Been here 5mths, want out of contract...

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 11, 2006

Of course the biggest problem I see that the UK nurses face is the lack of information of how to immigrate to the USA. The nursing times has advertisments for certain recruitment agencies, and one far outshines any. I found this site by default when looking for information about NCLEX too late for me to go it alone as I had signed on the dotted line.

So when the nurses work full time, most of them stressed beyond comprehension they dont want to initially go the hard way and do all the immigration themselves. It is a long hall and when I first decided to come over I started off going it alone and found great difficulty getting information-I phoned Florida state board of Nursing and the paperwork which they sent back blew my mind. Nobody I knew had emigrated as a nurse and nobody wanted to so I had nowhere to turn. The easy option for me was to sign up with the agency and let them have the headache and just send me the paperwork to fill in.

I believe what is missing is the human touch of the agency in the country the nurses are moving to, they need to employ in each country a fellow countryman of the nurses who have gone there so that they can help troubleshoot. Support is the key word or lack of it. Maybe years ago these agencies could get away from this element but today expectations are higher. Some of The hospitals in America are doing a great job in helping nurses aclimatise to the US system, but it is aimed towards multi cultural nurses and I feel each culture is unique and that training should be more specified. Uk nurses are expected to question practice daily, this is very different to the Filopean and Asian nurses. We think nothing of asking another nurse about rationale and care practices, but this is seen as intimidating here in some hospital environments and presents a diffcult situation for both nurses. So although some preparation of the foreign nurses happens, no preparation of the US nurses is done and they are also put into a difficult situation. Doctors in the Uk are part of a team, here doctors give orders, this would just not be acceptable to most Uk nurses in fact it is quiet shocking.

Agencies definatly have a strong purpose in the busy lives of the UK nurses, most of the recruiters are not nurses and the odd one who is, has lost touch with reality. Apart from study materials for passing the NCLEX there is no further help to get the nurses ready for the strange environment. I am not saying we need to be spoon fed but we need to be prepared for the huge shock of living and working in a foreign country. I have a huge American family and have lived back and forth all my life, but living here was an exciting but strange reality check. I do honestly believe the shorter length of time you have been trained, the easier the transition is.

We all get there.

mojofla · Aug 11, 2006

yes madwife I agree...I managed to do my own immigration ...of course it was easier. We had just changed to the TC visa and could hold visas for multiple employers. All we needed was a letter and drive to the border for new papers. Once however I was told to fly over to Bahamas and when back at Miami airport ask for the TC officer...so I did. Guess what? they didnt issue visas there. I was about to cry...someone took pity and somehow got me a visa issued. Immigration I do remember well....you prayed you got a nice officer. Once at the Detroit tunnel the lady reamed me out. I guess she didnt like the letter I presented which stated my salary. I also dressed with my best attire as I wanted to be presentable...who knows... what a nasty chick.Anyway you just have to suck it up or you may never get those papers. Finally I got my papers but realized she didn't stamp my passport. So I went back to tell her. She yelled at me and told me to go line up. Meanwhile a bus of people crossing the border had just lined up and I would have to go to the end. My eyes filled with tears. Another immigration officer must have seen and called me over and stamped my passport. Everytime I had to go to immigration I was stomach sick . I finally got my greencard and then my naturalization(citizenship)...yeah....I love living here. And yes the nursing is very different at first. It does get easier. Be careful of immigration companies as one told me that I had to go from a TC vis back to the old ? hc visa then onto green card. Not true. this would have doubled my fees to them. Through much phone calls,waiting,disconnects I figured it all out and did it on my own. It should be better today with these forums for advice and online help.....good luck

geordiegirl2 · Aug 11, 2006

Of course the biggest problem I see that the UK nurses face is the lack of information of how to immigrate to the USA. The nursing times has advertisments for certain recruitment agencies, and one far outshines any. I found this site by default when looking for information about NCLEX too late for me to go it alone as I had signed on the dotted line.
So when the nurses work full time, most of them stressed beyond comprehension they dont want to initially go the hard way and do all the immigration themselves. It is a long hall and when I first decided to come over I started off going it alone and found great difficulty getting information-I phoned Florida state board of Nursing and the paperwork which they sent back blew my mind. Nobody I knew had emigrated as a nurse and nobody wanted to so I had nowhere to turn. The easy option for me was to sign up with the agency and let them have the headache and just send me the paperwork to fill in.
I believe what is missing is the human touch of the agency in the country the nurses are moving to, they need to employ in each country a fellow countryman of the nurses who have gone there so that they can help troubleshoot. Support is the key word or lack of it. Maybe years ago these agencies could get away from this element but today expectations are higher. Some of The hospitals in America are doing a great job in helping nurses aclimatise to the US system, but it is aimed towards multi cultural nurses and I feel each culture is unique and that training should be more specified. Uk nurses are expected to question practice daily, this is very different to the Filopean and Asian nurses. We think nothing of asking another nurse about rationale and care practices, but this is seen as intimidating here in some hospital environments and presents a diffcult situation for both nurses. So although some preparation of the foreign nurses happens, no preparation of the US nurses is done and they are also put into a difficult situation. Doctors in the Uk are part of a team, here doctors give orders, this would just not be acceptable to most Uk nurses in fact it is quiet shocking.
Agencies definatly have a strong purpose in the busy lives of the UK nurses, most of the recruiters are not nurses and the odd one who is, has lost touch with reality. Apart from study materials for passing the NCLEX there is no further help to get the nurses ready for the strange environment. I am not saying we need to be spoon fed but we need to be prepared for the huge shock of living and working in a foreign country. I have a huge American family and have lived back and forth all my life, but living here was an exciting but strange reality check. I do honestly believe the shorter length of time you have been trained, the easier the transition is.
We all get there.

I agree with Madwive in that I think that to some degree it is easier the less time you've been trained however the longer length of training for some will you give you the confidence to be strong with the agency and the hospital you go to.

I felt after I passed NCLEX I became nothing more than a commodity to the agency which truly is what we are a way of making them money, but I always kept in the back of my mind, whatever I did had to be right for my family, therefore I turned down jobs and interviews. I was very lucky and have a good experience hospital wise, but it was still a huge shock to realise how little protection you have here, how much less autonomy you have.

My other concern is you sometimes don't know the questions to ask if it doesn't happen where you come from, in AZ legislation says you can be 'called off' one day in every pay period (every two weeks) if the hopital has too many staff, I had no idea, someone mentioned it on a forun, when i asked if this effected your contract time I was told no.

This was not correct, you can be called off so you potentially lose one days pay in every six and it extends the length of your contract. Honestly the money didn't bother me but i felt like i could be in my agency contract for the rest of my life, I used to laugh and tell people I sold my soul for a greencard.

It was in my contract i just didn't understand it, make sure you look and ask.

carol2311 · Aug 18, 2006

I have been here in the uS for 5months, with a contract with an agency for 18mths. They have messed things up EVERY way they could possibly think of. We are now on the poverty line, and I don't think that is reasonable for an RN with 15yrs experience.
I want out of my contract. Is there anyone out there who has bought themselves out?
What I need to know is....do they make you pay the whole amount upfront, or can I make payments?
Just grasping at straws...I can't afford the $10K they want, but I can't afford to stay working for them either.....
Anyone have any advice?
Thanks in advance, K.

Hi there kheynurse! I noticed your post was dated last month but i sympathize with you and I want to give u some advice.

I was also a contract RN from the UK. (I'm originally from the Phils) To cope up with my bills, I've been asking the contract hospital for OT but they always cancel me. My contract agency knows this. They know exactly how much money we spent for relocation (i.e. furnitures, appliances, cars, rent-a-car, etc.) So what I did was apply in another hospital as PRN. When they found out about it, they said, it's not allowed as I am under contract with them. So I told them, I will resign from them if I have to because I needed extra income badly if they won't allow me. And so they did allow me to do other RN jobs. That's how we kept out from "poverty-line."

Now if you really want to leave that agency, you shouldn't be afraid. These are some things you might wanna try to do.

1. Ask the HR of that hospital where you are working to buy your contract out from your agency. They would be most willing!!! Just so they could retain you. Then ask for relocation expenses, bonuses, correct pay rate and all those benefits.

2. If you don't want to stay in that contract hospital, still don't be afraid. You can agree to pay them for their expenses on you but ask for a detailed list of it including receipts. Don't just agree to the $10K asking price of that agency.

3. Finally, if you are planning to pay the contract agency, just pay what you can. You can pay them $20 a month. They can't force you to pay-up front the entire amount. What I know is, as long as you are paying some amount monthly, they can't ruin your credit score.

Most of the stories I hear from foreign nurses who did NOT keep their contracts got away with it. The agency didn't bother to sue because they are always on the loosing end. Afterall, you can't force anyone to work for you if they are not happy to do it. So if worse comes to worse, I'm sure the court will side with you.

carol2311 · Aug 18, 2006

Long story short....
when we arrived, the local office for the agency didn't reallise that they were supposed to be looking for a long (3-6 month ) placement for me. They gave me traditional agency shifts, a day here a day there, about 24 hrs a week, some weeks nothing etc. They were making noises about a local hospital job, but it turned out that was for agency type shifts too, and it never came to fruition in the end. After several weeks of having difficulty making ends meet I finally went into the office with my contract and lost my temper.....they still couldn't work out what my problem was! Several calls later to the agency corporate dept and they suddenly created a full time postion in their office for me. After a few weeks they found me a job in my speciality but only 28hrs a week, so I do 28hrs there and 12hrs in the office. This pays the bills, but whenever there is a bank holiday, I loose a days pay, and I am not alloweed to do any overtime at all. (they also keep forgetting to pay me for portions of my hrs, or sending it late, so we get huge bank charges)
We were getting along OK untill we joined the agency's medical insurance plan. (we thought we HAD to get it through an employer and were not advised by the agnecy staff that we could buy it on our own) This cover is costing us $800.oo a month and is crippling us. We found MUCH cheaper cover online and called to cancel our existing policy, and were told we have to stay in it for a full year!
We will have no house, food or petrol, but FANTASTIC medical cover! maybe they will let us live in a hospital somewhere!
When I signed with the agency they lead us to believe that my cover was paid for and we only had to fund the DH and kids, this is not infact the case.
I cannot afford to continue to work for this agency. I did not expect to be rich when we got here, but I did not expect to have to be shopping for groceries in a dollar and store and using coupons to stretch the budget a little more. In the current job market for RN's in the US this is a rediculous situation.
Sorry for the long rant... I hope this helps others who are coming over, to see that things can be very difficult.
K

OMG just get out of it!!! Did you keep the original copy of your contract??? Coz you have to prove they are not keeping the contract. Read it carefully. The court could even award you money for damages!

cobwebbqueen · Aug 18, 2006

Give me three Guesses? I'm sure I worked for the same company, and was lucky enough to get a short 1 year contract. I completed the assignment and then got washed my hands of them. My husband And I had no end of problems with them and could not afford to pay the $10 grand to get out. Sometimes the hospital may buy you out of the contract, but then you can be bound to them. I heard the sad story of a really home sick nurse who went back to the uk before completing an assignment, she had a bill on her front door a few days after she got back, perhaps it was the same company.

If you like the hospital you are working for maybe they might be prepared to help you in some way like perhaps buying you out of the contract?

Food for thought!

From one Uk Nurse to another!

Fiona59 · Aug 18, 2006

And I thought slavery was abolished...

kheynurse · Aug 18, 2006

I just wanted to thank you all for your support and advise. However the situation is far from resolved, I am exploring other avenues, but not getting anywhere at the moment. As it stands, the agency now owe me over $2000.oo.......to be continued!

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2006

I just wanted to thank you all for your support and advise. However the situation is far from resolved, I am exploring other avenues, but not getting anywhere at the moment. As it stands, the agency now owe me over $2000.oo.......to be continued!

I have pm'd you