Filipino in New Zealand wanting to go to US

World Immigration

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Hi all,

I hope I am putting this in the right section.

I am a US Citizen, my partner (not married) is Filipino who currently works in New Zealand and holds citizenship in the Philippines and NZ residency. We have decided that we would like to go to the US. My NZ visa expires in December so I must return to the US.

I have gone through countless webpages and forum submissions, but many seem out dated. I was wondering if any one could provide me with an easiest up to date solution?

She will obviously need the NCLEX and state certs, which don't seem to be available in New Zealand.

Am I way too hopeful to have this sorted by December?

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

There is no way to get this all sorted for December. Unless married and you sponsor her you she will have to make her own way there and currently looking at processing times of 4-6 months to meet state requirements and sit NCLEX (as long as state says OK) and then find employer willing to go either the H1b route or immigrant visa. For H1b route finding employer willing to pay $$ when there are many US nurses looking for work is hard and Immigrant visa at the moment for someone born in the Philippines (visa is based on place of birth) is over 10 years wait.

Easiest option is to get married which in itself may take up to 12 months

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Specializes in Oncology.

If you both can come to the U.S. together, it is faster for you to petition her as a spouse here. However, it varies from state to state. We live in MI. Total process time after we got married was about 4 months from the day we submitted the paper work.

For her with her Filipino citizenship, it will take forever as above commentor said. Unless she is already in the US with a valid visa and has passed nclex. Again, in some states, she might not be eligible to sit for get her license because some states requires a valid SSN and/or employment authorization Visa types.

All in all, marry her is the fast way if you guys are already in a committed relationship.

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Thank you very much for your reply!

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Thanks so much! Looks like I'm going ring shopping... :)

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