Hello!

I have a question, for nurses who have to cancel or delay a contract due to not being able to legally work at the time of the start date (license hasn't arrived OR visa hasn't been issued yet) What happens??

I signed a contract and now my documents have been delayed.

Individual circumstances, your relationship to the agency, and the agency all make a blanket statement impossible. Delete all the variables and what your contract says is what happens.

However, even though contracts don't say so specifically, they rely on being able to legally work, and not having a license makes the contract theoretically void. This is not uncommon to not get a license on time, and agency reactions do vary.

If the agency knew that the license wasn't issued yet then I don't see how it can be a problem now. They took the risk and know better than any of us how long it takes in each state...

If they didn't know that you weren't actively licensed at the contract sign time then you could have an issue.

It is only the matter of a few seconds to check licensure status online. But that is kind of irrelevant here. Even if she had a license, she cannot legally work without a visa that the agency had to be sponsoring.

Thanks so much for the responses! I have my license, the issue is I am from Canada and my CGFNS visa screen certificate got delayed.

Everything worked out fine they just pushed back the contract dates

Great! That is the usual result. I once had a contract start delayed a week because of a license that hadn't been issued. Not a problem except my agency charged me for a week's housing. They said they would allow me to work extra hours to pay for the extra housing, then reneged at the end of the contract even though I had worked the hours. Just an example of typical frustrations travelers can have I suppose, but I'm still angry 17 years later!

I'm a Canadian citizen and have been on the TN work status before. Have you tried looking into that? It's pretty much a work visa but they don't officially call it that. I think if you have the proper documentation (perhaps your agency can provide it, I think you just need a letter stating job title, pay, etc.), you can just go to the US Immigration office at any US/Canada border and apply in person. RN falls under the approved job titles that qualify for a TN Visa.