Wisconsin is taking new action to address its ongoing nursing workforce shortage by making it easier for qualified registered nurses to teach clinical nursing courses a move that could help nursing schools educate more students and, over time, expand the state’s pipeline of licensed nurses.
On July 16, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers approved an emergency rule allowing certain registered nurses without a master’s degree in nursing to serve as clinical nursing faculty. The change was announced July 20 and is intended to remove a long-standing barrier that limited the number of instructors available to nursing education programs across the state.
For hospitals, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, home health agencies, and other healthcare employers, the rule highlights a larger reality: the U.S. nursing shortage remains a serious workforce planning challenge. While expanding faculty eligibility may help over the long term, many healthcare organizations continue to rely on international nurse recruitment, nurse immigration sponsorship, and foreign-trained nurse hiring strategies to meet immediate staffing needs.
Why Wisconsin Changed Its Nursing Faculty Rules
Before the emergency rule, Wisconsin generally required clinical nursing faculty to hold a master’s degree in nursing. According to state officials, that requirement created a bottleneck for nursing programs because schools often could not find enough qualified instructors to meet student demand.
When nursing programs lack enough faculty, they may be forced to turn away qualified applicants even when those applicants are ready and willing to pursue nursing careers. This has become a national concern as the demand for registered nurses continues to rise across acute care, senior care, behavioral health, and community-based healthcare settings.
Under the new Wisconsin pathway, eligible clinical nursing instructors must:
- Hold a bachelor’s degree in nursing;
- Have an active, unencumbered registered nurse license or privilege to practice in Wisconsin;
- Have at least two years of relevant clinical nursing experience in the area they will teach; and
- Meet additional professional development or credentialing requirements.
To qualify, these nurses must also be enrolled in a graduate program and making steady progress toward completion, have completed graduate-level coursework in clinical best practices, or hold a national certification in a relevant nursing specialty.
Each instructor must also practice under the supervision of a registered nurse who meets the state’s traditional faculty qualification standards.
A Broader Effort to Strengthen the Nursing Workforce
The emergency rule follows a recommendation from the Governor’s Task Force on the Healthcare Workforce. The task force noted that Wisconsin’s updated approach is consistent with policies in at least 12 other states, including Michigan.
Wisconsin is not alone. Across the country, state lawmakers and nursing boards are reconsidering faculty credential requirements in an effort to widen the pool of clinical instructors. In April, Kansas passed legislation preventing its board of nursing from requiring instructors to hold credentials at least one level above the degree awarded by the program in which they teach.
These state-level changes reflect a growing understanding that the nursing shortage is not caused by a lack of interest in nursing careers. In many cases, the problem is capacity. Nursing schools may have applicants, but not enough faculty, clinical placements, or funding to admit them.
The National Nursing Faculty Shortage Is Affecting the RN Pipeline
The numbers are significant. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applications in 2023. The reasons included faculty shortages, limited clinical training sites, and budget constraints.
The AACN also reported a 7.8% national nursing faculty vacancy rate. Nearly 80% of open faculty positions required or preferred a doctoral degree, which further limits the pool of eligible nursing educators.
For healthcare employers, this creates a difficult cycle:
- Nursing programs cannot expand without enough faculty;
- Fewer nursing graduates enter the workforce;
- Hospitals and healthcare facilities compete for a limited number of registered nurses;
- Staffing shortages increase overtime, burnout, and reliance on temporary labor; and
- Patient care capacity may be affected.
Wisconsin’s emergency rule is designed to ease one part of this cycle by allowing experienced bachelor’s-prepared RNs to help teach clinical nursing courses under appropriate supervision.
What This Means for Healthcare Employers in Wisconsin
The rule may help nursing schools admit more students and train more future registered nurses. However, the impact will not be immediate. Even when nursing education capacity expands, it takes time for students to complete their programs, pass licensing exams, and enter the workforce.
That is why many Wisconsin healthcare employers and healthcare organizations nationwide continue to explore international nurse hiring as part of a broader workforce strategy.
Foreign-trained registered nurses can play a vital role in helping healthcare employers stabilize staffing, especially in high-demand areas such as:
- Medical-surgical nursing;
- Long-term care nursing;
- Skilled nursing facilities;
- Critical care;
- Emergency nursing;
- Operating room nursing;
- Rehabilitation nursing;
- Home health nursing; and
- Behavioral health and psychiatric nursing.
For organizations experiencing persistent RN vacancies, international nurse recruitment can be an important complement to local hiring, nursing school partnerships, residency programs, and retention initiatives.
International Nurse Recruitment as a Workforce Strategy
Hiring international nurses requires careful immigration planning and compliance. Healthcare employers must understand the legal and procedural requirements involved in sponsoring foreign-trained nurses for U.S. employment.
Common immigration pathways for international registered nurses may include employment-based green card sponsorship, Schedule A nurse petitions, consular processing, adjustment of status when available, and related credentialing steps.
International nurses may also need to complete or obtain:
- A nursing degree equivalent to U.S. standards;
- A valid nursing license or eligibility for licensure in the state of employment;
- NCLEX-RN passage;
- VisaScreen certification;
- English language testing, if required;
- Credential evaluation; and
- Immigration documentation for employment authorization or permanent residence.
Because healthcare immigration involves multiple agencies and timelines, employers benefit from having a clear strategy before beginning the recruitment process.
Why Immigration Planning Matters for Healthcare Organizations
The demand for registered nurses is not expected to disappear soon. Even with state reforms like Wisconsin’s new clinical faculty rule, the healthcare industry continues to face an aging population, nurse retirements, burnout, and increased demand for care.
For healthcare employers, international nurse sponsorship can help build a more reliable long-term staffing pipeline. However, the process must be handled correctly from the start.
A strong nurse immigration plan should address:
- Which positions qualify for sponsorship;
- Whether the nurse meets licensing and credentialing requirements;
- Whether the employer is prepared to support the immigration timeline;
- How to coordinate recruitment, credentialing, immigration filings, and onboarding;
- How to reduce delays in consular processing or adjustment of status;
- How to maintain compliance with immigration and employment rules; and
- How international hiring fits into the organization’s broader workforce plan.
For hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and healthcare systems, immigration sponsorship is not just a legal process it is a staffing strategy.
Wisconsin’s Emergency Rule Is a Step Forward, But Employers Still Need Immediate Solutions
Wisconsin’s decision to expand clinical nursing faculty eligibility may help address one of the root causes of the nursing shortage: limited educational capacity. By allowing experienced RNs with bachelor’s degrees to teach clinical courses under supervision, the state may help nursing schools accept more students and graduate more nurses in the future.
Still, healthcare employers need solutions today. Open RN positions can affect staffing ratios, patient access, employee morale, and operating costs.
For many organizations, the most effective approach is a combination of:
- Local nurse recruitment;
- Partnerships with nursing schools;
- Retention and career development programs;
- Flexible scheduling and improved workplace support;
- International nurse recruitment; and
- Employment-based immigration sponsorship for qualified foreign-trained nurses.
As more states revise nursing education rules, healthcare employers should also evaluate whether their workforce strategy is prepared for both short-term staffing pressure and long-term demand.
VisaMadeEZ Helps Healthcare Employers Hire International Nurses
VisaMadeEZ is an immigration law firm focused on helping healthcare organizations hire and sponsor international nurses. Our team understands the unique staffing pressures facing hospitals, long-term care providers, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, and other healthcare employers.
We help organizations navigate the nurse immigration process with clarity, efficiency, and compliance from initial case assessment through employment-based sponsorship and onboarding coordination.
Whether your organization is new to international nurse recruitment or looking to improve an existing sponsorship program, VisaMadeEZ can help you build a practical immigration strategy that supports your workforce goals.
Ready to Build a Stronger Nursing Workforce?
The nursing shortage requires more than one solution. Wisconsin’s faculty rule change may help expand the future nursing pipeline, but international nurse hiring can help healthcare employers address urgent staffing needs now.
If your healthcare organization is struggling to fill registered nurse positions, VisaMadeEZ can help you explore immigration options for hiring qualified foreign-trained nurses.
Contact VisaMadeEZ today to schedule a consultation and learn how our healthcare immigration team can help your organization sponsor international nurses with confidence.
