H-1C visa

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The H-1C visa was a temporary U.S. visa for foreign nurses to work in areas with a shortage of health professionals. It was created in 1999 to address the nursing shortage and allowed up to 500 nurses per year, with a per-state limit of 25 nurses.

In practice, very few hospitals participated: only 14 hospitals were publicly approved, though the Department of Labor said other eligible hospitals might have existed. To apply, a U.S. employer hospital had to file Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and receive an acceptance notice of the H-1C attestation from USCIS. Once approved, the I-129 could be used to apply for a visa at a U.S. consulate abroad or to change to H-1C status in the United States if already there legally.

Key timeline and facts: The visa was created by the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999. Congress extended the program in 2006 for three more years. The H-1C visa classification expired on December 20, 2009, and the last H-1C visas were issued in Fiscal Year 2012. The program was modeled similarly to an earlier H-1A visa for nurses, which expired in 1995.