by puri

Hi!I hope you can enlightened me on this situation. Im here in the Philippines. I signed a contract with one of the hospital in US . Their HR personnel came to our country to recruit nurses who already had all the necessary credentials to work in US.It was last February and until now I have not yet recieved any notice of receipt from USCIS. Inspite of my constant communication with the agency representing the hospital, all they are saying is just to trust them and just wait because they already forwarded my papers to their lawyers.
Yesterday, I received a call from another agency offering me an RN-Job in US via an H-1C Visa. I told this agency that I already signed a contract with one of the hospital in US. But this agency offering me an H1-C visa said that it is possible to file simultaneously both the H1-C and Immigrant Visa. Do you have any comment on this?I would greatly appreciate any comments on this issue. Thank you so much

Re: H1-C and Immigrant Visa filed simultaneously?

Run as fast as you can from the one offering the H1-C visa, unless you want a very good chance at losing your license. Please refer to the other threads here about the H1-C. There are only about 15 facilities in the entire US that can recruit with that designation, and they are in areas that American nurses do not wish to work in for any reason. Safety would be my primary concern. We have seen agencies recruiting there and promising the H1-C, but in truth the facility usually does not even have that certification. Also suggest that you input the areas into the thread at the top of this forum about crime and see for yourself.

And to answer the rest of your question: Sure, you can have the H1-C and have an immigrant visa pending at the same time, BUT, these offers are from two different agencies. And since you have signed with the first, you will more than likely owe them a cancellation fee. I hate H1-C visas and would never in the world tell anyone to go thru that. What happens when the green cards become available, are you just going to walk away from your other contract? Not a good thing to do.

Next issue and the one that concerns me the most with these visas is what if they do not like you, or you do not like the facility? The agency has failed to tell you that you will only be able to get hired by another facility that has that designation, and that is not the easiest to do. Or you will have x-number of days from US immigration to leave the country. And they do not care if you have rent to pay, or that you bought a car.

And for another agency telling you that it is okay for you to sign with them, when you have already signed with another facility is not good business practice, and they are not being honest with you. If the facility where you got the H1-C from was petitioning you for the green card, then that is acceptable. But to use two different employers will only get you into trouble.
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You signed with an agency in February, 2007? You sent them your documents then, but do you realize that it is usually about a month before the immigration attorney gets the paperwork completed, and submitted? It is a huge stack of papers that need to be filed, as well as government documents that need to be submitted with the petition. If the file is not complete, then it gets returned and months get wasted. And since the retrogression went into effect, there have been lay-offs of the contract employees that do the processing at the centers, so things are taking longer.

Re: H1-C and Immigrant Visa filed simultaneously?

Thank you very much for your advice.Im glad that you take time to share your knowledge on the temptation that was recently offered to me.

Re: H1-C and Immigrant Visa filed simultaneously?

could anybody explain to me what are the different types of visa for nurses? i'm a little bit confused...

Re: H1-C and Immigrant Visa filed simultaneously?

Originally Posted by blabber

could anybody explain to me what are the different types of visa for nurses? i'm a little bit confused...

You may go to our International Nursing Forum. I have actually just posted links to 2 diff. threads about H1B visa and the H1C visa in a thread there. Please look for it there.

The green card is what is preferred by many and the H1B is simply not available until April next year and would be difficult as it means being randomly picked and no guarantees of approval for foreign-educated generalists nurses.

Hope this helps.

Re: H1-C and Immigrant Visa filed simultaneously?

ok lawrence..thank's!

Re: H1-C and Immigrant Visa filed simultaneously?

And as much as we keep hearing about H1-B visas for nurses, have not seen one approved for a bedside nurse in more than three years.

You see attorneys mentioning it, but it still requires an employer willing to go thru that, and hospitals are not doing it. Three full-time staff required for all of the paperwork.

And then it would be very hard to get even the job approved for it from immigration, it just is not happening. The attorney gets paid for submitting the paperwork, not if it goes thru or not. Makes no difference to many of them.