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Alien graduates of NMC nursing program to benefit from new bill
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Posted on Dec 03 2006
Foreign graduates of the Northern Marianas College nursing program may be hired in the Commonwealth without prior work experience if the governor signs a Senate bill proposing this.
Both houses of the Legislature have passed a bill that would waive the two-year experience requirement for nonresident workers who have obtained nursing education at the CNMI’s only government-run college.
Senate Bill 15-58 is now awaiting the governor’s action.
Authored by Sen. Jude Hofschneider, the bill seeks to address the shortage of nurses at the Commonwealth Health Center while reducing recruitment costs for the Department of Public Health.
Several nonresidents are enrolled in, or have graduated from, the NMC Nursing Program. But because of their alien status, they cannot be hired by the government hospital unless they have two years of work experience in nursing.
Hofschneider’s bill would waive this requirement and reduce the need for DPH to recruit from off-island, “a more expensive proposition due to recruitment, repatriation, and other associated costs.”
However, the proposed legislation includes a sunset provision. If enacted, the waiver would apply only to nonresident NMC graduates who complete the nursing program on or before Dec. 31, 2009.
Furthermore, any nonresident who avails of this privilege would have to commit to CHC employment for four years. The employment contract and its renewal would reflect this commitment and it would be in effect unless the nonresident is terminated for any reason.
