Emergency Nurse Relief Act 2009- Update

First of all what does it matter if I am from the moon? Are you seeking to nullyfy my argument purely based on that you think I am a Brit? Also, having a British mommy neither makes you an authority on Britain nor its foreign policy. In fact, I guarantee you have no idea how many countries Britain has formal open immigration policies with. From your accusation, of them having a jingoistic immigration policy, you essentially think there are none. Wrong-o my little friend.

Any crackpot with internet access can post an article that would come up in a Google search. Try searching for one's that claim Elvis still lives or that alien abductions happen. Your sources are skewed. The information that this government gets is information based of census data and that which is supplied by our own profession (hence my suggestion that you look for your own BONs white paper on this subject). Now if you reject out of hand the reasoning for bringing nurses from abroad because don't trust our profession (BONs and similar) and you don't trust the government, fine. But your scope of data collection for your argument (uncited google sources and "friends of mine") hardly move me to even consider your opinion has merit.

You still did not address how American nurses better serve culturally. Serve who better, culturally? And how (specifically)?

Thank God for foreign nurses because they prevent us from having to hire some of the dross out there out of sheer desperation.

I agree with you, that is why congress has a bill to increase fundings to US Colleges for Nursing Education. More US citizens and legal residents can attend school and be it the wing when there are funded positions. These American Nurses will be able to fill the gaping wound.

I gather since you are an EX-Pat and currently do not pay taxes, you maybe unaware how bad the situation is now.

If you know of hospitals that are hiring you would be doing service to post. I check the link you gave before, the positions I saw were per diem and for highly experience nurses.

I am sorry you don't like some of our newbie nursing grads but that is not a reason to hand out visas like candy.

I think everyone has made really good points in this thread. What concerns me with a visa that ties up one's employment to only one specific sponsor is that the foreign nurse can be at risk for unfair labor practices that many nurses in this thread have mentioned. We can all cite the fact that the employer will guarantee that the foreign nurse will be paid the same salary as the market rate in the area but that's only the tip of the iceberg. The employer can easily subject the hired foreign nurse to high patient to nurse ratios, long work hours by mandating overtime, unmanageable patient acuity, and the list can go on. This is reality and employers can get away with this as there is no law protecting the nurse in some localities and even practice settings such as nursing homes.

The poor foreign nurse is then left with no other option but to oblige to the employer's whims for fear of having the visa taken away and the nurse being deported back or having to hide and stay in the US illegally. What I figure would happen are three things: the foreign nurse will eventually leave the employer once the visa is expired and not renewed, or the foreign nurse will find a better employer who will sponsor, or the foreign nurse gets an immigrant visa and leaves the employer to work anywhere else. It then becomes a vicious cycle - the next batch of foreign nurse recruits come and endure horrible working conditions and nothing gets resolved as to why these sponsoring employers could not keep any nursing staff for a long period of time.

I think everyone has made really good points in this thread. What concerns me with a visa that ties up one's employment to only one specific sponsor is that the foreign nurse can be at risk for unfair labor practices that many nurses in this thread have mentioned. We can all cite the fact that the employer will guarantee that the foreign nurse will be paid the same salary as the market rate in the area but that's only the tip of the iceberg. The employer can easily subject the hired foreign nurse to high patient to nurse ratios, long work hours by mandating overtime, unmanageable patient acuity, and the list can go on. This is reality and employers can get away with this as there is no law protecting the nurse in some localities and even practice settings such as nursing homes.

The poor foreign nurse is then left with no other option but to oblige to the employer's whims for fear of having the visa taken away and the nurse being deported back or having to hide and stay in the US illegally. What I figure would happen are three things: the foreign nurse will eventually leave the employer once the visa is expired and not renewed, or the foreign nurse will find a better employer who will sponsor, or the foreign nurse gets an immigrant visa and leaves the employer to work anywhere else. It then becomes a vicious cycle - the next batch of foreign nurse recruits come and endure horrible working conditions and nothing gets resolved as to why these sponsoring employers could not keep any nursing staff for a long period of time.