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CHCC looking at giving H1B visas to some nurses
Aside from looking at raising the pay of nurses, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is also looking at petitioning H1B visas for those who have been with the hospital for a long time now.
According to CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña, they are considering the option in order to retain staff.
“I’m hoping that they understand that there is value from a CW to H1B and that’s what we want to do,” she said.
Muña said part of the discussion in the adjustment of nurses’ salaries is the option to obtain a different immigration status for them.
“The feedback that we got is just increase in salary and we’re saying I think we can compromise on the salary and at the same time be able to tell you that you can be here for a certain time and eventually we may petition you to be a U.S. citizen,” Muña said.
“That’s an option that we’d like to, kind of, balance it out,” she added.
However, Muna said they may not be able to do it for all the nurses. The hospital currently has 152 nurses, 127 of whom have CW permits.
“We already have some recommendations on some staff that should already be H1B,” Muña said, noting also that they have some staff that already hold H1B visas.
The pay adjustment for nurses to make them salaried instead of hourly workers is still under discussion. Muna said they will have to have follow up meetings with the staff.
“It’s going to take a little while, unfortunately,” Muña said.
“We don’t want to lose them but we also need to understand that we are obligated to comply with the law and the law is that I stay within my budget,” she added.
