There’s an unusually high number of green cards available this year for foreign professionals, including nurses, who want to move to the United States — twice as many as just a few years ago. That’s because U.S. consulates shut down during the coronavirus pandemic weren’t issuing visas to relatives of American citizens, and, by law, these unused slots now get transferred to eligible workers. Typically, the U.S. offers at least 140,000 green cards each year to people moving to the country permanently for certain professional jobs, including nursing. This year, 280,000 of these green cards are available. In partnership with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is committed to attempting to use all these visa numbers. There are many more visas available in the first (priority workers) and second (workers with advanced degrees or of exceptional ability) employment-based categories than pending adjustment of status applications pending with USCIS. The USCIS’s website provides details on these employment-based preference categories. Additional information is available at: Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants | USCIS.
