Slow and steady. Open to every hospital and every qualified nurse.
EB-3 is the green card path and the default for international nurse hiring. It is open to every hospital and every qualified nurse, regardless of country of origin. Filing to arrival is variable, currently benchmarked at 2 to 3 years. Once a nurse arrives they have permanent residency, with no renewal cycles to manage.
Variable currently 2 to 3 years · Permanent residency
Fast for the right hospital. Smaller talent pool.
H-1B cap-exempt is built for nonprofit teaching-affiliated hospitals filling BSN-required roles. Critical care is often a great fit. With premium processing, approval comes in roughly 3 months, and full arrival runs 6 to 12 months.
Currently paused. H-1B is on hold pending policy changes. We will revisit this pathway as soon as it reopens.
6 to 12 months filing to arrival · 3 years, up to 6 total
Fast. Open to every hospital.
TN is one of the fastest pathways open to every hospital. It works for Canadian and Mexican RNs who hold, or can quickly secure, a US state license. Approval times run from immediate to 2 months, and full arrival is 6 to 12 months. The pool is narrower than EB-3, but no hospital-eligibility restrictions apply.
6 to 12 months filing to arrival · 3 years, renewable
| Parameter | EB-3 | H-1B (paused) | TN |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Permanent residency via employer sponsorship. | Temporary work visa for BSN-required roles at nonprofit teaching hospitals. | Temporary work visa under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. |
| Hospital eligibility | Any US healthcare employer, public, private or nonprofit. | Nonprofit hospital affiliated with an academic institution. | Any US employer hiring Canadian or Mexican citizens. |
| Eligible nurses | Any qualified RN, any country of origin. | BSN-holding RNs, any country. | Canadian and Mexican RNs only. |
| Visa duration | Permanent. No renewal required. | 3 years, renewable up to 6 years total. | 3 years, renewable indefinitely. |
| Processing time | Variable. Benchmarking 2 to 3 years; depends on visa bulletin movement. | 3 months with premium processing. Total to arrival: 6 to 12 months. | Immediate to 2 months processing. Total to arrival: 6 to 12 months. |
| License before filing | Preferred. Not always required at the I-140 stage. | Required. State license must be in hand. | Required. State license must be in hand. |
| Visa cap | Yes. Annual quotas and country limits apply. | None when cap-exempt criteria are met. | None. |
| Best used for | Hiring from the Philippines, LATAM, or most other source countries. | Filling BSN-required roles fast at the right type of hospital. | Filling vacancies fast with Canadian and Mexican RNs. |
| Strengths | Open to every hospital and any qualified nurse, regardless of country. Permanent residency once arrived. | Speed with premium processing. Flexible for the right facility. | Among the fastest pathways. Open to every hospital. Low paperwork complexity. |
| Constraints | Long timeline. India and China face heavy retrogression delays; the Philippines and LATAM do not. | Limited to nonprofit and academic affiliation. Higher denial risk for non-specialty roles. Currently paused. | Two countries only. License and credentialing must be in place before filing. Narrower candidate pool than EB-3. |
You need a pathway open to every hospital and every qualified nurse. EB-3 is the default international hire. The timeline is variable, currently benchmarked at 2 to 3 years from filing to arrival, then permanent residency.
You are a nonprofit hospital with an academic affiliation and BSN-required openings, where critical care is the cleanest fit.
Speed matters and you can work with a narrower pool. One of the fastest pathways, open to every hospital, drawing from Canadian and Mexican nurses with US licensure.
Bring us the unit and the headcount. We'll tell you upfront which pathway fits, and what the tradeoffs are on each.