packet 3 and retrogression for nurses

[sweet_nurse]

hello everyone..hope anyone would answer my question regarding retrogression and packet 3. we all knew that there is a retrogression and the cut off date was on october 1 2005. my priority date was on july 7 2006. i emailed NVC 2 days ago to inquire for my case if they already received my packet 3. they said that the documents was received on october 3 2006 and assigned a case number MNL2006XXXXXX and they started reviewing it november 3 2006. NVC also told me that the expected processing time to completely reviewed my documents is 2-4 weeks.im just wondering if they will issue a packet 4 after they had finished reviewing it even if my priority date not current or will NVC hold my case and wait for the visa to become available before they will issue appointment package? thank you c",)

God Bless

sweet_nurse

[paul_david_hewson]

All we have to do is wait for the Congress to pass a bill that will alleviate the issue of numerical limits for nurses.

[damuh_yuzah]

thanks for the reply. i'm just concerned with a couple of issues. first, if i do look for another recruiter, can my current recruiter file a case against me? i have not given him any original documents, only photocopies. i did however sign a contract with him stating that he can officially represent me with regards to finding an employer. i have yet to sign any official documents with regards to an employer. i'd also like to ask as to what should i do with regards to my NCLEX. i passed my NCLEX in the state of california, it's requiring me to provide a social security number. how do i obtain one and what should i do when it expires? the BON has given me three years to provide one, will my NCLEX be nullified when i fail to provide a SSN?could you also give me pointers on how to find recruitment agencies which i could trust. what should i look for and what questions should i be asking? thank you.

[suzanne4, RN]

First, you may want to consider cancelling the contract that you signed. Most important thing is that the recruiter is giving you incorrect advice. You could be just waiting for the interview if things were submitted for you, and they can be.

And not sure why you signed with a recruiter if they are not an employer? You are just going to be paying them a large fee out of your salary. I suggest that you get out of that immediately.

You will not get a SSN# until you are actually in the US and have documents that prove that you can legally work here. You need to apply for it in person in the Social Security Administration office.

The NCLEX is an exam, the score will remain yours. If the three years pass, and you are not in the US, then you will just need to reapply to CA again, but you will not need to take the exam again.

And you will not have a license to endorse from CA to another state until you give them a SSN#.

[rhp123]

Do you think the what the article says is still true today?

As far as I know, US nursing schools are full of applicants and there are often long lines of waiting list. Nurses make very good money compared to other professions. And there are many 2nd degree programs.

There are debates whether nursing shortage really exist. To have nursing shortage is to the Union's benefits, so they could ask for better pays and benefits. However, to recruit foreign nurses is against their interests.

US immigration law sets quota to each country, they don't like to see huge percent of immigrants all come from one particular country.

Please click and read this article. I read it and found it helpfull for those nurses like me who are losing hope because of retrogression. juz keep your faith and cross ur fingers colleages..

http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=1801&wit_id=5708

[rossario]

December 2006 Visa Bulletin is out!!! Schedule A unavailabe.

Are the congress starting to discuss this problem now that the election is over? Any news if there's already a discussion among the congress meeting?

[suzanne4, RN]

Schedule A is going to be unavailable for some time. Please take the time to do some reading. Sure, we just had an election, but the new people elected will not start work until January.............

Do not expect anything to be done before March, and then it takes three months for anything to go into effect, it is never instantaneous when it comes to visas. So do not expect anything to open up until next summer if you are from one of the countries where the wait for a vsa far outnumbers the amount of visas that become available each quarter.

[rossario]

Thanks Suzanne for the prompt reply, may I know what is a lame duck session? I heard it says that there's a a chance for the congress to enact the SKIL Bill during the lame duck session.

[FutureRNRo]

Hello, Suzanne!

I've been doing some reading on this and other forums, so I hope my question is not redundant, although I have seen you give this explanation before and no one asked for details....so, here it is: you said no of visas are "recalculated" every quarter, next quarter begins January. How can this affect someone from an european country that doesn't have by far a lot of GC petitions? Does it mean that I can get a visa no before the congress acts on schedule A profession,or that after retrogression is lifted my turn will come faster...I hope I made myself clear. Thank you very much for this answer and all your well documented explanations on this forum!

[velv]

to sweet nurse; hi suzanne4!

quote: "i wonder why u got ur gc early. im so envy..hahaha..hahaha"

- please don't be envious; mine is an apple while yours is a sweet orange.

"how long have u been there in us and what state? are u a tourist before". been here since 1999, in the great state of ct. never been a tourist in the u.s. (outside u.s. - yes, absolutely!). i came to the u.s. as a grad student (f1) in one of the ivy leagues, then worked for a while with my alma mater (h1b), then shifted back to f1 as a nursing student. so actually, the gc process that i have undergone was much longer than yours - imagine, since 1999 until only recently (ha!ha!).

"dont want my papers be transferred in eb3 category which currently processing with priority date of july 2002". as far as i know (and suzanne4 mentioned this in her previous post somewhere), employment-based petition for nurses is only under eb3 category (unless you qualify either in eb1 or eb2 or h1b - i'm just assuming based on the evidence you presented in this forum). however, if you are schedule a (which you are!...and "sweet" at that), labor certification is not anymore required, otherwise the application process and/or the agony of waiting will be prolonged. and as of nov/06 visa bulletin, eb3-schedule a priority date retrogressed to 01oct05. you will be automatically categorized as "plain" eb3 (priority date 01jul02-this sucks!) only if schedule a designation will be phased out, which i tend to believe will not happen for the next 10 years. recently, there seems to be a lot of interest among the locals here in joining a nursing program, unfortunately, slots are limited due to the lack of faculty. it's tough to get a faculty position in us universities and colleges. the minimum requirement is a masters (in nursing!) in community colleges while phd in universities. as far as i know - here in ct, the state bon will not even allow you to supervise clinicals if you don't have an msn. and in clinicals, the faculty to nurse student ratio is strictly and highly regulated; normally 1:6; at most 1:8. but the irony is that, a 10 year veteran staff nurse (with certification credentials) in acute care-hospital setting (and especially those travel nurses) has a take home pay much higher than a nursing faculty in colleges. so---- don't worry about retrogression - it will end soon. the situation is really stressful (personally, with my own experience here) working on the floor with limited nurses.

"all i need to do now is to study and focus for my nclex. my exam is near will take this january 3 in hk". exactly! be smart, don't agonize. i supposed you are a cg passer, since you have a pending eb3 petition. well according to cg, 95% of those who passed the cg passed the nclex. but it really depends on how you prepare for the exam; if you know your stuff - i don't think it's a problem. here's a website http://online.medspub.com/meds/index.aspx in case you need some more nclex review materials. this is an online review (though a bit expensive but worthy). this was the review that was forced upon us by my alma mater in nursing (the college automatically charged this to my tuition) just to make sure that we will do our own follow-up review. i only did my review with this online material + a nursing & allied health encyclopedia for a month; i practiced 100qs/day (no more time to read textbooks or other review materials - i was in a hurry so i could beat the retrogression cut-off date). nclex will test you how safe a nurse you are. that's the only thing i can tell you about nclex - it's against the law to share more than the above info in whatever means.

finally, good luck with your nclex in hk; enjoy shopping afterwards! don't hesitate to pm me if you need more info/clarification - i'll try to reply based on what i know and on what i had undergone. but suzanne4 is the best resource; she gives you info - bulls eye! machu_pichu.

hi machu_pichu,

since you used up your opt time for your first degree, how did you managed to get aos within 60 days grace period? did you have something else to fall back upon? or did you have opt from msn degree?

thanks,

velv

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Hi Machu_pichu,

Since you used up your OPT time for your first degree, how did you managed to get AOS within 60 days grace period? did you have something else to fall back upon? or did you have OPT from MSN degree?

thanks,

velv

Whilst using OPT they was probably able to go through AOS which at the moment is not available due to retrogression.

Looking back they managed to get processed quickly before retrogression started and have been in the US for a while. At the moment everyone is caught up in retrogression even foreign nurses who trained in the US

[machu_pichuRN]

To: Velv

I like your (smart) question. Just PM me. Please include what's your current status in the U.S. and your email address so I could attach the US immig ref/document r/t my case. But I must tell you, my case is only in effect if visas are currently available and the petitionee did not violate any U.S. immigration law. If you are still on OPT or on F1 non-immig status, my case might be useful to you-if and only if, within 6 months (180 days) after expiration of your 60-day grace period, EB (1-3) visas become current then, or there will be a separate visa category (like Sched A) that will benefit foreign-born nurses.

Machu_pichu

Hi Machu_pichu,

Since you used up your OPT time for your first degree, how did you managed to get AOS within 60 days grace period? did you have something else to fall back upon? or did you have OPT from MSN degree?

thanks,

velv