Sponsors (14)
The bill provides targeted, faster pathways to permanent residency for thousands of nurses and physicians and keeps their families together, but does so with a limited 40,000 visa cap and short filing window that may exclude many applicants and shift visas away from other employment-based immigrants while adding employer compliance and modest taxpayer costs.
Immigrant nurses and physicians: up to 25,000 nurses and 15,000 physicians (if petitions filed within 3 years) gain prioritized pathways to permanent residency (green cards).
Family members of approved nurse/physician principals: spouses and children can obtain visas without using the profession-specific caps, helping keep families together.
Applicants from oversubscribed countries: these recaptured visas are exempted from per-country caps so priority dates — not nationality limits — determine visa availability, benefiting applicants from high-demand countries.
Many qualified nurses and physicians: a hard cap of 40,000 visas and a 3-year filing window may exclude numerous eligible applicants and creates uncertainty for those who miss the window.
Other employment-based immigrants: recapturing up to 40,000 visas for nurses and physicians reduces the pool available to other preference categories, potentially delaying green cards for other applicants.
Employers/sponsors and nurse applicants: the requirement that nurse petitioners attest hiring won’t displace U.S. workers could slow hiring, add compliance burden, or create legal risk for employers and sponsors.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Recaptures up to 40,000 unused employment‑based immigrant visas for nurses (25,000) and physicians (15,000), exempt from per‑country caps, for petitions filed within 3 years.
Recaptures up to 40,000 unused employment-based immigrant visas and makes them available to professional nurses (25,000) and physicians (15,000), including accompanying family members, if petitions are filed within three years of enactment. These visas are exempt from per‑country limits, issued by priority date, and may be provided only when visas are not otherwise immediately available under existing worldwide and per‑country allocations. Requires U.S. immigration agencies to expedite processing for these petitions without charging a premium fee, to forward petitions needing consular action promptly, and to require nurse employers to attest that hiring the visa beneficiary will not displace a U.S. worker.
Introduced September 10, 2025 by Richard Joseph Durbin · Last progress September 10, 2025