Adjusting from TN to Green Card

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 19, 2007

Just wondering if anyone out there has advice for me...
I am a Canadian Citizen working as a RN for a large Georgia hospital under a TN visa. I graduated from a Georgia Nursing school, I have a Georgia RN license, as well as a a valid CGFNS/Visascreen certificate.
My employer is willing to sponsor me for a green card, as long as I cover the fees.
I am wondering if I can go from TN to green card or if I need to adjust to another type of work visa first.
Also, does anyone have a good immigration lawyer to recommend in the Atlanta area?
Thanks a million!

you can go from TN to green card but there are no visas at the moment to adjust, I would check out the international forum

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 19, 2007

Like silverdragon102 said, you'll find what you're looking for in the International Nursing forum. There are about a dozen stickies there covering your questions. suzanne4 is a mod over there and she's the go-to gal for all of those kinds of issues. This forum is more for nurses wanting to know about nursing issues IN or related to Canada.

lalaxton · Sep 27, 2007

I did go from TN to a green card. My employer also sponsored me and I covered my fees. You absolutely need to find an immigration lawyer, makes the process much, much simpler and worth the money for less aggravation. Sorry I don't know one in the Atlanta area.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 28, 2007

Currently, there are no visas available for you to adjust to. You can only get as far as the I-140 being submitted and approved, but not a thing further. The US has been under a retrogression since October 31 of last year.

There was an open window of opportunity in July, but if that was not met, you are looking at probably a couple of years. There were more that 300,000 petitions for the I-485 accepted then when there were no visas available at that time. There are only 140,000 under the EB-3 per year that are issued by the US for all that want the green card and are employer driven. That is also not just for nurses but even those in the US in other professions on the H1-B visa as well.

Getting the I-140 approval, does not give you anything, it does not permit you to adjust your status; if the I-485 is not being accepted, then there is nothing further that can be done.

We do not expect the AOS procedures to open up again for a couple of years. One thing to take into account is that it is not an automatic guarantee any longer that if you attend school in the US that you will be able to remain and get the green card. You are one of the lucky ones in the fact that you can work here under the TN Visa, but most are not.

Another word of advice, you do not need to use an immigration attorney out of Atlanta. Would recommend one that also specializes in nurses, not all are aware of the requirements that need to be met.

kimsnothome · Sep 30, 2007

Suzanne, are there any specific immigration lawyers with a nursing specialty that you would recommend?

Thank you!

Kim

Another word of advice, you do not need to use an immigration attorney out of Atlanta. Would recommend one that also specializes in nurses, not all are aware of the requirements that need to be met.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 30, 2007

There are many attorneys that specialize in nurses, but the fact is that there are no visas available at this time, and we do not expect the AOS to open up again for quite awhile. They just accepted over 300,000 petitions last month, and have not even started to go thru them and get them processed to start off with.

Would not recommend doing anything with an attorney at this time, it will not be beneficial at this time, not until we know how things are going to turn out. But the fact that only 140,000 green cards are given out per year to all means that it will be a wait.

Leave things as they are from now, there is nothing that can be done any further at all for you since the I-485 cannot be submitted.

smartgroup · Oct 2, 2007

Currently, there are no visas available for you to adjust to. You can only get as far as the I-140 being submitted and approved, but not a thing further. The US has been under a retrogression since October 31 of last year.
Getting the I-140 approval, does not give you anything, it does not permit you to adjust your status; if the I-485 is not being accepted, then there is nothing further that can be done.

Hi everyone.

I am in the same situation. I would like to submit for I-140 but I am concern that I can not renew my yearly TN since TN is temporary vs I-140 permanent status intent. Am I thinking correctly?

Thx in advance