Roger White and Kari Thurlow

Four Minnesota aging services providers aren’t waiting on the labor market or Washington to solve their staffing crisis. They created their own international nurse-recruitment organization and are now partnering with LeadingAge Minnesota to expand the model. 

The move is a long-range response to more than 11,000 unfilled aging services positions in Minnesota and growing workforce pressures nationwide as the population ages.

LeadingAge Minnesota Solutions, the business services subsidiary of LeadingAge Minnesota, and Global Care Recruiters (GCR) announced on July 8 a strategic partnership to expand ethical international nurse recruitment for aging services providers. GCR was founded by four LeadingAge Minnesota member organizations — Guardian Angels Senior Services, Mount Olivet Careview Home, Prairie Cottages and Vista Prairie Communities — as a provider-led recruitment organization. 

Under the partnership, LeadingAge Minnesota Solutions will provide executive leadership and operational support while GCR remains independently governed.

The model is still in its early stages: 59 nurses are currently in the immigration pipeline, a process that typically takes about 22 months. 

The first arrivals are expected in Minnesota this winter, followed by a steady monthly pace, with the pipeline projected to grow to 100 to 120 nurses by spring 2027, said Roger White, Executive Director at Mount Olivet Careview Home and one of the founders of Global Care Recruiters. 

He said there’s also potential to expand the provider-led model to additional US markets within five years. 

White called the effort a “huge and critical investment,” noting that even with nurses beginning to arrive this winter, reaching full workforce impact remains a multi-year effort.

Foreign recruitment veterans

For about 20 years, Mount Olivet Careview Home has employed a large number of African immigrants, said White. That experience shaped his reaction when he learned a National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) testing center was set to open in Nairobi, Kenya — a key step toward US licensure for nurses there.

White traveled to Kenya in January 2024 for the center’s opening. Nurses and university officials there described cases in which prospective recruits paid as much as $1,000 for promises of US jobs, sometimes after families sold property or depleted their savings, only to be ghosted, he said. Others who did make it to the US arrived without social support or anyone to help them settle in.

After returning from Kenya, White said, the group discussed the stories they had heard. Those conversations, held during a dinner at the LeadingAge Minnesota convention, led them to explore a model that would charge nurses no recruitment fees and provide sustained support before and after arrival. 

They also chose to recruit specifically for long-term care. White said traditional recruiters work across healthcare settings, where higher hospital wages can sway nurses toward hospital jobs.

Long-term investment

The investment doesn’t end once a nurse is recruited. White recommended monthly meetings with nurses throughout the visa process, followed by intensive support during their first 90 days in the US. That includes help with licensing, transportation, food, mentoring and community connections.

Contracts also need to be clear, White said. Terms should be transparent, expectations clear and pay compliant with prevailing-wage requirements. Prospective recruits who are wary of exploitation may be especially alert to ambiguity in an offer, he said.

Kari Thurlow, president and CEO of LeadingAge Minnesota, said ethical recruitment also demands honest self-assessment on the employer’s side. 

“Are we ready to really create environments for people who are uprooting their lives and moving halfway across the globe to start a new life?” she asked.

Welcoming, inclusive workplaces matter for retention, Thurlow added, but also because employers owe recruits the best possible chance to succeed after making such a major life change. She said LeadingAge Minnesota contributes employer education, peer learning opportunities, welcoming-workplace resources and advocacy for more workable immigration policy.

Navigating immigration policy

To bring nurses from Kenya to the US, the founders chose the EB-3 visa category — a slower route, but one that offers a pathway to permanent residency and, potentially, citizenship. White described that as a deliberate tradeoff for a model built around long-term workforce stability.

The founders and their immigration legal advisers also weighed political relationships between the US and potential source countries before concentrating on Kenya. White cited the US-Kenya political and security relationship as a reason the country appeared comparatively stable.

International recruitment also can raise concerns about depleting the healthcare workforce of source countries. White said the founders are working with Kenyan government representatives to monitor that impact. Some nurses may eventually return home with experience gained in US long-term care, he added — potentially opening clinics or contributing to Kenya’s developing eldercare system.

“Don’t just think about solutions that serve yourself,” said Thurlow, recalling a visit by Kenyan government officials, “but think about how we can create win-wins across the oceans for both countries.”