Democrats and Republicans promote plan to grant 40,000 "green cards" to doctors.

A bipartisan bill in the Senate seeks to grant 40,000 unused visas to doctors in an effort to reduce the demand for specialists in the United States.

The Health Workforce Resilience Act would grant permanent status to 25,000 foreign nurses , 15,000 doctors and their families, Law360 reported .

Senator Dick Durbin (Illinois), one of the sponsors of the project, explained that one sixth of the health workers in the country come from abroad.

It is unacceptable that thousands of physicians currently working in the United States on temporary visas are trapped in the green card backlog," Durbin lamented.

The Democrat indicated that doctors have worked in the country on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republican Senator Susan Collins (Maine) is another sponsor of a plan that activists from different organizations have promoted.

By issuing unused employment-based visas to immigrant medical professionals, this bipartisan legislation would help strengthen our healthcare workforce and preserve access to care, particularly in rural and underserved communities in Maine and throughout our country," he said. Collins.

The initiative targets doctors and nurses who are already in the US with a temporary work permit and a high percentage have families in the country.

Other senators supporting the proposal are Republicans John Cornyn (Texas) and Todd Young (Indiana) and Democrats Patrick Leahy (Vermont) and Chris Coons (Delaware).

Under the bill, eligible doctors and nurses would have up to 90 days after the expiration of the COVID-19 national health emergency declaration to apply for Permanent Residence .

Employers must apply for the benefit through employment, and must demonstrate that by sponsoring a foreigner you are not displacing American experts.

Immigration law allows immigrant visas of certain unused categories to be transferred to others according to the labor needs of the country.

According to a 2020 Cato Institute report, more than 220,000 green cards have not been used since 1992.