JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The nurse shortage across the country just took another hit after a popular work visa for foreign nurses has been put on a freeze by the State Department.
After talking with members of the Philippine Nurses Association of America, many foreign nurses have left their home countries on the EB-3 Visa to work at Baptist Health and other medical groups in Jacksonville. And with already facing staff shortages, the visa freeze will make it difficult to meet the number of patients they see every day.
Adam Lampert, CEO of Cambridge Caregivers and Manchester Care Homes says a majority of his health care workers are from abroad, and have helped tremendously with keeping staff shortages under control.
“We have all these open jobs and we don't have enough workers to fill them. And so the more visas, the more EB-3's that we can bring in and offer is a benefit to, to your local nursing system,” he said.
200,000 vacant nursing jobs nationwide to be exact. Across the state of Florida, almost one out of every five nursing roles are now or filled by foreign nurses.
“In Florida, there are 9,000 open nursing jobs. So the EB-3 Visa program is an avenue that we use to bring in foreign trained workers and nurses in this case,” Lampert added.
Since the pandemic, thousands of nurses have resigned or retired. To fill those gaps, health groups have seen much success, recruiting from countries like the Philippines and India, hiring qualified nurses who are willing to move across the country just to immigrate and work in the U.S. healthcare system.
“They're here for the economic benefits and they may be supporting people back home. But we know that it's super for us, it's super for us because we need their labor, we need them here. It's good for the economy,” he explained.
The visa freeze is increasing the wait time to get a nurse processed to up to two and a half years. Currently 10,000 people are on a waitlist for an interview after submitting their applications back in 2021.
“We have these backlogs, as it takes longer to process nurses to come into the system, it means that the hospitals with nursing centers have to pay more. And trust me, when I tell you that though, you may not feel it this year because of the freeze that we're going through right now,” he said.
Because of these backlogs, Lampert says as it takes longer to process nurses to come into the system, it means that you will likely see an increase in wait times and prices at the doctor's office starting as early as next year. He describes the nursing field as an inflationary environment.
“We had to pay more money for nurses, which by the way, one of two things is going to happen in your town. Either they're not going to fill these positions, which means you're gonna have a service issue," Lampert told First Coast News. "Or on the other hand, you are going fill these positions and it's gonna cost the system money, more money than they would have otherwise paid.”
Currently, DC legislators are in the works of increasing the current 40,000 EB-3 visas available annually to 65,000. If the green card bill is passed, it could be a game changer for staffing in the medical field.
“We have a system that needs to be revised. It has not grown with our population. So we have a system, as I mentioned, that since 1990 hasn't changed. The population in Florida has changed from 13 million in 1990 to 23 million today. Well, you need a system that's gonna grow also,” Lampert explained.
In 2023, a similar freeze occurred for EB-3 visa applicants and ran through the end of the fiscal year.