Visa Types Explained

Exploring US visa types for global healthcare professionals.

Which visa is right for you?

If you’re planning a move to America for work in the healthcare field, it requires that you secure an employment-based immigrant or non-immigrant visa. There are several types of employment-based visas, which may create confusion around which one is appropriate for your profession and situation.

Let’s break down which visas apply to healthcare professionals and which one is right for you.

What Visa You Need

Nurses

Nurses should almost always have an employer-sponsored EB-3 visa, which are immigrant visas awarded to skilled workers in a variety of occupations, professionals, and other workers. Applying for this type of visa maximizes a nurse’s chances at approval.

About 28.6% of all employment-based immigrant visas — or about 40,000 EB-3 visas each year — go to this group. However, a very small percentage of EB-3 visas are allocated to nurses each year.

EB-3 visas require the applicant to have a sponsoring employer, which can be fulfilled by Health Carousel International, for example.

Other visa options may be available depending on specific situations. These options will be presented on a case-by-case basis.

What Visa You Need

Therapists and Medical Technologists

Therapists and medical technologists are oftentimes filed for an H1-B visa. The United States government typically awards 65,000 of these visas each year, available to professionals in many occupations. The H1-B is a nonimmigrant visa that lets US companies employ skilled workers in specialized fields such as medicine and information technology. These require a bachelor’s degree or more advanced degree, or the equivalent experience and qualifications. These professions also qualify for the above mentioned EB-3 visa.

Other visa options may be available depending on specific situations. These options will be presented on a case-by-case basis.

Understand

Our Visa Strategy and Assistance

Health Carousel International (HCI), which works to obtain both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas for internationally trained healthcare professionals, always applies for the type of visa that can help you exercise your right to immigrate to America legally in the shortest achievable time.

In some cases, HCI may file petitions for other types of visas not covered in-depth here in order to improve the speed or likelihood of visa approval. In such cases, our team of immigration experts will discuss these options with you.