RN without SSN or work permit

Working in any form requires that you have a legal visa to be able to work here; wishing to do so as an independent contractor is not exempt from this requirement. It is grounds for getting you immediately deported if caught, and sent to immigration detention until processed which is essentially a jail that is attached to federal prisons and you are kept in a cell. You do not get to chose your roommates either.

And to vlounteer, it requires that you be sponsored for a specific visa for that as well, coming here on a tourist visa does not permit one to volunteer for more than two weeks or so without special approval from the US government as well.

You have no choice but to leave the US, as there are no visas available and we do not expect any for quite sometime for the AOS route. There is no way that you can get work experience in the US without having a visa that will permit you to work. Please do not try to do things illegally for your safety.

And with how things are with immigration at this time, staying over one day and you are subject to being deported; ICE is not going to ask how you entered the US, but the fact that nothing would be current. And the other major factor is that if not current, there would be no way to adjust to something if visas were available.

Have a safe flight home.

Yes, she was admitted here on a tourist visa, not a work visa. So yes she is out of status, but also she is here illegally. Now that's neither here nor there. Now my question is how is someone allowed to obtain an education here who doesn't have legal residence status? Here in California you have to state if you're a citizen, legal resident or here on a student visa before they admit you. So did this person lie on their college application? There are stiff penalties for ones who lie on the college application. How were they able to pay for school? If you're not a resident of the state then you have to pay out of state tuition which can mean $$$$. Since she's not living here legally her education might be worthless until she can get it fixed. A friend of mine wasn't allowed to finish college (we went to college together) until he got his legal resident card fixed. He had let it expire and it took him about a year to fix it. Once he fixed it then he was able to finish school and obtain his Bachelors degree in Marketing. I don't see how she can get a work visa as a foreigner and work as a nurse when you need a BSN. Would it be possible for her to get legal residency period and work as a nurse with an ADN degree? I do know that in order for you to work here you would need a social security number and you have to show legal residency. My mom has her US citizenship and for work purposes they have asked to see it.

I also read somewhere (can't remember if it was on this board or if it was in the local newspaper) that there was this woman who had graduated from nursing school and wasn't able to work as a nurse because she wasn't a legal resident. Her education was worthless because she wasn't able to take it back with her nor was she able to use it here. She needed that social security number and legal status which she didn't have.

Even if you volunteer, I don't see how they will let a person even with a RN license volunteer and not look into the legal status. Usually even if you're a volunteer they will still 1. do a background check 2. ask for legal status. It will be a liability for a facility to let one volunteer as a nurse, I just don't see it happening. Even if you're able to volunteer as a nurse and get experience as a volunteer, once you get your immigrant status fixed and you apply for a job. Do you think the facility isn't going to question why you volunteered vs working as an RN? How would you think the facility would view you if you told them the truth that you came here on a tourist visa, broke the law and stayed to obtain an education? Then again, how would you look in their eyes if you "lie" on the application and someone found out who worked there and brought you in for questioning? Which lying on an application is grounds for termination.

If you do things the wrong way, then obviously you're stuck and it's going to be hard to get out of that jam. If you abide by the rules and wait your turn, then things will work more smoothly. Patience is a virtue. Good luck and hope things work out in your favor.

People are also admitted on student visas.

Yes, they are, but she wasn't. She can't go back and get a student visa or can she? At least to finish up her BSN or something.

How do you know that? I just re-read her post and see nothing about how she came to be in this country.

She said she came on a tourist visa. Or did I read it wrong? If I read it wrong, I'm sorry.

This isn't her original post, I can see how you missed this. It was a few posts down from the original.

You are in much bigger trouble than if you had crossed the border illegally, in which case you would not have had an agreement with the US government. Instead you made an agreement that in exchange for granting you a visitor visa you would return to your home country within 6 months. You broke your word and essentially cannot be trusted. Today Homeland Security wants to keep tight track of all nonimmigrants, particularly after 9/11 and you have also violated security. No matter what education you get, no board of nursing will issue you a license. All new applicants for a license go through an extensive background check, including full fingerprint check, and even an unpaid parking ticket can be cause for refusal of a license. Most places that accept volunteers would also want to run a background check. Imagine letting in to a hospital a thief of drug abuser under the guise of being a volunteer!

No matter how much family you have here, if you are caught you will be deported, and whether you will ever be allowed back into the US within 3 or 10 years will depend entirely on the consulate in your home country. Most likely they will deny you since there are too many people applying that do not violate their status. No matter how long you live in the US, you will never be eligible for Social Security or Medicare or other government benefits. If you ever decide to go back to visit your home country, you will be refused admission if you try to come back.

In past decades the US has occasionally granted amnesty to illegal aliens, that is people that have crossed the border into the US illegally. The amnesty has NEVER been applied to those out of status, meaning those that entered the US legally and then overstayed their visa.

Your problem is that even if you go and get the BSN, or even the MSN; you are not going to be able to get a job and work in the US. You cannot adjust a visa that you do not have even if there were visas available. And passports are not given out for life either, so has the one that you came here with expired as well?

Best suggestion that anyone can make to you is to leave the US and apply thru Consular Processing to be able to return and work here as a nurse.

If you get stopped for any reason, even if in a taxi or on a bus, you can be asked for ID and papers to prove that you are legal here. If you do not have them and cannot prove it, ICE does not care. We have seen people that have let green cards expire get deported, the government here does not want to hear a story.

But the fact is also that you attended school here and even though you paid tuition, the rest of it was paid by tax dollars here and without a SSN#, then you are not paying taxes.

You came to ask for advice and we are giving it. What you decide to to with it is up to you. But there is no way under any conditions that you will be able to work in any form in the US without having legal documentation to do so, and any employer that would offer you something can also get charged and receive heavy fines because of it as well.

And it is for this very reason that many states have gone to the requirement of the nurse possessing the SSN# before they will issue a license to them.