| 30. | What is the NRDAA? | | | |
| | On November 12, 1999, former President Bill Clinton signed into law the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 (NRDAA), Public Law 106-95. The NRDAA created a new H-1C nonimmigrant category for registered nurses who will work in facilities that serve health professional shortage areas. |
| 31. | Is the H-1C program similar to the H-1A program that expired on September 1, 1995? | | | |
| | The H-1A program was created by the Immigration Nursing Relief Act of 1989 (INRA). While the NRDAA adopts, almost verbatim, many of the provisions of the INRA, there are some differences between the two programs. The NRDAA imposes more restrictions on the types of facilities that may petition for a nonimmigrant
registered nurse and requires that these facilities make a greater number of attestations to the Department of Labor (DOL) than did the INRA. Whereas the INRA allowed for an unlimited number of H-1A nonimmigrant visas to be issued, the NRDAA places a state-by-state numerical cap on the number of H-1C nonimmigrant visas that may be issued. Also, unlike the INRA, the NRDAA does not recognize nursing education received in Canada. For the most part, however, the INRA and the NRDAA are identical and, therefore, much
of the regulatory language from the H-1A program has been used for the H-1C program.
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| 32. |
Does an attestation ever expire? | | | | | | Yes,
an attestation will expire either at the end of the one-year period beginning on the date of its filing with the Secretary of Labor or at the end of the period of admission of the last H-1C foreign national with respect to whose admission it applies, whichever is later. With regard to an individual foreign national, the attestation remains valid as long as the foreign national is employed by the facility that made the attestation. |
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