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Subject to subsection (r), 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 Attorney General, 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, verifying that- (i) the alien's education, training, license, and experience- (I) meet all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements for entry into the United States
under the classification specified in the application; (II) are comparable with that required for an American health-care worker of the same type; and
(III) are authentic and, in the case of a license, unencumbered; (ii) the alien has the level of competence in oral and written English considered by the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to be
appropriate for health care work of the kind in which the alien will be engaged, as shown by an
appropriate score on one or more nationally recognized, commercially available, standardized
assessments of the applicant's ability to speak and write; and (iii) if a majority of States licensing the profession in which the alien intends to work
recognize a test predicting the success on the profession's licensing or certification examination,
the alien has passed such a test, or has passed such an examination. For purposes of clause (ii), determination of the standardized tests required and of the minimum
scores that are appropriate are within the sole discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human
Services and are not subject to further administrative or judicial review. |