Filipino RN with US Tourist visa

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hi there,

assuming you take BSN in manila and will be fortunate enough to pass the IELTS, NCLEX etc.

would it be easier to find a job in California? I mean to pass the exam, travel to the US for a vacation at the same time send your resume to various US hospitals and hope for an interview? (not expecting to work right away) I know that they will still have to petition you and go thru the normal immigration process to obtain your permanent residency. Then fly back to manila while waiting?

basically does it help to have a US tourist visa?

Thanks!

Specializes in Medical-Surgical.
oh that's why.. my case took place in 2005 (before the retrogression). i guess that's why things went smooth for me. i am so sorry. it is not my intention to give out wrong information. i just wanted to share my experience. please accept my sincere apologies.

i guess i was just lucky (i was at the right place at the right time with the right resources).

oh, and by the way, my mother (also a California RN) got her Green Card in 3 months. that was in 2006 (the petition was filed in late April 2006, she received her Green Card in the mail in early August 2006) . she also came here on a US Tourist Visa.

bottom line--- different people have different experiences with regards to US Immigration. so please do not generalize. what happened to us may not necessarily happen to you.

good luck to everyone! i wish you the best in all your endeavors!

Retrogression set in during October 2006 and your mother was lucky.

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thank you for sharing your experince rookie_rn. lucky you, it is my dream to work in the Bay area......looks like nursing runs in your family, good for you... thank you also for the usual regulars who also point out the possible consequences in case of worse case scenarios... THIS FORUM ROCKS!!! :) I LOVE IT!!!

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Specializes in ICU.

hello,i have a friend who took all the exam here in the philippines.she is lucky because she has tourist visa. after passing the exam,she went to us and was able to work there. i think they consulted lawyer and was able to practice. she is to be exact 8 months now working there.so i think you can still work there. i'm just basing this with my friends experience.

nope. you need a proper paperworks in order to find a job in the u.s. they don't hire people with tourist visa. they will ask you a proof that you are allowed to work in the u.s., such as ssn, a green card, or alien card, and your us r.n. license. if you wish to do that anyways, why not apply online? most hospitals would rather point you to their websites, and apply there, you can send your resume online too. if you know how to cut and paste, try that. save your tourist visa for touring...save your money too, on airfare. i know people have done that from the past, yet they get turned down because of not having proper paperworks. goodluck.
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Hello,i have a friend who took all the exam here in the Philippines.She is lucky because she has tourist visa. After passing the exam,she went to US and was able to work there. I think they consulted lawyer and was able to practice. She is to be exact 8 months now working there.So I think you can still work there. I'm just basing this with my friends experience.

With all due respect but you are missing the point. The issue is not that it can't be done but when filing for Adj. of Status (AOS), and EAD is viable. Right now filing of AOS and EAD is on hold as there is nothing to adjust to as there are no more visas, hence, retrogression.

8 mos. ago would mean she filed her I-140, AOS and EAD when there is still visas for Schedule A workers. Retrogression officially started last Nov 1, 2006 and filing of AOS and EAD are on hold naturally as there are no visa to adjust to and hence forth anyone coming to the US during retrogression via Tourist Visa and reportedly working would only mean one thing: they are working under the table.

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And the ones that are doing that, if caught, will be deported and not permitted to return to the US for ten years. And without a SSN#, no license in many cases, therefore practicing without a license and that means jail time on top of that. And never being able to practice as an RN in any state in the US.

Something that those that are guilty of this need to consider.

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Hello Everyone,

I was in immigration court on Monday this week... PLEASE listen to what Suzanne has written. Immigration had lost the file for the person I was there with... they had stopped the car and expired papers, no papers, they don't care... they pick you up and put you in detention and track down your status while your in custody.....waiting...

I personally saw people in court on Monday and some were working illegally and others claimed not to be working...

One young lady had come from the Philppines on a tourist visa, spent the night in the care home (in Los Angeles) and ICE (immigration) raided the place the following day. She has spent 3 weeks in detention... They are raiding nursing homes, care homes and many other businesses. The employer is not going to take responsibility, they will say that you lied about your status and paper work... you are the one held responsible for working illegally... You will be put in with criminals ( because working illegally is a crime) You will be the one deported and banned. You can be and will be charged for working as a nurse without license. Do it right it is not worth the pain and experiences....

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Specializes in ER, Telemetry, Transport Nursing.

Guess that says it all.

Hello Everyone,

I was in immigration court on Monday this week... PLEASE listen to what Suzanne has written. Immigration had lost the file for the person I was there with... they had stopped the car and expired papers, no papers, they don't care... they pick you up and put you in detention and track down your status while your in custody.....waiting...

I personally saw people in court on Monday and some were working illegally and others claimed not to be working...

One young lady had come from the Philppines on a tourist visa, spent the night in the care home (in Los Angeles) and ICE (immigration) raided the place the following day. She has spent 3 weeks in detention... They are raiding nursing homes, care homes and many other businesses. The employer is not going to take responsibility, they will say that you lied about your status and paper work... you are the one held responsible for working illegally... You will be put in with criminals ( because working illegally is a crime) You will be the one deported and banned. You can be and will be charged for working as a nurse without license. Do it right it is not worth the pain and experiences....

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Hi rookie rn! i read your story about having tourist visa and working everything up all your papers there. Did you took the local board exam here in the philippines before flying to California? I graduated 10 years ago and never practiced nursing. After years of working outside the nursing profession i felt the need to go back but i haven't taken the local board exam. i have friends back in college who never took also the local board, went straight there, applied for NCLEX and was given the eligibility to take by BON of CA. they passed and luckily processed their papers. In my case i processed my NCLEX application and fortunately the BON of CA gave me the eligibility to take the exam without local board here. I passed nclex recently last july. I am now working on my ielts review and exam. It's not that i want to take this step illegally but people have different needs with different situations, I am in this very position to really get there soon for a deep purpose. I do not want to take the local board anymore and just want to work things out starting from my nclex and ielts, will these two plus the other credentials minus the local board will give me hope to find an employer there who will sponsor me. please enlighten me i badly need to go.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi rookie rn! i read your story about having tourist visa and working everything up all your papers there. Did you took the local board exam here in the philippines before flying to California? I graduated 10 years ago and never practiced nursing. After years of working outside the nursing profession i felt the need to go back but i haven't taken the local board exam. i have friends back in college who never took also the local board, went straight there, applied for NCLEX and was given the eligibility to take by BON of CA. they passed and luckily processed their papers. In my case i processed my NCLEX application and fortunately the BON of CA gave me the eligibility to take the exam without local board here. I passed nclex recently last july. I am now working on my ielts review and exam. It's not that i want to take this step illegally but people have different needs with different situations, I am in this very position to really get there soon for a deep purpose. I do not want to take the local board anymore and just want to work things out starting from my nclex and ielts, will these two plus the other credentials minus the local board will give me hope to find an employer there who will sponsor me. please enlighten me i badly need to go.

Ca requires a local board exam for foreign nurses. Plus you can not go to the US and expect to adjust your status as retrogression means there are no visas to adjust. This is over 12 months old and things are always changing with visas and immigration. Some states do not require the local board and will allow you to apply for licensure but expect that to change as employers will expect some nursing experience especially if it takes several years to get a visa

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Hi! thanks for the enlightenment. i guess my friends were lucky before for they were sponsored even without the local board. i guess i just have to give up with this endeavor. too bad, i gave my all to my nclex review and exam, spent a lot of my time and money ending up with nothing. Still, i am hoping that God will give me a way for i truly want to go back not for the money but for the reason of finding that sense of fulfilment and filling up the holes in my heart by wanting to get near to the person so dear to me whom i never spent my life with that's why it has to be there in California. hope that retrogression will be soon over and if should there be chances again, hope God will give it to those who truly deserve and those who really has the heart to nurse people in need of love and care. thanks and more power to this community.

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There are more and more applicants from your country and the number of visas available per year has not increased, nor is it going to increase. So the chance of even being able to get a visa is going down on an almost daily basis.

CA requires the local license and we are expecting the US government to require it as well in the near future, same as almost every other foreign country.

With the economy getting so bad here, it is going to be much tougher for most employers to be able to carry thru on a contract of employment. Even if one gets a contract now, it does not mean that there is a guarantee of work in the future. And without work being available, then the petitions get cancelled by the US government. Realize that you are speaking of five years plus from now.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Orthopedics.

There were batchmates of mine who already had tourist visa when we graduated last 2005. They took the NCLEX ASAP in the US and actually adjust their status afterwards. They are now working as RNs mostly in california and new york. Good for them.

Those of us who didn't had tourist visas worked our way through the long route. We got caught on this retrogression thing and many of us are still waiting it out for the retrogression to open. We'll wait it out for the legal process to push through.

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