Sponsors (13)
The bill speeds admission and family reunification for thousands of nurses, physicians, and their relatives and reduces delays for applicants from oversubscribed countries, trading off potential delays for other immigrant categories, employer hiring cautions, and modest administrative costs.
Healthcare facilities and patients: up to 25,000 nurses and 15,000 physicians can enter more quickly through recaptured visas, helping ease staffing shortages and improve care access.
Immigrant beneficiaries and their immediate families: family members receive visas from the recapture pool, reducing separation and improving family stability for immigrants who qualify.
Applicants from oversubscribed countries and other petitioners: recaptured visas are exempt from per-country limits and USCIS/State must expedite processing, which shortens waits and lets more applicants move forward faster.
Other immigrant applicants: reserving up to ~40,000 recaptured visas for nurses and physicians could delay visa availability for immigrants in other employment categories.
Employers and foreign nurses: the requirement that petitioners attest no U.S. worker displacement may deter some employers from hiring foreign nurses, slowing placements and reducing the policy's staffing benefit.
Eligible beneficiaries generally: recaptured visas only provide relief when visas would otherwise be unavailable, so many applicants may still face long waits under existing worldwide allocations.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Recaptures up to 40,000 unused employment-based immigrant visas (25,000 for nurses, 15,000 for physicians), exempts them from per-country limits, and requires expedited processing.
Introduced September 10, 2025 by Brad Schneider · Last progress September 10, 2025
Recaptures unused employment-based immigrant visas from FY1992–FY2024 and directs those visas to professional nurses and physicians, with a 40,000‑beneficiary cap (25,000 nurses, 15,000 physicians). The visas are exempt from per‑country limits, must be processed on an expedited timeline by USCIS and consular posts, and include safeguards like a non‑displacement attestation for nurse hires and a three‑year filing window for petitions.