A home health aide who lost a job under the proposed W visa could have up to 60 days to find another qualifying employer. But finding an employer would only be part of the task. To start the new job while the government reviews the case, the worker would need that employer to file a petition before the worker’s authorized stay expires and would have to meet the bill’s other conditions. The introduced text treats time to look for work and permission to start a job as two separate things.
Rep. Michael Lawler, a New York Republican, introduced the Health and Human Services Workforce Visa Act on November 12. The federal bill record lists referrals to five House committees. The Government Publishing Office added the official introduced text to its archive late Friday Eastern time. The bill would create a temporary immigration category for workers in qualifying jobs, including home health aides and nursing assistants. It is a proposal, so workers and employers cannot apply under it. The bill would give federal agencies up to one year after enactment to begin accepting petitions and employer attestations.
Here is how the two rules would work together. If a qualifying job ends before the worker’s authorized admission does, the bill would preserve W status for the purpose of looking for another qualifying job for 60 days from the end of employment or until the authorized admission ends, whichever comes first. A worker whose authorized admission is set to end 25 days after the job ends would therefore have a window of about 25 days, rather than the full 60.
The job change provision would let a worker who meets its conditions start once a qualifying employer files a nonfrivolous petition for a qualifying occupation. The worker must have been lawfully admitted and must not have worked without authorization in the United States after that admission and before the filing. The temporary permission to work would last while the petition is pending and end if it is denied.
The filing would not take the place of a state license. Separate provisions in the bill say that even an approved petition, a visa or admission to the United States would not authorize someone to practice a licensed occupation. For a worker weighing a move, that means checking two things before starting: whether the new employer has made the immigration filing that permits the job change, and whether the worker has any credentials the state requires to do the job.