CA or WA hospitals that do immigration sponsorships?

suzanne4, RN · Jun 5, 2007

There is no sponsorship available, that means the H1-B visa that has not been available for more than three years. If you ask for that, you will get an immediate denial, it just does not exist. And hospitals hated it.

You want to be petitioned for a green card, please use only that word.

Hathaway · Jun 5, 2007

Thank you suzanne. Let me fix that..

Does anyone know any California or Washington state hospitals that routinely consider doing petitions for immigrant nurses? I know the visa legislation isn't in place yet (retrogression), but i'd like to have a working list of HR places that i'd like to start talking with..

Thanks in advance to all who reply..

Hathaway

suzanne4, RN · Jun 6, 2007

There are several that will petition but mainly for those with significant work history. And these are changing all of the time, they do not petition all of the time, depends on their needs.

Right now would suggest waiting until we hear when things are moving in the right direction. Then you may get some bites when you contact them. Also focus on the area that you wish to be in, not the entire state. You should be making the decision as to where at least for most areas.

There are a few in the LA that have petitioned in the past for those without any experience but not even sure if that is happening right now. Almost everyone has put everything on hold, they do not want to tie up funds when they do not know when the nurse will be able to start.

k_cole21 · Jun 6, 2007

Swedish in Seattle does.

Hathaway · Jun 7, 2007

That's interesting K_cole. I just talked to the Nurse Recruiter at Swedish last week. Her initials were J.T. She said they never did that, they dont do that, and probably never will.

RNGrad2006 · Jun 7, 2007

That's interesting K_cole. I just talked to the Nurse Recruiter at Swedish last week. Her initials were J.T. She said they never did that, they dont do that, and probably never will.

I am glad you posted that because I used to live in Washington State where I went to nursing school. I went to a career fair in Seattle and there were only two that stated they MIGHT petition for employees and most only do it when you have worked for at least a year.

I eventually got a job in Bellingham doing a job that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. It was a very dysfunctional office and I didn't last. I felt it was worth it if I would eventually be able to apply for permanent residency. But I didn't get anything in writing and was later told that I would have to wait a year and then only maybe.

I then started looking around and the office nursing job I had was in the same field as my current position. But I am finally doing med/surg nursing which I wanted to do right from the beginning. My employer is currently (and yes by the way I did get it in writing this time) willing to petition me but about a week after moving to Arizona from Washington State everything went into retrogression. My employer has allowed me to start the process and I have paid a retainer to my attorney as my family members would have to to pay for all USCIS and attorney fees. We have not filed anything yet since you can't right now with retrogression but we are preparing in order for all items to be completed (besides photos and medicals exams) to ensure that we can file right away once retrogression has been lifted which will hopefully be sooner than later but who knows.

I was told recently the hospital I work at in Phoenix Arizona is one of the few that petitions. It is a GREAT place to work though. I love it here. And the weather is a huge improvement too.

You will definitely fare better in California than Washington State. But if you are interested one of the hospitals that told me they would consider petitioning was Stevens Hospital which is in Edmonds, WA which is not far form Seattle. But that would be after a year working and I sensed it was something they have done in the past before things went into retrogression. So not sure how they feel about it now. I found the recruiters from the hospital very helpful though, so might be something worth checking into. But again...get it in writing. I learned that the hard way.

Check out:

http://www.stevenshealthcare.org/

k_cole21 · Jun 8, 2007

That's interesting K_cole. I just talked to the Nurse Recruiter at Swedish last week. Her initials were J.T. She said they never did that, they dont do that, and probably never will.

There were several Filipino nurses that said they were being sponsored. Maybe the hospital wasn't the ones sponsoring them.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 8, 2007

There were several Filipino nurses that said they were being sponsored. Maybe the hospital wasn't the ones sponsoring them.

First, nurses have not been "sponsored" in more than three years, only petitioned for the green card. And they very easily could have been petitioned by an agency, then placed at that facility. So the facility may not be doing any petitioning, and just because they used an agency in the past, does not mean that they are doing it now. And it usually takes about 18 months on avaerage for the nurse to actually get to the US in amny cases, so this was something that could have been started for their petitioning a couple of years ago and is not the case now.

delisser · Jun 13, 2007

First, nurses have not been "sponsored" in more than three years, only petitioned for the green card. And they very easily could have been petitioned by an agency, then placed at that facility. So the facility may not be doing any petitioning, and just because they used an agency in the past, does not mean that they are doing it now. And it usually takes about 18 months on avaerage for the nurse to actually get to the US in amny cases, so this was something that could have been started for their petitioning a couple of years ago and is not the case now.

Hi Suzanne,

I am not replying to a statement just now, what i would like to find out is: I have done all the paper work for lisensure for Califonia State, however i am being asked to submit a SSN# having passed the NCLEX exam. I donot have such number therefore i will not get a liscense is this so?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jun 13, 2007

Hi Suzanne,
I am not replying to a statement just now, what i would like to find out is: I have done all the paper work for lisensure for Califonia State, however i am being asked to submit a SSN# having passed the NCLEX exam. I donot have such number therefore i will not get a liscense is this so?

That is right, you will not get your license until you provide a SSN which will not be until you are living in the US with a valid work permit. You will get a letter stating you meet requirements