The EB-3 Green Card for Nurses: Why Now Is the Time to Make Your Move to the U.S.

The EB-3 is an employer-sponsored immigrant visa filed on Form I-140. A U.S. hospital sponsors you, and you receive a green card – not a work visa with an expiration date. As long as you want to stay in the U.S., you can, and eventually you can naturalize.

I generally recommend this path for nurses with two to four years of professional experience, though we work with candidates across the full range – from nurses with two years in med-surg or telemetry to nurses with twenty years of experience managing a surgical theater.

Before a petition can move forward, the nurse must complete three key steps:

1. Credential verification (VisaScreen). Your academic and professional credentials must be evaluated by one of the agencies approved by the U.S. government.

2. English language proficiency. There are eight English exams approved by the Department of State and USCIS. Many people worry about this step, and my advice is simple: don’t. It’s completely normal to take the exam two or three times before passing. In our experience, Pearson VUE is a strong choice for nurses -TOEFL, which is popular among PhD candidates, is considerably harder than what a nurse actually needs. Pearson has testing centers all over the world, with exams offered as often as weekly. Take practice tests as often as possible, and if you don’t pass the first time, don’t get discouraged. Keep trying.

3. The NCLEX. Whether you were educated abroad or in the U.S., you will have to pass the NCLEX eventually – so get it out of the way early. Testing centers exist worldwide, and we help our nurses find prep courses, online or in person, that fit their needs.

One important note on education: for hospital systems, the requirement is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. An associate’s degree does not qualify for this program at this time, although we are developing separate options for care homes and nursing homes on a different visa track.

This is one of the most powerful features of the EB-3: your spouse and all children under age 21 receive green cards as well. In many cases, the sponsoring hospital system will even offer employment assistance to help your spouse find a job. It’s not guaranteed, but hospitals understand that a family that settles well is a nurse who stays.

Let me start with a warning: be very wary of any recruiting agency that asks you for a deposit or upfront fees. That is a red flag. Legitimate programs do not work that way.

Here is how it typically works. Every hospital system is a little different – there are thousands in the U.S. – but generally, the nurse pays out of pocket for the credential evaluation, the English exam, and the NCLEX. Then, once you have the job offer, the approved petition, and your visa, the hospital reimburses those costs when you submit your receipts.

Beyond reimbursement, hospitals typically provide travel funds, pay for transportation to the U.S. for you and your family, and – almost always – provide accommodation on arrival, usually a furnished corporate apartment for 30 to 90 days while you get settled.

The Department of Labor maintains a list called Schedule A – professions in such dire shortage that employers are exempt from the lengthy PERM labor certification process. Nurses, doctors, physical therapists, and medical technologists are all on it.

In practical terms, that means the hospital does not have to advertise the job, interview American candidates, and document that none were available. All that’s required is a prevailing wage determination – which we handle for all of our partner hospitals – confirming the offer meets the average starting wage for nurses in the area, plus a posting notice. Then we file the I-140 directly.

Some of our hospitals also pay for premium processing, which means the petition can be approved in as little as 15 business days before being forwarded to the State Department to schedule your interview.

Compare that with the H-1B: a temporary visa, awarded by annual lottery, heavily oversubscribed, shared among tech workers, scientists, teachers, and healthcare workers alike. It’s valid for three years, extendable once – and many people, unfortunately, must return home after six years. The EB-3 skips all of that.

The visa bulletin is how the State Department implements the annual quotas Congress sets for immigrant visas. No single country may take more than 7.5% of employer-sponsored visas in a year. That’s why India and the Philippines – countries with outstanding nursing schools and exceptional nurses, but very large populations – face delays, known as retrogression.

But here is what matters today: for all other countries of chargeability, the EB-3 category is current. There is no waiting line. If you have a job offer, your credentials, and your exams, we can file immediately. In addition, with processing paused for many family-based petitions, additional visa numbers are flowing into the employment-based categories.

This situation will not last. The last time a window like this opened, it lasted roughly 12 to 18 months. This time, I expect it to last closer to six months. If you have been considering this path, now is the time to act.

If you are in the United States legally – for example, on TPS – and your credentials are complete, you can file the I-140 and the I-485 adjustment of status concurrently, along with a work permit application. You never have to leave the country, and no consular processing is required.

And for those who saw the recent headlines about consular processing changes: the policy was clarified the same day to exempt cases in the national interest, including healthcare. The healthcare industry represents roughly twenty percent of the U.S. economy, and the nursing shortage is constant. Nurses and doctors can still adjust status.

A question I hear often from nurses working in the Gulf: “I’m Filipino but I work in Dubai – do I have to fly back to Manila for my interview?”

No. Your immigrant visa interview takes place where you legally reside. If you’re a legal resident of Dubai, you interview in Dubai. Many of our nurses trained in one country and built their careers in the Middle East, the UK, or Canada – and they come to us because they know the U.S. is where the ceiling disappears.

Nearly all states have licensing reciprocity, so a license earned in one state can be transferred to your state of employment. A practical tip from years of experience: many foreign nurses register in Texas or New Mexico, because those boards don’t require a Social Security number. In all my years of practice, I have never seen a nurse with complete, properly prepared credentials refused by either state.

Birg Law has existing contracts with five hospital systems across the Midwest and the South, giving our nurses a choice of 76 hospitals – and we are adding more.

A word of honest advice: everyone dreams of New York or Los Angeles. But those are two cities in a country of 330 million people – and they are the most expensive ones. The hospitals we work with in the Chicago area, Texas, New Orleans, and across the South offer excellent quality of life, real opportunities for advancement, and communities where your salary goes dramatically further. If Manhattan is your dream, pursue it – but know that your paycheck will disappear fast.

If you are a registered nurse -or on your way to becoming one – and the EB-3 path speaks to you, don’t wait for the window to close.

Visit the Birg Law website and complete our online intake form. It walks you through the process step by step and tells you whether you’re ready to be put forward for a hospital interview – or exactly what you still need to complete. From there, we present qualified candidates directly to the hospitals and chief nursing officers we work with.

Your experience built your career. Let us help it build your future in the United States.This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique — please consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific situation.