undocumented/illegal status: Student in the US, possible?

Maybe possibly find an employer that would be willing to help you adjust status? I've never heard of this law

I read the link that you posted, and it was very clear...you have to APPLY for legal status to stay in this country before you are eligible for the tuition benefits it describes.

The reason it doesn't say anything about a working student is because it appears that the link you posted refers to getting an education and that is not associated in any way with working.

You need to be legally working in the USA to make sure that anything you pay into social security is accounted for lifetime earnings, and any rights you may have in regards to unemployment should you lose your job.

Getting paid "off the books" does have disadvantages.

You are not going to be able to work in the USA legally until you get the proper paperwork to do so, and because of the nature of hospital work, background checks , etc...there may or may not be more stringent requirements for those that are majoring in the healthcare fields. The college would best be able to answer those questions.

My advice is to find an immigration lawyer and start the process immediately to becoming a legal resident. Hospitals will not under any circumstance, hire anyone without the proper legal authority to do so.

This does not pertain to you. You did not come to the US as a child with your family and that is what this is geared towards.

Please take the time to do things legally or it will turn around and bite you on the butt. Your best bet would be to complete your education in your country, and then come here as an RN.

On a student visa, you need to show proof that you have the funds for the tuition, as well as living expenses, and therefore it is not as easy to get a student visa to the US from many countries. As a student, you cannot work while in school initially, later on under the RN program, you can get the CPT, which will let you work up to 20 hours per week, but that is to get training, not to cover your living expenses, it will not.

And as the LPN, you cannot work legally...........you are looking for loop holes and we never recommend that.

The thing that you are overlooking is that she will not be able to get back into the US in the first place, so now way to come over illegally. She is out of the US, so it does not apply to her even if she could go back.

She must produce a valid visa to even get on the plane to come here, and by overstaying for years, it will be almost impossible to get.

If she left just as she became an adult, then she has a chance of getting another visa, but it would be easier if she went to nursing school in the Philippines and then applied for a green card. If she stayed after becoming of age, then she will not be able to get back for quite some time.

If she left at 18, then she should not have a problem qualifying for a visa for the US, but the AB 540 would not apply as she left the US. So she would be starting over with initial application..................but since she left when she turned 18, she has a much better chance, and should not be barred. But that is based on the fact that she left on her own and was not deported.

This question is an extended part of this topic:

Can ab540 students be eligible for any Nursing Programs?

The ADN and BSN programs I've taught in (not in California ...) did not have any special requirements (re: immigration status) any different from any other program in the college/university. I'm guessing that schools will be happy to let students attend school if they qualify otherwise (and collect the tuition $$$), and whether or not they'll legally be able to get licensed or work in the US after they graduate is the student's problem ...

I used to teach in a BSN program that required criminal background checks of the students as part of the admission process -- but only because the clinical facilities we used insisted on it. They did not turn down otherwise-qualified students because of a criminal background, and did not even counsel these students that they could expect to have problems getting licensed and might want to clarify their status with the BON before they put the time and $$$ into going to nursing school -- their rationale for this was that that was the student's responsibility, not the school's. As long as they got that tuition money, they were happy ...