[otgoo_mng]

Good day all,

I am writing this post on behalf of my mother, who is a foreign licensed from Mongolia visiting me in North Dakota during my summer holiday. Obviously, it is one of the biggest dreams for a lot of foreign nurses to come and work in the US. My mother is also one of them and is interested working in the US as a nurse. Therefore, upon her interest towards this I started doing online research for her(1). I have been googling and googling and eventually I found out this forum, which I found very helpful; so that, I am posting this to ask for the following questions:

1. My mother is a licensed nurse in Mongolia and she has a
experience of nurse (falls under 'General Nurse' category)over 13
years. She is now 47 years old and visiting me here in North
Dakota. When I was doing research on 'Foreign nurses recruiters',
there is a couple of common requirements for any foreign nurses
one of which is 'English Proficiency' and the other one is 'Nursing
Exam like NCLEX'. Even though my mother studied English a little bit a few years ago, her English is far from Nursing English level. Therefore, I was wondering if there is a way to:

a. Find a sponsor/recruiter/organization who helps/supports
foreign nurses and prepare them to give English proficiency
tests and Nursing tests, so that they can hire their own
prepared prospective employee?
b. Find a Nursing English language school so that my mother can
study and prepare for both English Proficiency Test and Nursing
Test?
Because, she has the work experience of 13 full years and above, but it is just the english knowledge and the nursing exam she needs to take.

2. I am not familiar with the nursing system, even though I am a son of a nurse. However, I think there are some careers in hospitals where one does not need as high English knowledge as the other professional nurses and doctors. I do not know the nursing hierarchies in hospitals. Therefore, i am assuming people in lower careers according to hierarchies in hospitals do not need professional english knowledge as long as they are able to understand what they are supposed to do, how they are supposed to communicate with patients, and have the knowledge of what they are doing; so that, I was wondering if there is such a career where one does need high-level english language required and/or nursing exam?

3. The last question is, what might be the best thing to do for my mother to explore all the avenues and go towards her goal?

Thank you all for your time, help and concern. To me, doctors and nurses are the best people in the world. That is why even I am very proud of my mother. People like you are there for people when they need help. I will be looking forward to your earlies reply.

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Suzanne4

[suzanne4]

Thanks for posting on this forum and welcome.

Suggest that you read the sticky at the top called the Primer, it has much information that you need to be aware of about working in the US as an RN. Your mother's English skills are going to need to be quite good for a start as she is going to need to pass lauguage exams to get a visa to be able to work here if she is petitioned by an employer.

Not sure what type of visa that you have, or if you are a US citizen now. If you are, then you can petition your mother and it would be faster for her, but there is no way that she will be able to remain in the US after her visa expires this summer. They are never granted for more than 6 months on the tourist visa at any one time.

She is going to need to apply to a State Board of Nursing for licensure and they will evaluate to see if her training meets the requirements for working in the US. If she is going to be petitioned by an employer, since you are asking about agencies, etc.; then her skills are going to need to be perfect and she will have to meet the requirements for working here as an RN in order to get the green card. Other lower training does not meet the requirements for the visa.

I would recommend doing some reading here on this forum before doing anything as you need to be aware that if you do not have citizenship here, it is going to be years before she will be able to work in the US as we are under a retrogression and no immigration procedures can be started until she has passed the NCLEX-RN exam.

And not sure if the general nurse in your country meets the requirements for here, how long was her training?

[otgoo_mng]

I appreciate for your immediate response, Suzanne. I am a F-1 student visa holder in the US. I graduated my university a couple of weeks ago with my bachelor's degree. Currently, I am doing my OPT at a software company in North Dakota.
About my mother, she studied at a nursing school for 2 years and then she worked for 13 years as a nurse. "General nurse" in our country refers to the nurses who have all the general knowledge about any kind of specific med. careers/occupations. So, she has to take the english language proficiency test and then the nursing exam first?
How about sponsors/organizations/hospitals that might help with her english language while she is in the US so that she can try to take the exams before she leaves. Her visa will be expired in November. She still has 5 full months. Please advise us on this.
Once again thank you so much for your advise, time and help. I really appreciate that there are people like you who help people and advise them for their future. I will be looking forward to your earliest reply.

[suzanne4]

It is not going to be as easy as that, or what you assume will be possible. She is going to need to get her English skills up to what is expected so that she can pass the language exams. She will need to have excellent English in order to even get hired by any hospital or agency.

The chances of her being able to get thru that as well as take the pass the NCLEX exam in the next few months is not going to be something that I think that she will be able to do.

As far as her two year training, is there any program that is longer than that and is she called a registered nurse there and is her training considered the highest level for a nurse there? She is going to need to get her education evaluated to determine if her training meets that of the US before she will even be permitted to write the NCLEX exam and that is going to take months to complete as her school of nursing as well as the licensing board are going to need to submit documents.

Since you are on the F-1 visa, it is going to be five years plus for her to have a chance at a green card and that time does not even start until after she has passed the exams.

Doubt that you will find any facilities willing to help or sponsor her for training for the English. You may wish to check with some of the community colleges where you are or even the high school to see what type of ESL programs that they have that she could participate in while she is here. I would recommend that she focus on the English before doing anything else if she wishes to be successful at passing the NCLEX the first time.

[otgoo_mng]

Thank you Suzanne.
Is there any other careers where she might be qualified based on her experience? Because, for example she can look after elder people. I know there is that kind of jobs at hospitals or organizations where you can take care of elder people, live with them, cook for them and so on. That kind of job will not need as high english language as nursing, if I am correct. In addition, I assume it might be a lot easier than becoming nurse? Can you give me advise on this please?
Thank you.

[suzanne4]

She cannot get a visa to live and work here with any other career at this time, all of the visaa require the RN after her name as we do not have shortages in the other areas.

And you are unable to petition her since you are here on a student visa and do not have citizenship, so she has no choice but to go thru and hope that her credentials are accepted for the RN licensure here in this country.

[adema12]

Good afternoon Suzanne! First i would like to say a big thank you to you for all the help you provide particularly regarding immigration issues. As most on here i am an F1 student who just graduated 2 weeks ago with a BSN in GA. I also hold a BSC in Psychology from the same institution. I have previously utilized my OPT hence i do not qualify for another chance at that. I was very disheartened to learn that a green card is not possible at this time due to retrogression. Some think this will soon be lifted due to the nursing shortage but then again we cannot be too sure as to when this will happen. Meanwhile it looks like July i am expected to leave the country. I feel like my last few yrs struggling through Nursing school are a waste as i am unable to practice. Also i have heard of people getting jobs despite the retrogression. Any idea how they are able to? One of my friends graduated a yr ago and has been able to get an H1B visa despite the stipulations of that visa. Does anyone else in this forum have any advice on this? Also do you have any experience with the h1C visa? I know there is one hospital here in GA that qualifies.

I also have another question, would i need a visascreen and would i need to do the CGFNS Certification Program even if i completed my degree here in the US? Thank you.

[suzanne4]

Originally Posted by adema12

Good afternoon Suzanne! First i would like to say a big thank you to you for all the help you provide particularly regarding immigration issues. As most on here i am an F1 student who just graduated 2 weeks ago with a BSN in GA. I also hold a BSC in Psychology from the same institution. I have previously utilized my OPT hence i do not qualify for another chance at that. I was very disheartened to learn that a green card is not possible at this time due to retrogression. Some think this will soon be lifted due to the nursing shortage but then again we cannot be too sure as to when this will happen. Meanwhile it looks like July i am expected to leave the country. I feel like my last few yrs struggling through Nursing school are a waste as i am unable to practice. Also i have heard of people getting jobs despite the retrogression. Any idea how they are able to? One of my friends graduated a yr ago and has been able to get an H1B visa despite the stipulations of that visa. Does anyone else in this forum have any advice on this? Also do you have any experience with the h1C visa? I know there is one hospital here in GA that qualifies.

I also have another question, would i need a visascreen and would i need to do the CGFNS Certification Program even if i completed my degree here in the US? Thank you.

H1-B visas have very strict requirements to even qualify for one and as a new grad, most do not as they usually are hired for jobs that do not require the BSN for entry level as well. Most facilities also are unable to hire with this desgination if they are a unionized hospital as the unions do not permit it.

H1-C visas have a total of 500 at any one time, not 500 per year that are issued. Just because a facility qualifies under this, it does not mean that they have openings now under this visa.

But your bigger problem with either of these visas is that they require that the NCLEX-RN exam be already passed and that you have a Visa Screen Certificate in hand before you even apply for it. You are unable to remain in the US until the visa is actually granted, and it is going to be impossible to get the exam done and the VSC in hand before the two months are up. You already graduated two weeks ago and that is when the 60 days started to be counted.

And the H1-C is due to expire in 2010, and we do not think that it is going to be renewed.

The shortages are not that great all over, and if you have noticed here that there are many new grads posting that are unable to get jobs, even as Americans as employers are wanting to see experience.

And you have to add into it the fact that 800,000 petitions were submitted last year for the I-485 and with only 140,000 total green cards per year, that is making it five years to wait and then does not even include those that are being processed under the CP status either.

The only other option that you have at this time is to continue on with your studies, but that is going to be hard to get accepted within the next six weeks to maintain your student status.

It is no longer a guarantee that one can remain in the US when they finish their training, and training here does not give one an advantage with a visa. There are many ahead of you that already have completed files and are just waiting for the green card.

Wish that you would have known about this site earlier and could have started to prepare earlier.

Best of luck to you.

[adema12]

Thanks Suzanne. My boyfriend who i have been dating for over 2yrs is awaiting his citizenship. He has been on a GC fr over 10yrs and filed last yr July so hopefully it comes through soon. We have talked about marriage even prior to immigration issues so hopefully his papers come through before my 60days are up. He has already done his fingerprints and is just awaiting an interview. We may have to go to the courthouse and have a better wedding when we are more prepared. I understand filing by an American citizen would expedite the process for their spouse to at least get travel and work documents while awaiting the actual GC. This seems like the more promising route.

[suzanne4]

Even if it comes thru, you are not going to be able to be petitioned immediately. And it would need to be done within the next six weeks, since you are already past two weeks of time since your last class. And they go by last day of class, not the graduation date. If you overstay your visa, then there is no way that he will be able to petition you.

There is no attorney that can get all of the required documents ready in that amount of time; it is not just one document that needs to be filed, but an entire series of papers and they are never done just overnight.

You also do not get a document that will permit you to remain here while things are being processed if your visa has expired. You actually do not get a SSN# until after you are married and have completed your interviews as well, not sure if you are aware of this fact. It is not instant papers that let you remain here right away, the petition also needs to be processed first. The application alone will not permit you to remain here, and that is what I am not sure if you are aware of or not.

You need to be able to have a document that will permit you to remain here legally and that is not issued immediately. It usually takes several months to get done. Have you actually spoken to an attorney about all of this? I would highly recommend that you do that as soon as possible so that you will understand what the requirements are for you and what will need to be done.

Of course, you are not going to get a green card immediately, but you will need approval on the K-1 visa before you will be able to remain in the US and this is what is going to be impossible for you to do within the 45 days from now.