Agencies and contracts -- revisited

[suzanne4]

I am not against agencies in general, but only the ones that take advantage of nurses.

Things to consider when going the route of using an agency:

1. There is absolutely no such thing as free exams, free green card, or free plane fare and expenses paid. It will come from your paycheck.

2. Agencies can be paid in one of several ways: 100% by the hiring facility if they direct place you, by the facility as well as the nurse, or by charging the nurse a significant fee before they leave their country such as India, in addition to getting paid by the facility. In India, they call it a bond, but I have failed to see one get that bond returned when they complete their assignment. Or by keelping the nurse as their employee and getting the billing rate from the facility.

3. Make sure that you have taken the NCLEX exam before you arrive in the US, or you may find that you will not get paid until you pass that exam. In many contracts, look closely, it states that you will be paid as a CNA until you pass that exam, and many agencies will not even submit documentation to the BON until you arrive. This also adds months onto your contract, as it states "work as an RN."

4. If living arrangements are made for housing in the beginning, have it specified as to what it will be in writing. We have seen 10 people placed in a studio apt in NY and without heat in the winter; or eight women in a four bedroom apt with only one shower, and a small kitchen. Please be very careful with this.

5. If it is not in writing, it does not exist. A verbal condition from a recruiter does not hold water in a court of law, it must be in writing.

6. If an agency tells you that you need to write the CGFNS exam to work in the US, run from them. That has not been factual in several years. The CGFNS exam is only required in five states currently. Howver, if you live on a continent where the exam is not given, and too costly to travel that is another story....

Please be very careful before you sign anything, much easier to have it checked out before you sign. It is a legal binding contract, inlcuding the cancellation clause that some have added to go into effect even before you take the NCLEX exam. Also be cautious of large cancellation fees, $8,000 to $10,000 could be considered reasonable, but $25,000 and above is crazy. A guarantor also should not be required to sign your contract.

Always be an informed consumer!

[kalomira]

hi suzanne,

the information you posted is really informative, however i need to make it clear .. because of the retrogression going on do you think its wise to have just a working visa instead of the immigrant visa? andyhow, do youi know any hopital in florida or new york that petitions registered nurse for a working visa or its better that we bring our own visa screening certificate and license and then find a job in the states? thank you and i hope you can help me out with my dilemma..

[suzanne4, RN]

hi suzanne,

the information you posted is really informative, however i need to make it clear .. because of the retrogression going on do you think its wise to have just a working visa instead of the immigrant visa? andyhow, do youi know any hopital in florida or new york that petitions registered nurse for a working visa or its better that we bring our own visa screening certificate and license and then find a job in the states? thank you and i hope you can help me out with my dilemma..

my point that i keep trying to get across to you is that there are no working visas, for the rn role in the us it is green card only. inly exception to this is the h1-c visa, that is available for 15 facilities only in the us, and they are bad news to have. ny and florida do not have any facilities with the h1-c visa, so if anyone is telling you that they have a working visa for that state, run as fast as you can.

ny does not even have a hospital that will petition a nurse that did not train there, the only option is a nursing home there. suggest that you take the time to do some reading here. there is already much on this topic.

there are no visas available for you to work in the us at this time, and that means that coming to the us now will not do you any good at all. and if there were visas available, you would need to be in the us for a full five months and without working or earning a salary before you could legally work. never a good idea in the first place.

[kalomira]

hi suzanne,

Thank God you have this site...i really dont have any clue what i need to do right now... passing all the exams nclex and ielts are just a start so now, what can you suggest to do to be able to work in the states even with H1 visa and where are this facilities? My bestfriends sister is affilitaed with sentosa agency which has till now have a case with filipino nurses, they were the one suggested that i take my nclex in new mexico bec its faster and i think they are willing to petition me. Now, with this retrogression yoyu think they can do something about this? God bless you and more power to your site..Thank you very much..

[suzanne4, RN]

Again, there are no H1-B visas available for nurses and they have not been available for more than 3 years. So anything that an agency tells you about that particular visa has no idea of what they are speaking of. The H1-C is a different visa, and is only available in a few areas in the entire US, and would never, ever recommend that visa, even to my worst enemy. You will be a slave to the agency that places you there, and slaves were done away with years ago.

The only thing that you have legally available to you is the green card if you wish to do things legally. Right now we have a retrogression in place, and that means no visas for any nurse right now.

And even if a state is faster to get a license, you still need to go thru the process of getting a license for NY. And you cannot work in NY in a nursing capacity without a license specific for there. A license from NM is not accepted in NY, meaning that you would be working as a nursing assistant for months and getting paid about $10 per hour from that agency.

You need to spend some time doing your own research. Just because someone else that you know signed with an agency, does not mean that is was the smart thing to do. And defintely not in this case at all.

[chinita]

Hi.

I read a contract, benefits are stated including 16 days PTO etc. The contract is for 3 years.

Breach of contract is $10,000

Anyway, the rate is $24-28 (it is for a nursing home in los angeles). The specific rate is not specified in the contract. Night differentials, overtime rates and weekend rates are also not stated. But the employer discussed that overtime pay will be x1.5 and holidays x2.

What can you say about this contract?

[suzanne4, RN]

Is this contract thru an agency or thru the actual facility?

Holiday pay is usually paid at time and a half, not double time.

Are you going to be working 8 hour shifts or 12 hour shifts?

Next issue is that you are looking at more than 7 years for a chance at a green card in most cases. CA has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the US right now, and any employer must prove that they were unable to hire an American for the job. Since there are many new grads that actually trained in Los Angeles area that are unable to find jobs right now, it is going to be very hard for them to prove this.

That pay is also very much on the low side.

My opinion on it? Don't sign it, it does not include what is needed to be included. If not in writing, it does not exist. Chances are that things are going to be different for you in the next seven years, so looks like this company is more interested in the cancellation fee that they will get.

[chinita]

It is thru an agency and also 8 hour shift. The contract stated,

"... will pay the nurse the prevailing wage at the site of the intended work place. Nurse will be entitled to all benefits listed in the employee handbook"

Regarding the Placement Fee and PayRoll Deduction Authorization:

" nurse agrees to pay .... all sponsorship and placement fee but not limit to all processing, legal, placement fees and airfare through automatic payroll deduction. Nurse will have the right to request detailed expense list upon request.

In my case, they will only pay for USCIS Filing Fee, NVC/Packet 3 Fee, Packet 4 Fee Medical Exam Fee because I shouldered all the expenses for the exams and the VSC. The expenses that they shouldered will be deducted in the salary equally for the employment period.

[chinita]

There is also a surety bond. The claim against the surety bond will only be filed if I withdraw or abscond. The total amount for bond coverage is almost $3200 but in my case as I've said in the previous post will only be for the Packets because I paid for the others. If i withdraw when it is already filed in the USCIS then I will only pay for the Filing Fee + lawyer's fee. The fee will depend on what stage I withdraw.

I haven't signed anything yet.

[suzanne4, RN]

Run from it. If you cancel, you are going to get hit with minimum of $5000 in immigration costs as well as filing fees. We have seen this happen time and time again. And if they have added in a surety bond, this means that they expect you to back out. There is no reason for this whatsoever.

And since it is for an agency, then how do they know who will even have an opening seven years from now? Or how do you know that they will even be operating at that time? If they are not, when the time comes for a chance at a visa, you start all over again and everything gets cancelled out. Same thing if they are in business but do not have work for you at that time.

You are also getting the royal screw with that contract and the rate that they wish to pay. That is the rate that is paid when all of the fees including immigration costs as well as airfare are paid by the agency or the employer.

Your choice as to what to do, but you are most definitely getting taken advantage of. And I am sure that they are not expecting you to be able to find out anything on how they are going to be cheating you.

And are they even licensed to petition someone from your country as well? I suspect that they are not licensed there as well either.

[suzanne4, RN]

And forgot to add, this agency is what we call double-dipping. They are charging you for everything as well as they are going to be getting about $10,000 from the facility. With the rate of pay that they are quoting you, they are taking a sizeable chunk from it as well, do not let them tell you otherwise. They are taking at least $5 per hour for each that you work and that also comes out to be about $10,000 for each year under your contract.

They should be paying 100% of everything for what they are quoting you.

Just adds in to what I was saying about them. Bad news and stay away from them if you want my opinion.

[chinita]

The employer went to manila to conduct the interviews.

The employer signed the contract and gave them to the agency after choosing the applicants who passed then the agency passed them to us.

The agency is one of the most reputable in the country. They specialize in the career placement of Filipino professionals and worker (not only nurses). They've been around for a couple of decades already.

It's difficult to find a good agency here. There are so many to choose from but few are with good standing.

[suzanne4, RN]

These companies may be reputable in your country, but not in mine. They are selling you to the highest bidder like a commodity and nothing more than that. Does not matter how long that they have been in business for, but the bigger issue and one that you and everyone else needs to consider is that they only get paid when the nurse actually starts work in the US; this is going to take years so how are they going to fund their agency?

Next question is how do you even know that this employer will be in business seven years from now? Many nursing homes change hands every few years as well.

But you are still getting the royal screw or shaft or whatever you want to call it. You are going to have $10,000 taken per year out of your pay for the agency, and you are paying all of the expenses. There is no reason for this, but you are going to have a very large bill to pay to them later on and this is what they are hoping for. Next item is if everything was on the up and up with the employer, why in the world would they need to go there and interview and then give things over to a middleman to handle that is not even in the US? This again sends up red flags to me as well. And what are you going to do over the next 7 years to get paid work experience. That tells me that the employer was not licenses to even recruit in the Philippines so is having to go thru an agency. Not a good thing either.

I am telling you how things are, it does not matter to me how good an agency is. The proof is that you are getting taken advantage of but are still looking for someone to tell you that this is a good idea for you and I cannot do that. It is very bad for you to consider them.

Suggest that you show this to your parents and then ask for their views on it. Things most definitely are not going to be as they are promised. And if this nursing home was the employer, all rates would have been listed in the contract with subject to change later on as salaries increased, not left out of it as you have received.

Again, I think that you are making a very bad mistake, but this is something that you are going to need to decide on your own.