‘How long will it take?’ is the most common question that employers contemplating international recruitment ask. ‘How long will it take?’ is also the top of mind question asked by applicants. The honest answer is ‘it depends.’ 

The U.S. employment based permanent residency program is the visa category in which the vast majority of RN applications are filed. There is an annual quota of these types of visas that are available for issuance each year. When the number of visas available in a current fiscal year is greater than the number of visa applications filed for processing, visas can be issued as quickly as 9-12 months. However, when the number of visa applications filed exceeds the number of visas available in the current fiscal period, processing times become extended. The industry term used to describe this condition is Retrogression. When the annual quota has been reached, those with remaining visa applications wait for their visas to be issued until the next government fiscal period when a new annual allotment of visas is made available. 

It is also very important to note that there is never a limit on filing new visa applications regardless of the number of visa applications currently pending being less or more than the number of available visas in a current fiscal period. 

While the answer to how long the visa process will take is ‘it depends’ that are a number of known factors that help to inform this question: 

Significant creditable research confirms the current nursing shortage is not going away in the next decade (at least), 

The U.S. employment-based immigration program is very well established with a virtual certainty of properly filed applications resulting in visa issuance, 

Visa applications are processed on a ‘First In – First Out’ basis. This means the sooner an application is filed, the sooner a visa is likely to be issued. 

So if your staffing priorities include increasing your core staff, reducing overtime, incentive payments or contract labor, DIRECT HIRE international recruitment provides an excellent opportunity to achieve all of your goals while achieving substantial cost savings. Your international candidates may arrive in 12, 18 or maybe even 24 months, but they will be needed and the years of experience they will bring will strongly support patient satisfaction, length of stay and other core metrics. And the best way of ensuring that these new international team mates are able to join your organization in the shortest possible time is partner with WorldWide HealthStaff Solutions and initiate the filing of visa applications for the international candidates you select at the earliest possible date.