The 106th US Congress passed a legislation extending the H-1A visas of almost 6,000 Filipino nurses in the United States. These visas would have expired following the end of the H- lA program on September 30, l995. The H-1A visa extension for nurses was authorized by the approval of the House-Bill 2197.

Besides the PNAA (Philippine Nurses Association of America) and its chapters all over the United States ( that includes us PNAGKC), there were major organizations who supported and placed concerted lobbying efforts for the approval of the bill. Some of them are the following: the American Nurses Association, American Hospital Association, American Health Care Association, American Business Council for Fair Immigration and Mr. Roy Gore, an information specialist from the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, and many more individuals too numerous to mention .

The PNAA lobbying efforts went into full swing across the country with Board members calling, writing and faxing letters to legislators in Washington, DC. Their efforts were not in vain. The bill passed in Congress and President Clinton signed it on October 11, l996 granting extension of the H-1 visa until October 1997.

The Attorney General has 30 days after the approval of the bill, to implement its regulations. This legislation gives amnesty to foreign nurses who came to the United States on or after September 1, l995 and were working at the date of the approval of the bill. The bill gives them the chance to apply for permanent residency and benefits their immediate families (spouse and children). Several new Filipino nurses here in Kansas City have benefited from this. However, it does not allow the additional foreign nurses to enter the United States under the expired H -1A visa program, nor does it change current requirements of the H1B visa.

The approval of this bill will impact not only the approximately 10,0000 foreign nurses (mostly Filipinos)their spouses and children but also the thousands of patients whom they serve through the facilities they worked in, especially in the rural areas, inner city hospitals and nursing homes.

Excerpt: PNAMH: Nurse Link Fall 1996