We have learned that the long awaited regulations covering certification of immigrant nurses are in the final stage of review and should be published very soon. Section 343 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ("IIRAIRA") states that any alien who seeks to enter the United States for the purpose of performing labor as a health-care worker, other than a physician, is excludable unless the alien presents to the consular officer, or, in the case of an adjustment of status, the INS, a certificate from the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, or a certificate from an equivalent independent credentialing organization approved by the Attorney General in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The INS sent the regulations to the Office of Management and Budget on April 23, 1998. OMB is responsible for reviewing the regulations and circulating the regulations to other agencies for comment. The regulations have, in fact, undergone many changes since that time. The INS asked OMB to complete its review of the rule by August 12th and, in fact, the OMB met that deadline. The rule has now been sent back to INS for final clearance and cannot be altered from its current form without being sent back to the OMB for a new review and this is said to be very unlikely. The INS would not comment to us on the exact date the rule would be sent to the Federal Register for publication, though we have heard from other reliable sources that the INS has suggested an October date for publication. We will try and confirm the publication target date and will report either on our web site or in a Special Bulletin when we know for sure when the regulations will be issued.

As for what the regulations will look like, we have learned one interesting piece of news. Apparently, applicants will be able to choose between CGFNS certification OR state licensure to meet the credentialing requirements in IIRAIRA. We do not have any details on this yet.