In addition to my State of New Jersey. New York. California. Texas. Illinois. and Ohio all have large populations of foreign nurses. Unfortunately. as we have seen. each year thousands of visas expire. And each year hospitals. nursing homes. and other care facilities must petition the INS for relief by granting extensions for these visas. This is a very timeconsuming effort. is disruptive to the staffing plans of the facilities. and in many cases results in failed attempts to retain the nurses. In my State of New Jersey. our hospitals and care facilities are operating at a 17percent vacancy rate for nurses.