTC nursing offers unprecedented professional growth opportunities.…

When the opportunity to achieve a lifelong dream of being able to live and work in the United States is within reach, nurse candidates often sign employer or agency contracts without understanding the documents they are signing and their binding terms. Later, the nurse may realize that they have committed to something that is far…

The Biden administration has introduced the biggest reforms to U.S. immigration of the past twenty years, and healthcare employers may benefit most. Titled as The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, the bill would make sweeping changes across the board to the United States immigration, visa, and border control system. This includes reversal and Congressional prohibition of…

Immigration has been a hot-button issue for many years. In recent months with COVID-19 causing havoc across the healthcare system, healthcare immigration is now receiving renewed attention as a dramatic national shortage of nurses and physicians is exposed. “We’ve got open beds, we’ve got ventilators, we’ve got all the physical aspects. Our issue has been…

Passing the NCLEX exam is the most important thing that international Registered Nurses (RNs) must do to be able to work and live in the U.S. However, passing the NCLEX exam by itself without meeting other key qualifications will likely bring you great frustration as the best U.S. employers repeatedly look past your application. Why…

President Trump confirmed that he will be introducing the largest legislative overhaul to the U.S. immigration system in almost 60 years this September. This is following a series of proclamations that the U.S. president has signed since the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, including a temporary ban on U.S. green cards (healthcare workers are…

According to the New American Economy Research Fund, states across the country have faced critical healthcare worker shortages for years, and the coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated these needs. In 2015, there were about 10 open healthcare jobs for every unemployed worker in the United States. By 2018, even before the current outbreak, this number…

I am still amazed at how in the matter of a few weeks, we went from record low unemployment to all-time record high unemployment insurance claims. I am also amazed at how in two- or three-months employers went from struggling to fill many types of positions to unprecedented layoffs. The lasting effects of the coronavirus…

In an effort to address the rapidly increasing shortage of medical professionals needed to care for the exploding number of coronavirus cases, the U.S. State Department announced on March 26, 2020 that RNs with an approved EB3 petition AND a priority date of January 1, 2017 or earlier, can contact the nearest U.S. Embassy and…