About Retrogression

suzanne4, RN · Jul 31, 2008

The retrogression is not expected to be over for years. That means that all visas are current, and that is not going to happen.

The five years is the expected time at the earliest that one will have a chance at a green card, and I mean chance. Passing of the exams and even having an employer petition you does not guarantee that one will receive the green card. There are many more applicants than there are visas available per year.

If you are not already working in a paying job as an RN, highly recommend that you consider going to another country to get experience. No experience in nursing and it will be hard to get approval from the US Embassy for a visa.

dave787 · Jul 31, 2008

yes retrogression is the visa issue, i would like to comment i have lot of frineds who undergo already there interview the experience was not the issue at the US embassy , they were not asked about it, they were ask about the employer , how much the salary and did they pass there nclex, because some has just passed the cgfns and take the NCLEX i the US> so lets not generalize.

its my opinion ok

suzanne4, RN · Jul 31, 2008

Actually it has been for some and they did not get visas in your country as well because they did not have any experience. The officers that issue the visas are getting tighter on their requirements all over and we are expecting the US to go to having the current work experience requirement as almost every other country is doing.

All comes down to the official that is on duty that day as far as the interview goes. And with more and more applicants than there are visas, things can only be expected to get tighter. There is even a big push here in the US for states to require the NLE before they will grant permission to sit for the NCLEX and that is something new as well.

Look at it from the other side, if you will, and perhaps this will better explain it:

Lets say that you are the official that issues the visas and you have five that you can give out but you have 20 applications in front of you for only those five. Seven of the people have ten years of work experience in their country or another country, two have five years of experience out of the last four years, and then there are about 10 without any experience and have never worked one day as an RN since they gradauted five years ago. Who would you wish to grant a visa to?

And the other caveat to this is that we are starting to see employers cancel contracts when they are not going to have jobs for the nurses and these are usually the ones that do not have local experience. And if the contract gets cancelled, the nurse starts all over trying to find an employer, they cannot transfer the PD date.

So I stand 100% by what I wrote above and with very good reason. It also does not make one bit of difference as to who got thru before and has a visa, things are changing dramatically almost on a daily basis. The number of visas has not increased, the number of applicants has become explosive, and there are never going to be enough visas to go around. And with more applicants, then any government can become much more selective in who that will take, and the requirements are going to get more difficult.

Your choice as to what to do.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 31, 2008

I also do not make any of the rules for my government, I can only explain what we see happening here now.

And more and more are posting that they are getting their contracts cancelled, so there is truth in what I am posting.

dave787 · Jul 31, 2008

what i posted above was based on the experienced of my friend they were only ask about there employer and if they passed the nclex and after that the consul asked the visascreen thats it.

lost_stranger · Jul 31, 2008

Actually it has been for some and they did not get visas in your country as well because they did not have any experience. The officers that issue the visas are getting tighter on their requirements all over and we are expecting the US to go to having the current work experience requirement as almost every other country is doing.
All comes down to the official that is on duty that day as far as the interview goes. And with more and more applicants than there are visas, things can only be expected to get tighter. There is even a big push here in the US for states to require the NLE before they will grant permission to sit for the NCLEX and that is something new as well.
Look at it from the other side, if you will, and perhaps this will better explain it:
Lets say that you are the official that issues the visas and you have five that you can give out but you have 20 applications in front of you for only those five. Seven of the people have ten years of work experience in their country or another country, two have five years of experience out of the last four years, and then there are about 10 without any experience and have never worked one day as an RN since they gradauted five years ago. Who would you wish to grant a visa to?
And the other caveat to this is that we are starting to see employers cancel contracts when they are not going to have jobs for the nurses and these are usually the ones that do not have local experience. And if the contract gets cancelled, the nurse starts all over trying to find an employer, they cannot transfer the PD date.
So I stand 100% by what I wrote above and with very good reason. It also does not make one bit of difference as to who got thru before and has a visa, things are changing dramatically almost on a daily basis. The number of visas has not increased, the number of applicants has become explosive, and there are never going to be enough visas to go around. And with more applicants, then any government can become much more selective in who that will take, and the requirements are going to get more difficult.
Your choice as to what to do.

If experience is required to obtain a visa, then it should be clearly mentioned when the nurse applies for one along with the NCLEX / CGFNS and English language proficiency requirements. It seems arbitrary and unfair that the nurse may get rejected based on what day he or she has the interview or with which official.

Is there anyone here in the forum whose visa has been rejected for lack of current eperience?

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Jul 31, 2008

Although I do respect what Suzanne is saying, and I would like to think that our government doing it's job, but, on the other hand I've seen far too many foreign nurses who are coming over here (and continue to do so) and they don't have the English skills in order to function as a nurse. Yes, they did pass the English exam but, they still are lacking the written and speaking skills. There are patient charts that I've read that were poorly docummented, and I'd say that 85% of those were docummented by foreign nurses. IMO they need to also really be strict when it comes to the English language. A nurse should pass a college level English exam, not just a basic English exam. If we as citizens & legal residences of the US are required to pass college level English courses before we graduate from college, then the same should be expected of foreign nurses.

I'm all for foreign nurses coming over and getting a job, but the jobs need to be given to the residents and citizens of the US before foreign nurses who are still in the other country. There are far too many nursing grads here in the US who can't even find a job.

I'm still a little unclear about retrogression, but, from what little information I've gained here I'm fine with it.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 31, 2008

what i posted above was based on the experienced of my friend they were only ask about there employer and if they passed the nclex and after that the consul asked the visascreen thats it.

And again, this is what was happening in the past, but things are changing now and we are seeing more and more get contracts even cancelled by the employer.

You are speaking of one person, I am in contact with quite a few on a daily basis. Things are chaning drastically now from what was happening two years ago and this is the point that I am trying to make.

We are also seeing agencies cancelling contracts right and left because the facility is now only accepting someone with at least two years of experience. Remember that when an agency signs you, they have to have work for you, or they will cancel the contract. And they are doing that.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 31, 2008

If experience is required to obtain a visa, then it should be clearly mentioned when the nurse applies for one along with the NCLEX / CGFNS and English language proficiency requirements. It seems arbitrary and unfair that the nurse may get rejected based on what day he or she has the interview or with which official.
Is there anyone here in the forum whose visa has been rejected for lack of current eperience?

There are quite a few that have been posting lately that their employer backed out after they have been waiting for two years and they are having to start all over again.

We are expecting the US to change their requirements as they are currently about the only one that does not have expereience as being a requirement.

It has always been up to the person at the US Embassy on the date of the interview to make the final decision no matter the country, and this is what we are hearing. When someone has trained but has not had any experience in five years, and their training was not even the same as the US training, then it is going to be very hard for them to get thru. Applicants far exceeds the number of visas available per year.

People can turned back at the airports when they land in the US, just because they have a tourist visa, it does not mean that they are going to be admitted to the US when they arrive. That is what you hear of door-to-door and there is much mention of it on the Philippine Forum.

Any country has the right to do as they please and it is not for others to tell them who they need to grant a visa to, this happens with anything.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 31, 2008

A better way to respond would be that American trained nurses that have not had any current experience in the past five years are also finding diffiuculties in getting hired, employers want to see current work experience now, and this is even more important when you trained in another country.

Why should they pay $10,000 to bring someone over that has never worked in the field as a nurse, nor is even skilled in being able to work from day one when they start.

In the Philippines, the nurses are not even responsible for doing a head to toe assessment on their patient on a daily basis, in the US you are required to do so, and that means listening to heart tones and breath sounds and being able to document what you are hearing as a start.

lost_stranger · Aug 1, 2008

US must impose essential criteria for immigration of nurses so as to protect its citizens and if they find the requirements lacking in some respect they should update it as and when it is required. BUT the requirement should be mentioned clearly at the outset along with the various CGFNS , NCLEX and English language proficiency requirements. To leave the nurse at the mercy of the consular official who decides suddenly that so many years of experience is required by HIM to accept the nurse is ridiculous; one may decide that current nursing experience is essential while 2 years experience in a period of 3 years maybe good enough for another one. Some may consider proficiency in English more important than years of experience and if we apply the theory of "more applicants than visas" then maybe a score of 6.5 is not good enough anymore as there are a lot of7 and 7.5 scorers around.

All I am saying is that the fresh graduate also spends hard earned money, time and effort on the various exams and other requirements to be eligible to work as a nurse and immigrate to US and if experience is required (even though the employer does not require it) it should be made evident to her at the outset itself, seems unfair to me to wait up till the interview to inform her that she was never eligible in the first place, almost like actively punishing the nurse for the having the temerity to apply for a US visa inspite of being a fresh graduate. If new requirements are necessary then it should be introduced transparently and without retroactive effect.

This is just my opinion of course, the US can use whatever methods it deems fit to filter the entrants into its borders but it need not be fair.