International nursing students in the US

World Immigration

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For those of you that are studying in the US under either an F-1 visa, or any other where you do not have permission to work, and will need to apply for a green card when you finish your schooling-----this is for you.

You must meet all of the requirements for immigration that a foreign-trained nurse does, the only exception that you have is that the English requirements are waived for you. You still need to submit the application and get a Visa Screen Certificate. This is offered by CGFNS and the application is available on their website, http://www.CGFNS.org. There is only one application available, whether you did your training in the US, or overseas.

You will still need to find an employer that will petition for your green card. You will still need to undergo a physical exam at a physician's office that is approved by USCIS an have verification of all titers and vaccinations. If you do not have verifiable proof of having had chicken pox, etc., you will need to have either a titer drawn, or receive the vaccination. Immigration is very strict now with this, they will no longer go on what you are verbally telling them.

Hope that this helps...............most of you will also be able to get an OPT for one year of training while your documents are being processed, but you can only receive the OPT once, especially if this is now a second career for you, and you already used your OPT status for the other.

If you are coming to the US just for the MSN, and already have a BSN from overseas, you will be required to write the English exams. You are only exempt from them if this is your initial training as a nurse, meaning ADN or BSN only.

Thanks.Is the retrogression with all countries?I qualify for OPT and have currently filed for that.Thanks

All nurses wishing to work in the US are currently under retrogression. You are fortunate that you have the OPT, without that you would not be working when you graduated.

But this facility cannot start the process of petitioning you until you have passed the NCLEX, no matter what they tell you. Just to clear that up.

thanx suzanne! i'm a bit disheartened that i'll lose this opportunity. but i believe life has more in store for me

:) enjoy the summer!

thanx suzanne! i'm a bit disheartened that i'll lose this opportunity. but i believe life has more in store for me

:) enjoy the summer!

Not all things work the way that we want them to. Sometimes there are little snags that jump up, but you then get longer legs and go over them. Just because this facility does not work out, does not mean that there are not others out there waiting.

I have get an assosiate degree of nursing in China , Nclex passed , Ielts passed (overoll 6.5 speaking 7) but i do not want to wait in China because of the retrogression. So i am planing to pursue the bachelor degree of nursing in US. I am here to ask is that feasible i apply for the greencard when i hold the F1 visa, certainly i will keep study in campus during that time. I will spend 28months to finish the degree full time. Is there anybody know this?? Thank you.

I have get an assosiate degree of nursing in China , Nclex passed , Ielts passed (overoll 6.5 speaking 7) but i do not want to wait in China because of the retrogression. So i am planing to pursue the bachelor degree of nursing in US. I am here to ask is that feasible i apply for the greencard when i hold the F1 visa, certainly i will keep study in campus during that time. I will spend 28months to finish the degree full time. Is there anybody know this?? Thank you.

You will need to be petitioned by an employer, there is nothing that you can do in terms of getting the green card. As long as the retrogression is in place, there is not anything that can be done other than the I-140 petition submitted.

Next issue is that if you are in school full-time, when there are visas available; you will not be able to work full-time, and that is going to be required by your employer.

And next question for you, if you have enough training in your country that you were able to take the NCLEX-RN exam, then it should not take you 28 months to get your BSN. Something is not adding up correctly there.

You will need to be petitioned by an employer, there is nothing that you can do in terms of getting the green card. As long as the retrogression is in place, there is not anything that can be done other than the I-140 petition submitted.

Next issue is that if you are in school full-time, when there are visas available; you will not be able to work full-time, and that is going to be required by your employer.

And next question for you, if you have enough training in your country that you were able to take the NCLEX-RN exam, then it should not take you 28 months to get your BSN. Something is not adding up correctly there.

Well, i don't think i need 28 months either, i will talk with the school. Thanks

About greencard, there's two conditions:

1. If the immigration visas are available before my graduation, is that mean i have changed the status from F1? so can i go to work full time then change the school to part time?

2. If the retrogression is still there even after i have get the BSN, and i have submit the I-140 before, is that mean i also loose the chance to apply H1B and OPT(I will work in campus for 20hours per week as a GA position, can i apply for OPT)

So if you were me, will you take the risk? Will your country issue other visas to nurse EVERY YEAR just like 50000 visas last year? What's the tendency now? It seems that every one is waitting. Agencies in my city still say that waitting for 2 years, you will get the GC. Because of that, i want to see what you say.

There is no H1-B available for nurses, even if you have the BSN. You are not going to get an employer that will sponsor you with that, or even get it approved by immigration. So take that off of you list of possibilities. All that you will have avaiable to you is the green card, nothing any different.

With the OPT, it is a special item on its own, and has nothing to do with the H1-B. It is strictly a temporary training program that is good for up to one year for the person to get additional occupational training. It has nothing to do with anything else, and cannot be renewed.

Again, even if there are visas available, you need to have an employer petition you for the green card, you cannot do it on your own, it is employer-driven for RNs. And you will find it hard to do if you are a full-time student. This is the point that I am trying to make.

Coming here to go to school will not make things quicker for you while there are no visas available, and if they become available, then you will not be able to begin work in just a couple of months with the Adjustment of Status as you will be in school. I would not recommend it if you are asking my opinion. Then you also run into problems with double intent, when you come on the F-1, it is usually that you are expected to leave the US after training. They have been looking the other way on this, but that does not mean that it will always be the case.

Respected Suzanne,

I have few questions.

1. If i opt to go for consular process once the visa are available then do i have to go back to my native land to take interview or it can be scheduled here?

2. My understanding is that, with consular process, it will take few years to get green card and i will not get EAD to work. The problem with AOS in my case is that i will have to hold a full time employment after i get EAD which seems difficult while being in pharmacy school as a full time student. If everything falls as planned and i will get GC (through consular process) before i graduate from pharmacy school, in that case, do i have to hold a full time nursing job or i will be allowed to work part time? I do not want to mess with gray areas of laws and become the first nurse to be charged with visa fraud.

Thank you very much. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

R.S.

Respected Suzanne,

I have few questions.

1. If i opt to go for consular process once the visa are available then do i have to go back to my native land to take interview or it can be scheduled here?

2. My understanding is that, with consular process, it will take few years to get green card and i will not get EAD to work. The problem with AOS in my case is that i will have to hold a full time employment after i get EAD which seems difficult while being in pharmacy school as a full time student. If everything falls as planned and i will get GC (through consular process) before i graduate from pharmacy school, in that case, do i have to hold a full time nursing job or i will be allowed to work part time? I do not want to mess with gray areas of laws and become the first nurse to be charged with visa fraud.

Thank you very much. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

R.S.

Consular processing is not usually years if things are done properly and filed on time by an attorney that has not left anything out. I have seen it done on average in a year or so.

Until we know what is going to happen with the visas, just sit tight. Did you decide which program that you are going to go to?

Hi all.

I graduated and get AAS degree in nursing this May, but I didn't pass NCLEX exam. To take another NCLEX exam I have to wait at least three months. But I will out of status in the next two months if I don't continue my school. I got a plan to apply NCLEX prep at Kaplan. Kaplan will provide me an I-20. My question is, can I get OPT from Kaplan ??

Lets start with some information that you need to have and may not be aware of:

If you did not apply for the OPT before you graduated from your Associate program, you will not be able to get it. You can only get it thru your program that provides a degree for you. And what happens after you pass the NCLEX exam? If you do not already have the OPT in hand, there is nothing that you can do to remain in the US. Highly recommend that you get yourself into a BSN program, or you are going to need to leave the US. The Kaplan Review is not going to give you the amount of time that you will need. Remember that we are under a retrogression at this time, and we do not expect any visas to be available for months and months.

Kaplan did not do your nursing training, they cannot help you with the OPT. You needed to apply for it before you actually graduated.

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