Title: FIRST COVID–19 Care Delivery Act of 2020
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Federal Implementation of Recruiting, Staffing, and Triage for COVID-19 Care Delivery Act of 2020 or the FIRST COVID-19 Care Delivery Act of 2020
This bill contains provisions to increase the number of health care professionals during an emergency period, in particular the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency, such as by relaxing certain immigration requirements.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall provide lawful permanent resident status to a qualifying alien who served as a physician or nurse during the COVID-19 emergency and is not otherwise ineligible for such status. To qualify, the alien must have (1) received an H (specialty profession) or J (exchange visitor) visa, (2) received temporary protected status, or (3) been covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.
For an alien seeking lawful permanent resident status under this bill, DHS shall waive (1) certain eligibility requirements, such as any applicable foreign residency requirements; and (2) any annual numerical limitations.
During an emergency period, DHS shall waive (1) any annual numerical limitations for a qualified alien seeking admission under an H or J visa as a physician or nurse, and (2) the two-year foreign residency requirement for certain aliens seeking readmission as a physician or nurse.
During an emergency period, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shall not impose any caps on the number of medical interns enrolled in any CMS-funded programs. In such a period, a state may waive licensing requirements for an alien physician or nurse admitted under an H or J visa.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6905 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6905

To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a program for 
    granting lawful permanent resident status to alien health care 
professionals providing medical services during the COVID-19 emergency, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 2020

 Ms. Jackson Lee introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
 the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on 
      Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a program for 
    granting lawful permanent resident status to alien health care 
professionals providing medical services during the COVID-19 emergency, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Implementation of 
Recruiting, Staffing, and Triage for COVID-19 Care Delivery Act of 
2020'' or the ``FIRST COVID-19 Care Delivery Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The COVID-19 virus, declared a pandemic by the World 
        Health Organization on January 30, 2020, has stretched the 
        medical resources and challenged the capacity of the health 
        care delivery system in all regions of the United States.
            (2) The admission of alien health care professionals to 
        strengthen the response and mitigation efforts of the United 
        States during the COVID-19 emergency is in the national 
        security and public health interests of the United States.
            (3) Attracting and rewarding such qualified alien health 
        care professionals to respond successfully to the COVID-19 
        emergency by granting them legal permanent residence and 
        eligibility for full citizenship furthers the national 
        interest.

SEC. 3. LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS THROUGH MEDICAL SERVICE DURING 
              COVID-19 EMERGENCY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall adjust 
the status of a covered alien health care professional, and the 
noncitizen spouse and any noncitizen minor child of such alien, to that 
of a lawful permanent resident if such individual, and such spouse or 
child, is not otherwise ineligible for such status under the 
immigration laws.
    (b) Waiver of Certain Eligibility Requirements.--For purposes of 
this section, in determining whether an alien is eligible for status as 
a lawful permanent resident, the Secretary--
            (1) shall waive section 245(c)(8) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1255(c)(8));
            (2) shall waive any applicable foreign residency 
        requirement under the immigration laws, including the 2-year 
        foreign residency requirement under section 212(e) of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(e));
            (3) may not consider any period of unlawful presence--
                    (A) after December 1, 2019, in the case of an alien 
                who was lawfully present as a nonimmigrant under 
                section 101(a)(15)(J) of the Immigration and 
                Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J)) on December 
                1, 2019, whose period of authorized stay expired;
                    (B) prior to a grant of temporary protected status 
                under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality 
                Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), in the case of an alien who had 
                such status on December 1, 2019; and
                    (C) prior to a grant of deferred action, in the 
                case of an alien who was, on December 1, 2019, a 
                recipient of deferred action under the Deferred Action 
                for Childhood Arrivals Program of the Secretary of 
                Homeland Security, established pursuant to the 
                memorandum from the Secretary of Homeland Security 
                entitled ``Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with 
                Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as 
                Children'', dated June 15, 2012; and
            (4) may not consider any unlawful entry in the case of an 
        alien who is described under section 5(1)(A)(ii) or (iii).
    (c) Numerical Limitations.--No numerical limitation under the 
immigration laws, or any other law, shall apply to the number of aliens 
who may receive a benefit under this section in a fiscal year, and no 
such alien shall be counted toward any such numerical limitation.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZING ADMISSION OF ADDITIONAL ALIEN HEALTH CARE 
              PROFESSIONALS DURING AN EMERGENCY PERIOD.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an 
alien seeking admission to the United States to perform services as a 
physician or nurse, including as a lawful permanent resident or under 
section 101(a)(15)(H) or (J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)), during an emergency period shall not be subject to 
or counted toward any otherwise applicable numerical limitation.
    (b) Return of Certain Health Care Professionals.--An alien who had 
previously been admitted to the United States under section 
101(a)(15)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(a)(15)) who is described in section 212(e)(iii) of such Act (8 
U.S.C. 1182(e)(iii)) may be readmitted to the United States to perform 
health care services during an emergency period, notwithstanding the 
two-year foreign residency requirement under such section 212(e)(iii).
    (c) Waiver of State Licensing Requirements.--A State may waive any 
applicable licensing requirements for an alien admitted under such 
section 101(a)(15)(H) or (J) to serve as a nurse or physician during an 
emergency period. The head of a Federal agency may not impose any 
otherwise applicable penalty on a State waiving a requirement described 
in this subsection.

SEC. 5. NO CAP ON ENROLLMENT IN CMS MEDICAL INTERN PROGRAMS.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Administrator of 
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may not impose any 
otherwise applicable numerical limitation on the number of medical 
interns (as determined under section 1886(h)(4) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(4))) who may be enrolled in programs receiving 
funding from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during an 
emergency period, and any intern enrolled in such a program during an 
emergency period in excess of such a numerical limitation shall be 
exempt from such numerical limitation after the end of such emergency 
period.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Except as otherwise provided, the terms in this Act 
        have the meanings given those terms in the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
            (2) The term ``covered alien health care professional'' 
        means an alien who, on December 1, 2019--
                    (A)(i) was lawfully present as a nonimmigrant under 
                section 101(a)(15)(H) or (J) of the Immigration and 
                Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J));
                    (ii) was a recipient of temporary protected status 
                under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality 
                Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a); or
                    (iii) a recipient of deferred action under the 
                Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program of the 
                Secretary of Homeland Security, established pursuant to 
                the memorandum from the Secretary of Homeland Security 
                entitled ``Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with 
                Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as 
                Children'', dated June 15, 2012; and
                    (B) served as a physician or a nurse during an 
                emergency period resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic 
                for a period of not less than one year, except that if 
                the duration of such period is less than one year, the 
                requirement under this paragraph may be fulfilled by 
                serving the remainder of the one-year period beginning 
                on the date that the alien began providing service 
                during such emergency period, by serving in an area or 
                areas designated by the Secretary of Health and Human 
                Services as having a shortage of health care 
                professionals.
            (3) The term ``emergency period'' means--
                    (A) an emergency period as such term is defined in 
                section 1135(g)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 
                U.S.C. 1320b-5(g)(1)); and
                    (B) the period during which a declaration of public 
                health emergency made by a State is in effect.
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