{"id":711,"date":"2012-08-25T13:43:23","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T19:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=711"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T23:22:07","slug":"nurse-green-card-options-for-a-bsn-holder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=711","title":{"rendered":"Nurse Green Card Options for a BSN Holder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Updated October 31, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A reader who was preparing to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 2010 asked how to find a US employer to sponsor a green card and whether visa retrogression would delay the process. A qualifying registered nurse may be sponsored through Schedule A, Group I. However, a BSN alone does not guarantee eligibility, an employer sponsor, or an immediately available immigrant visa.<\/p>\n<h2>Can a registered nurse qualify under Schedule A?<\/h2>\n<p>Yes. The Department of Labor has placed professional nurses in Schedule A, Group I. This allows an employer to use a special labor certification procedure instead of completing the ordinary PERM recruitment process through the Department of Labor. It is not accurate to say that no labor certification is required. The employer must still submit a Schedule A labor certification application to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), together with the Form I-140 petition and required supporting documents.<\/p>\n<p>For a professional nurse, the employer must submit evidence that the nurse has one of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A CGFNS Certificate;<\/li>\n<li>A full and unrestricted permanent license to practice professional nursing in the state where the nurse will work; or<\/li>\n<li>A passing result on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are alternative forms of evidence for the Schedule A application. The employer must also obtain the applicable prevailing wage determination and provide the required notice of filing. The nurse must qualify for the offered position, and the employer must offer permanent, full time employment.<\/p>\n<h2>Does a BSN automatically qualify the nurse for EB-3 professional classification?<\/h2>\n<p>No. The EB-3 professional classification requires the offered position to require at least a US bachelor&#8217;s degree or a foreign equivalent degree as the minimum requirement for entry into the occupation. The beneficiary must also hold the required degree. If the offered nursing position requires at least two years of training or experience but does not require a bachelor&#8217;s degree as the minimum entry requirement, the case may instead fit the EB-3 skilled worker classification. The employer&#8217;s actual minimum job requirements, not the beneficiary&#8217;s degree alone, determine the appropriate classification.<\/p>\n<p>A registered nurse may therefore qualify for Schedule A, Group I while the employer&#8217;s Form I-140 is classified under the EB-3 skilled worker or professional subcategory, depending on the job requirements and the nurse&#8217;s qualifications.<\/p>\n<h2>What does the employer need to file?<\/h2>\n<p>The process generally involves these steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The nurse obtains a genuine offer of permanent, full time employment from a US health care employer.<\/li>\n<li>The employer obtains the required prevailing wage determination and completes the Schedule A notice of filing requirements.<\/li>\n<li>The employer prepares the Schedule A labor certification application, including the required ETA form and supporting evidence, and files it with USCIS as part of the Form I-140 package.<\/li>\n<li>USCIS adjudicates the Form I-140. The employer must also establish its ability to pay the offered wage from the priority date onward, as required by the regulations.<\/li>\n<li>When an immigrant visa number is available, the nurse may proceed through consular processing abroad or, if eligible, file Form I-485 to adjust status in the United States.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For a Schedule A case, the priority date is generally the date USCIS properly receives the completed Form I-140 package, including the Schedule A application and required initial evidence.<\/p>\n<h2>VisaScreen, the CGFNS Certificate, and state licensing are separate issues<\/h2>\n<p>Registered nurses are among the health care occupations covered by the federal health care worker certification requirement. A nurse seeking an immigrant visa or adjustment of status to perform nursing work generally must present an approved health care worker certificate, commonly the CGFNS VisaScreen certificate, or a qualifying alternative certified statement available to certain nurses under INA \u00a7212(r) and 8CFR\u00a7212.15.<\/p>\n<p>The CGFNS Certificate listed in the Schedule A regulation and the VisaScreen certificate used for the separate health care worker certification requirement serve different legal purposes. They should not be treated as interchangeable documents without confirming that the particular document satisfies both requirements. Passing the NCLEX-RN may satisfy one of the Schedule A evidence alternatives, but it does not automatically satisfy every VisaScreen or state licensing requirement.<\/p>\n<p>A health care worker certificate or certified statement does not itself authorize a person to practice nursing. The nurse must also satisfy the licensing requirements of the state where the nurse will work.<\/p>\n<p>There is a limited streamlined federal certification rule for nurses who graduate from an entry level nursing program accredited by the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission or the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. That rule can remove certain educational comparability and English testing requirements, but it does not eliminate the need to review the remaining certification and state licensing requirements.<\/p>\n<h2>How long does the green card process take?<\/h2>\n<p>There is no reliable universal five-year estimate. Schedule A does not exempt nurses from the annual numerical limits or visa retrogression that apply to the EB-3 category. The wait depends on the nurse&#8217;s priority date, country of chargeability, the applicable EB-3 subcategory, and the monthly Visa Bulletin. Country of chargeability is generally based on the applicant&#8217;s country of birth, subject to limited cross chargeability rules.<\/p>\n<p>For context, the October 2026 Visa Bulletin lists the following EB-3 Final Action Dates:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All chargeability areas except those listed: May 15, 2024;<\/li>\n<li>China, mainland born: January 8, 2022;<\/li>\n<li>India: January 1, 2014;<\/li>\n<li>Mexico: May 15, 2024; and<\/li>\n<li>Philippines: August 15, 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A priority date must be earlier than the applicable Final Action Date for an immigrant visa number to be authorized for final action. These dates change, sometimes significantly, from month to month. Applicants adjusting status in the United States must also check USCIS&#8217;s monthly instructions to determine whether they may use the Dates for Filing chart or must use the Final Action Dates chart.<\/p>\n<h2>Must the nurse maintain another immigration status while the case is pending?<\/h2>\n<p>Usually, yes, if the nurse is in the United States and has not yet become a permanent resident. Filing or approval of Form I-140 does not, by itself, grant nonimmigrant status, employment authorization, or permission to remain in the United States. A nurse in the United States must independently maintain a lawful basis to remain and must have separate employment authorization before working. A pending or approved employment based petition should not be treated as a substitute for maintaining status.<\/p>\n<p>A BSN also does not automatically qualify a nurse for H-1B status. H-1B eligibility depends on whether the specific offered position meets the specialty occupation requirements and whether the other H-1B requirements are satisfied. The job duties and minimum entry requirements must be reviewed separately.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Schedule A can provide a valuable route for US employers to sponsor qualified registered nurses without ordinary PERM recruitment. The nurse must still meet the Schedule A criteria, the employer must complete the required filing steps, and the nurse must satisfy applicable licensing and health care worker certification requirements. Visa availability is controlled by the EB-3 Visa Bulletin, not by a fixed processing estimate. Nurses should review the current rules and monthly cutoff dates before making employment or travel plans.<\/p>\n<h2>Official resources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/20\/656.5\">20CFR\u00a7656.5 \u2014 Schedule A, Group I professional nurses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/20\/656.15\">20CFR\u00a7656.15 \u2014 Schedule A labor certification applications<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/8\/204.5\">8CFR\u00a7204.5 \u2014 Employment based immigrant petitions and priority dates<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/8\/212.15\">8CFR\u00a7212.15 \u2014 Health care worker certificates<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/travel.state.gov\/content\/travel\/en\/legal\/visa-law0\/visa-bulletin\/2027\/visa-bulletin-for-october-2026.html\">US Department of State \u2014 October 2026 Visa Bulletin<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cgfns.org\/services\/certification\/visascreen-visa-credentials-assessment\/\">CGFNS \/ TruMerit \u2014 VisaScreen<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated October 31, 2026. A reader who was preparing to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 2010 asked how to find a US employer to sponsor a green card and whether visa retrogression would delay the process. A qualifying registered nurse may be sponsored through Schedule A, Group I. However, a BSN &#8230; <a title=\"Nurse Green Card Options for a BSN Holder\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=711\" aria-label=\"Read more about Nurse Green Card Options for a BSN Holder\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,25,160],"tags":[173,177,292],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-1b-visa","category-perm","category-schedule-a","tag-h-1b-visa","tag-perm","tag-schedule-a"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nurse Green Card Options for a BSN Holder - US Immigration Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.messersmithlaw.com\/?p=711\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nurse Green Card Options for a BSN Holder - US Immigration Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Updated October 31, 2026. 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