The Nurse Immigration Book 02/14/08
ILW.com’s The Nurse Immigration Book is shipping; we have just received our copies here at HLG. At nearly 900 pages, the book is a “must” for those who work at the corner of Nurse Street and Immigration Road. (…And yes, Immigration Road does need repairs!)
Not only does the book fully explain the nurse immigration process, but it contains many interesting articles on the nursing crisis and on recruiting companies’ specific retention challenges. The book’s second half is all of the relevant INA statutes, regulations, Memoranda, and licensing data that a practicioner could ever want.
HLG was pleased to contribute two articles to The Nurse Immigration Book. Mike Hammond’s article “Managing or Achieving Expectations: The Keys to Success” is an essay on setting the right goals for your recruiting and staffing business.
Chris Musillo’s “Immigration Basics for Allied Professional Healthcare Workers” is the “step-child” of the book. Musillo’s article explains the immigration process for healthcare occupations other than nurses: Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Medical Technologists, Speech Language Pathologists, and Audiologists.
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44 Responses to this article
Thank HLG for keeping up the good work! Given the current immigration legislation situation, it seems less optimistic to lift the nurse retrogression in the near future. While it is difficult to pass a bill with full nurse retrogression relief, would it better to enact different phases of goals. For example, there are foreign nurses who got educated in the U.S. One phase of goals could be passing a law that exempts visa numbers for US-educated foreign nurses. That would avoid the criticism that the U.S. is depleting health care resources in developing countries. By cutting the ambitious retrogression relief into smaller goals, the legislation resistance would be presumably less . Just my 2 cents.
Hi,
Can i know like, whether an EB3 applicant can simultaniously apply for a student visa ? ; without effecting his/her status of immigration. I come to know that a student visa holder should return back to their corresponding nation of origin and should stay back for two years ?
HLG please give a comment on it.
To HLG,
Is there any hope for Indian nurses? or has the VB shut down immigration of nurses from India for good? Will you continue pushing for Sch A amdt?
Awaiting your reply.
Dear HLG
can you pls update reg the chance of getting Green Card for Indian Nurses in 2008 ??.All the time we are getting hope but nothing is happening .Is there is any leaglization to be passed in recntly ?? what is the status of Recapturing 61 K visa ??
Pls update
Dear HLG,
Its seems there is a bill comming up for physicians according to the follwoing info. Hope you are taking note of this and will explore all the oppurtunities to attach Schedule A legislation to this bill or any other bill
There is also another interesting article. Please take a note of this too.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_92/news/22035-1.html
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17347
Yesterday, 04:44 PM
paskal
Super Moderator Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,391
IV-Physicians Update
Physicians measures:
We have been actively engaged in discussions with senate leaders on physician issue over the last few months. Members of our chapter traveled to DC to attend a key Senate task force meeting on physician immigration and current challenges. We also attended the AAPI legislative day event in DC and found support from lawmakers and from AAPI.
We strongly encourage everyone to be strongly behind the administrative fixes campaign, as this will bring considerable relief while we battle for immigration reform. letters from physicians and their colleagues will carry their own weight. Ask your employers too and approach your lawmakers!
Our efforts have shown signs of bearing fruit in recent times. Recently we were privileged to be part of a discussion on an upcoming physician bill that would satisfy our primary agenda: quota free green cards for physicians that serve in under served areas. The current proposal would encompass both J1 and H1B physicians. This would be an interim step towards reform- a more wide ranging bill is expected in the future.
We are hoping that this bill can be brought up for voting at some point in the near future. We will need help from many physician members to achieve our objective. A successful result would resolve the entire issue for many physicians AND would establish for the first time a principal that IV has espoused: skilled immigrants that work in the national interest should not be bound by quotas. This precedent would go along way in resolving the larger immigration morass as well.
The chapter thanks all it’s active members and IV for the efforts and support that have led us this far. If you want to join the physicians chapter, use the links in my signature. Remember that membership is contingent upon disclosing at least your name and contact number, which is kept confidential at all times.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_92/news/22035-1.html
Immigration Moves Eyed
By Steven T. Dennis, Roll Call Staff
House Democrats are crafting scaled-down immigration reform legislation despite the political minefields that surround the issue, with Hispanic Members seeking five-year visas for illegal immigrants who pay fines and pass criminal background checks.
Immigration reform had been left for dead after last year’s Senate train wreck, but pressures for at least stopgap immigration legislation have bubbled up within the Democratic Caucus.
It’s unclear if the behind-the-scenes discussions will actually result in a bill coming to the floor, but Democrats say drafts of legislation already have been written and are being vetted behind the scenes.
“There is the formation of a consensus,” said Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who said he’s seen a draft bill. “We’re looking at some kind of a compromise. It’s still comprehensive in nature but not to the extent we would like.”
Baca said the prospects for a compromise package were discussed in high-level meetings Wednesday that included Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law. Baca said the emerging legislation did not have the broader reforms included in last year’s failed Senate immigration overhaul or in earlier measures backed by Hispanics, such as the DREAM Act.
But Baca said the key piece for Hispanics is a five-year visa for illegal immigrants who can prove they have a job. The visa is well short of past bills that would grant permanent legal status, which critics decried as “amnesty.”
“There is no path towards citizenship,” Baca said. “There are still fines and criminal background checks and you have to pay back taxes. This is what the taxpayers want.”
Baca said Democrats still are trying to work out exactly how the new visas would work or be enforced.
Baca said there also would be an expansion of visas for technical, temporary and agricultural workers — measures strongly backed by businesses and many Republicans.
But whether House leaders will actually put immigration on the floor with such a controversial provision as visas for illegal immigrants in an election year remains an open question.
Just last month at a Jan. 25 press conference, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) predicted nothing would happen this year on immigration, blaming the president for failing to get enough Republican support last year.
“I don’t think we’ll get anything done this year,” Reid said at a National Press Club event with Pelosi. “We have the presidential election, we have a number of very important House and Senate races, and our time is really squeezed.”
Pelosi also sounded a pessimistic note at the press conference. “If it isn’t going to happen in the Senate, it’s not going to happen. But it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t need to happen, and we have to continue to work together because there are too many aspects of our economy, if we’re just talking pragmatically, that depend on a comprehensive immigration reform.”
Emanuel said Thursday at a press conference that House Democrats are looking to address both the issues of legal and illegal immigration without waiting on the Senate, although he did not discuss specifics.
“There are things that are happening in our respective communities and districts around the country and businesses that we have to address and we can’t wait for the Senate,” he said.
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) said Republican support will be key. “We think there’s a bipartisan desire to do something on immigration that deals with our sovereign right to regulate our borders, to deal with the workplace, and to deal with the 10 million to 12 million people who are here, many of whom don’t deserve to stay, many of whom have earned a chance, if we require them to learn English and abide by all of our laws. But we have to have some bipartisan support.”
Lofgren confirmed Thursday that she is in negotiations over new legislation, but she declined to discuss the details of the new bill, other than to say, “It’s not comprehensive immigration reform.” Lofgren added that she is reaching out to Republicans on the issue and hopes to reach a compromise.
Hispanics have resisted expanding visas sought by businesses unless broader immigration issues are addressed.
The immigration issue also could be affected by the emergence of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as the Republican frontrunner for president, given his support for last year’s failed immigration deal. That appeared to offer just a sliver of daylight to the issue.
A re-emergence of immigration in the coming months would put McCain in a politically awkward position, as he has been seeking to repair ties to conservatives who despise his past support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and yet he will be looking ahead to a general election in which the Hispanic vote could prove critical.
“It depends on which John McCain steps forward,” Becerra said of whether McCain’s emergence will help move the issue.
Pelosi’s office also highlighted the bipartisan angle.
“The Democratic Caucus is continuing to discuss a wide variety of immigration issues, but long-term immigration reform must be comprehensive and bipartisan,” said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.
But even Republicans who have backed past bipartisan reform efforts are not optimistic anything will happen this election year. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), the co-author of comprehensive legislation backed by Hispanics last year, said he doesn’t see anything happening beyond some tweaking of the level of work visas until the next Congress.
A House GOP leadership aide also dismissed the idea that such legislation would move.
Even if Democratic leaders wanted to ignore the issue wholesale until after the elections, they may not be able to, given the pressure bubbling up within the party. In addition to Hispanics, leaders face pressure from more conservative Democrats who back a package of enforcement measures sponsored by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.).
“A lot of Members in more conservative districts want to be able to cast a vote they can run on,” said Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who supports the Shuler legislation. But, Davis asserted, action on that measure should not preclude other legislation from moving ahead.
Democratic leaders could conceivably face a discharge petition on the issue, although any enforcement-only measure would be sure to invite a revolt by Hispanics.
Baca said the legislation under consideration could have some enforcement measures, adding that too much could bog it down.
Jennifer Yachnin contributed to this report
Why is it, that you are still damned if you speak very good english, and dont want to violate immigrations laws and a law abiding citizen. An American by heart and soul but not yet on paper, an ambtious and hardworking man that can greatly contribute to the welfare of this country.
Highly skilled individual who has a degree like myself,who is highly needed, who passed NCLEX-RN, Passed Ielts/Toefl, who has a visascreen, and did everything what he is being asked for but did not complain, but at the end day still hopeless, not accepted and discarded. Why worked very hard and waited for so many years and not be accepted as an immigrant and if not, even just a chance to work in this country and prove my worth? maybe this country is not great after all? Or maybe the people that have been entrusted to run this country are plain inutile and are not even worth mentioning? I still hope and pray and that My GOD that it is the latter rather than the former: what happen to my great country, United States of America?
alan’s suggestion is interesting!
Let’s hope for the best
Please pray for us
I am with Alan’s suggestion.
Dear Ramzenger,
You have said it very well. You really have the gift of speech.
God is good! Someday, He will grant all of our heart’s desires.
Aakash
My mother’s EB3 petition was approved and the interview was also held for an IV. But due to retrogression , my visa interview is postponed due to my absence in the country at the time of interview. Except me , all other family members had their interviews. Because of my mother’s petition, earlier( before the visa interview of my family) I was refused twice a student visa for training in US.
Now, since the interview is over and my family members are already registered with US embassy in 2007 , is there any possibility for me to get a student visa ( as the retrogression is still there) to go to US for my training ?
Please help me with the rules which can help me , otherwise I feel that my mother’s decision is an obstacle for children’s career progress.
Thanks
To HLG,
Any hope for Indian nurses???????????
Hi!
Anybody could help my present situation? I already passed the NCLEX exam in California and I’m presently here in the US for the past 4 mos. thinking that I could get my license. But the Cal. Board of Nsg is asking for a Social Security Number w/c unfortunately I do not have. My NCLEX exam result will expire at the end of this year 2008,and I’m very much worried about it. Pls. help me!Does anybody know how to get a SSN so that my exam result,my effort will not be wasted.Thanx a lot!
hi Amy,I understand what you feel because we are in the same situation before,this is what you have to do.first,look for a taxpreparer then ask them to prepare you an application to get an ITIN,i pay them $70 for the person who prepare and $210 for the IRS.wait 2wks to 1month to get your ITIN then use your ITIN instead of SSN the board of nursing will accept it and they will issue you a license ,this is base on my experience
hai dear friends ,
kindly answer my doubt if you know it.
i passed NCLEX RN for newyork on 22 february 2007 ,now going to be 1 year ,any one know when it will expire ,or how can we renew it,?. any one else here passed NCLEX RN ,NEW YORK .
THANK YOU
to “kochu”:
There is no expiration date for the NCLEX!
It is valid FOREVER!
anyway there is an exp. date for your VisaScreen certificate, but as far as I know it is also not a big problem, you can always renew it($150 or so).
So calm down and wait your happy Visa Buletin!
:::))))
no, there is an expiration for nclex if you took it in California but If you are correct pls elaborate. Thank you!
not sure about California…., I’ve passed NCLEX in Virginia for NC. Logicaly there should be no state restrictions, coz it is the NATIONAL exam, and it is taken only ones in a life. But as all we know California is a “state in the state”, so everything is possible there.
hi kochu,all i know is there is a expiration date of 3yrs. after you passedthe NCLEX.you have to get your license in 3yrs time or else theywill declare it abandoned.in order to get your license you need to have a SSN but if you dont have an SSN you can apply for an ITIN just to get your license.
…something new for me…
what does it mean:”ITIN”, how can I get it being outside the US?
Please reply!
Reeves: Employment-based priority jump forward 3 years
By Robert L. Reeves
THE State Department just issued the visa bulletin for immigrant visas available in March 2008. While family-based priority dates barely moved, there was a giant jump for employment-based visas.
The EB-3 category, which includes skilled, professional and other workers, experienced the biggest jump. Skilled and professional workers priority dates jumped from November 2002, where they had been hovering for the past few months, to January 2005. The other workers category, which had been stuck at October 2001 for several months, jumped to January 2002.
What this jump in numbers means is that many workers in the United States will now be able to adjust status to permanent residence. They and their family members will be able to apply for and receive work authorization. Immigrants outside the US will be able to process their immigrant visas at the National Visa Center and appear for an interview at the US consulates in their home country in March.
This represents a significant number of people who can now apply for benefits. The priority dates for March coincide with the last batch of labor certification applications processed by the Department of Labor’s Backlog Elimination Centers (BEC) before the implementation of PERM. The BECs have just completed adjudicating the vast majority of these cases.
This advance in priority dates will be the first time beneficiaries of these labor certifications will be able to file for adjustment of status and work authorization.
History has shown us that such gains in priority dates can be short-lived with a retrogression following shortly. These priority dates may not remain at this level beyond the month of March and may fall back again to 2001 or 2002. It is therefore of the utmost importance that immigrants in these categories immediately take advantage of this advance and file for benefits as quickly as possible.
The immigration services will keep the applications open until numbers are reached again if adjustment applications are filed while a priority date is current, but the priority dates then fall back. This will allow the immigrant and family members to extend work authorizations while they wait for their priority date to return. Those who do not file in time will not be granted this benefit.
The jump in dates will allow many accountants, nurses, bookkeepers, cooks, caregivers, physical therapists and many in other professions to apply for the final stages of the green card or immigrant visa. Many have been waiting for several years for the BECs to approve their labor certifications. This will be the first chance for them since their labor certification approvals to apply for adjustment of status.
This opportunity should not be wasted because, historically, the priority dates in these categories can retrogress in as quickly as one month. The time for action is now.
(www.rreeves.com)
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(February 18, 2008 issue)
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Join the Sun.Star message board
Hi Kochu,
I suggest you check this website http://www.nysed.gov for information. Soon after I passed my NCLEX for New York, I processed my registration. You can download the application form from the aforementioned website; also from there you can check the requirements for registration. Besides passing NCLEX-RN you are also required to show proof that you have succesfully completed the statutory training for Infection Control and Child Abuse Training. They have a list of the NY state certified course providers and most of them offer the said courses on-line. When I registered with NY State Board of Nursing they did not require SSN; I am not sure whether that has changed recently. Of course once you’re registered and licensed to practice nursing you have to renew your license every 3 years and within that period should have completed 60 hours of CEU’s. To comply with this, you can either fly to New York City and take a course, which I have done in a much as I prefer interacting with the speaker)take these approved CEU courses on-line.
If I may, what I suggest is that you process your registration with NY State Board of Nursing ASAP so that you don’t have to worry about your NCLEX-RN expiring soon.
I hope this helps and good luck.
TO Amy
Its time for u to apply a reciprocity to Vermont Board of Nursing, They are issuing license even without SSN, just go to Vermont BON website and apply and pay $150 (not sure with the amt.) to have a license. BTW, California BON is not accepting ITIN anymore.
ITIN means tax identification no.but with your case that your outside the U.S you have to ask your agency or lawyer because as what i have read they just have send a letter to BON to request for extension. FYI: california BON still accept ITIN inorder to get your license because i keep on hearing that even before i got my license but when i tried it they still honor it.
To aryo&arnel,
Thank you very much for sharing the information.I really appreciate it.Now I have the idea what to do in order to get my RN license.I just hope and pray that ITIN will still be accepted by Cal BON in lieu of SSN.To HLG,keep up the good work!
Hi all
I gave NCLEX-RN exam thr`o New Mexico Board Of Nursing in oct 2006 and it is getting expired in this year.I have recieved a candidate report and a license card from the board.Can anybody tell me bout the renewel process in the New Mexico Board of Nursing.Kindly acknowledge this.
dear friends nutmeg,aryo,kot,
thanks a lot for your suggestions,
nutmeg explained it very well,but a tiny doubt,can we do this registration by ourselves or should be by the agency, bcoz they applied for my nclex rn .
As I learned in my nursing school, research is not only elemental to become a very good and efective nurse but essential for survival in real life.
These is with concern to all
with ***EXPIRING*** NCLEX Licenses in particular to State of California.
*****DONT PANIC*****
Here is tha solution.
Endorse your license to either NEW MEXICO or VERMONT BRN. There is a fee for this and it is not cheap since you will be paying CALIFORNIA BRN and the States BRN that you are endorsing to but you will not have to go the nightmares of going and taking the NCLEX EXAM again. The sleepless nights, the crying because the computer shuts down at 40 minutes, the embarassment that you have to endure should you fail next time.
***BUT ONCE YOU ENDORSE IT, IT BECOMES A PERMANENT LICENSE THAT YOU CAN HANG IN YOUR LIVING ROOM.***
Some people would tell you that can have ITIN even though you are in paete, Laguna enjoying lambanog because your license is about to expire and your pd is no where near North expressway. You know better than that. IRS does not issue ITIN to those individual outside the U.S. and although it is true that sometimes ITIN can be mistaken as an SSN by the CA BRN, because it has the same sequence but sometimes they can detect it.
****Beware**** to those wo are in the U.S in B1B2, if you have to get ITIN, just make sure you are covered, I heard a lot of stories of A to A because they got ITIN before they left and when they came back, they were A to A Because ITIN means that you to pay taxes or get tax rebates but you are not allowed to have SSN, Bingo!!!
Maybe after these ordeal, we are better nurses than before.
Thank you Abilash!!!
hi, HLG
Any News about the Sched A Visas for Nurses? More power HLG!
Dear HLL,
For renewing the visa screen certificate, do we need to write the IELTS exam.
Can you just send me the procedure for renewing the Visa Screening certificate.
Thanks
Dear HLL,
For renewing the visa Screen certificate, do we need to write the IELTS exam again.
Please tell me what is the procedure for renewing the visa screen certificate
Thanks for all your support,
Hi Johnny,
I haven’t cleared this info with my lawyer but I heard from fellow nurses that we need to take (God forbids) another English test when our visa screen certificate expires but just to straight things out, you may e-mail your query to cgfns.org. They usually reply promptly to your queries.
To HLG:
Thanks for all your efforts. Still I pray that retrogression will be lifted soon for all nurses and PT.
Keep up the good work!
to all concern,
i dont think that we need to get a ielts again to renew our visa screen cert. all i know is that it will expire after 5yrs and we renew it without getting ielts again.just check the cgfns.org on how to renew the visascreen
DEAR HLG
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS. PLEASE UPDATE US ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BRIDGE LEGISLATION FOR SCHEDULE A VISA FOR NURSES.
IT IS UNFORTUNATE FOR INDIAN NURSES.
PLEASE UPDATE US
Reeves: Employment-based priority jump forward 3 years
By Robert L. Reeves
THE State Department just issued the visa bulletin for immigrant visas available in March 2008. While family-based priority dates barely moved, there was a giant jump for employment-based visas.
The EB-3 category, which includes skilled, professional and other workers, experienced the biggest jump. Skilled and professional workers priority dates jumped from November 2002, where they had been hovering for the past few months, to January 2005. The other workers category, which had been stuck at October 2001 for several months, jumped to January 2002.
What this jump in numbers means is that many workers in the United States will now be able to adjust status to permanent residence. They and their family members will be able to apply for and receive work authorization. Immigrants outside the US will be able to process their immigrant visas at the National Visa Center and appear for an interview at the US consulates in their home country in March.
This represents a significant number of people who can now apply for benefits. The priority dates for March coincide with the last batch of labor certification applications processed by the Department of Labor’s Backlog Elimination Centers (BEC) before the implementation of PERM. The BECs have just completed adjudicating the vast majority of these cases.
This advance in priority dates will be the first time beneficiaries of these labor certifications will be able to file for adjustment of status and work authorization.
History has shown us that such gains in priority dates can be short-lived with a retrogression following shortly. These priority dates may not remain at this level beyond the month of March and may fall back again to 2001 or 2002. It is therefore of the utmost importance that immigrants in these categories immediately take advantage of this advance and file for benefits as quickly as possible.
The immigration services will keep the applications open until numbers are reached again if adjustment applications are filed while a priority date is current, but the priority dates then fall back. This will allow the immigrant and family members to extend work authorizations while they wait for their priority date to return. Those who do not file in time will not be granted this benefit.
The jump in dates will allow many accountants, nurses, bookkeepers, cooks, caregivers, physical therapists and many in other professions to apply for the final stages of the green card or immigrant visa. Many have been waiting for several years for the BECs to approve their labor certifications. This will be the first chance for them since their labor certification approvals to apply for adjustment of status.
This opportunity should not be wasted because, historically, the priority dates in these categories can retrogress in as quickly as one month. The time for action is now.
I completed my BSN in the U.S. and passed the NCLEX in 2006. I am now licensed in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
While waiting for the retrogression to end, I decided to continue pursuing my MSN in Nurse Practitioner in order to maintain my F1 status. I would most likely complete the program by Summer 2009.
If the retrogression does not end by then, I would like to know if there is a different visa category that would allow Advanced Practice Nurse with Master’s Degree to get some kind of sponsorship.
Also, I have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University, New Jersey.
While I was working with AT&T as a Computer Engineer for 5 years and waiting for my green card, I remembered most of my co-workers bear the Lastname ‘Patels’ and they were all Indians. Therefore, I always thought that U.S. was generous to India when it came to immigration.
Anyway, I was later laid off with my job outsourced to India.
Now I have to start my quest for the green card all over from scratch.
Please read and help to find asolution
Iam a nurse passed NCLEXon2006 dec.Mypd is oct 2005.My had been interviewed on June 2006.But i didnot get the visa due to the White glove agency who didnot provided the offer letter on time.And the embassyretuned my file to USCIS ,now its again rforwaded to NVC after a reapproval.Any body with same agency please contact me.Iam in India Bhopal.9926010334.
Re- Indian Nurses. Unfortunately we don’t see those numbers moving, which makes the need for a Bridge/other Sched A legislation all the more…
Re- Bridge. Still being pushed. The lobbyists are on the hill once a week, and they are making progress. We all wish it could go faster.
thanks HLG for the update….
Thank HLG for keeping up the good work! Given the current immigration legislation situation, it seems less optimistic to lift the nurse retrogression in the near future.
Can i know like, whether an EB3 applicant can simultaniously apply for a student visa ? ; without effecting his/her status of immigration. I come to know that a student visa holder should return back to their corresponding nation of origin and should stay back for two years ?
HLG please give a comment on it.
thanks
piyush(india)
to HLG,
What’s the status of the nurse legislation? Is there a good sign that the retrogression be lifted?
Someone can help me?
I got my BSN last summer in America, got license, and am working now. My company filed I-140 for me, but the expect time of approval is around Sep. 2008, by then my OPT will be expired one month plus. What I can do now?
Thanks very much!!!! Help!! PLS!!1