NURSE Visa Act of 2026

Key Points

• This bill would significantly increase the number of work visas available for international nurses from 500 to 20,000 per year. The goal is to help fill thousands of empty nursing jobs in hospitals and clinics across the country.
• These nurses would be required to work in "shortage areas," which are specific communities that the government has identified as not having enough medical professionals to care for the local population.
• To hire these international nurses, hospitals and clinics must have a policy that sets a limit on how many patients one nurse can look after at a time. This is meant to ensure that both the nurses and the patients stay safe and receive proper care.
• The plan removes old limits that restricted how many visas could be used in each state. This change allows nurses to move to the specific towns or cities where the staffing crisis is the worst, regardless of which state they are in.
• If this becomes law, government agencies will have one year to create the official rules and start the program. This could provide much-needed relief to rural hospitals and busy city clinics facing high levels of staff burnout.