2004 News
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24 JUNE 2004
To health care professionals and organizations: A statement on Section 343
for health professionals entering the United States under Trade NAFTA
As the 26 July 2004, deadline approaches for full implementation of the certification requirement for foreign health care workers under Section 343 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, CGFNS wants to advise interested parties that unless CGFNS receives all the federally mandated documents that meet the program requirements by 9 July 2004, there can be no reasonable expectation that a VisaScreen® certificate can be issued to eligible applicants by the deadline established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“All federally mandated documents” include such items as nursing school transcripts and the completed CGFNS Nursing form, license verification form, and English language proficiency test results (unless exempt from the English exam).
Of particular concern are the Canadian nurses, medical technologists (scientists), and medical laboratory technicians who cross the US/Canada border daily to work in U.S. hospitals. To address the specific issues of the Canadian TNs, CGFNS telephoned Canadian applicants to solicit their help in getting their documents mailed to us and sent letters to all Canadian schools with return Fed-Ex envelopes, trying to ensure timely receipt of necessary documentation.
We will continue to work diligently to ensure that we issue and ship any certificate that is ready for issuance before the close of business on Friday, 23 July 2005, which is the last day we can ship certificates for delivery by Monday, 26 July 2004.
Talking Points for Section 343:
- On 25 July 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its final rule related to Section 343 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). Section 343 requires that certain foreign health care workers have their credentials evaluated and certified before they will be allowed to work in their profession in the United States.
- The final rule became effective 23 September 2003. However, a transition period was created for those health care professionals who are applying for temporary visas entering the U.S. under TN status. That transition period ends 25 July 2004.
- Since the final rule became effective until the present, CGFNS has received 3,659 applications form Canadian applicants. Of these, CGFNS has issued 1,820 certificates and is currently reviewing an additional 574 applications. We are confident that we will complete the review of these 574 cases well prior to the 26 July deadline. The remaining 1,265 cases are all cases in which CGFNS is awaiting further documentation from educational, licensing and testing institutions.
- Until CGFNS receives all the federally required documents CGFNS cannot process the file. The federally required documents include the educational transcripts, the license validation for all licenses currently held or previously held, and the English language proficiency exam results. All documentation must be sent to CGFNS from the issuing agency.
- CGFNS has taken extraordinary measures to facilitate obtaining the required documents. These measures include the administration of two special CGFNS qualifying exams, letters and phone calls to applicants, recruiters, educational institutions, and licensing agencies.
- Unless CGFNS receives all the required documents that meet the program requirements by 9 July 2004, there can be no reasonable expectation that a VisaScreen® certificate can be issued to eligible applicants by the 26 July 2004 deadline established by the Department of Homeland Security.
- As of today, CGFNS has received no official notice from DHS that any extension of the waiver or transition period will be granted.
