can anyone give me an update regarding retrogression in the U.S.

pmrobert · Mar 19, 2010

In my opinion, Reuters seems to have a more balanced view than most US media re the US (and global) recession. Give them a read or two. As far as green card, etc., I'm pretty much ignorant of that issue. I do know of a couple of UK citizens who've been here in the US for many years and I'm pretty sure they mentioned that dual citizenship was the route they pursued. That is second hand info but may (or may not) help you. Good luck!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Mar 19, 2010

Moved to the International forum so that you'll receive more specific feedback.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 19, 2010

Retrogression is still ongoing and doubt it will change for a while yet due to current employment issues that are happening in the US. Many many nurses are struggling to find work and CA is one of the places greatly hit by unemployment. (just check out the CA state forum for an idea)

Current processing times for EB3 (this is the category most nurses come under) is Feb 2003 and there are many nurses already in the queue including the UK

ninarn25 · Mar 29, 2010

according to attorneys at law , specialized in immigration and according to obama policy on foreign nurses ( highly against recruiting foreigners ) the time for waiting is average of 4 to 5 years

you can check

- national visa bulletin website ( scroll down to employment based categore EB3 ) see bulletin of april 2010 the priority date is 2003 so depend on your priority date ( date when your I - 140 was approved) mine is 2007 i am still waiting in france and my visascreen certificate expires in 2011 its so sad and very frustrating because i spent a lot of money and efforts for cgfns process, exams and recruitment

- hammond law group blog spot ( its not commercial they do this for foreign nurses ,they are specialized with retrogression updates

- take a masters degree in nursing , immigration is faster for masters degree levels

- try canada, because after 3 years in canada there is a possibility to enter US with another visa i think its called TS1 or something

good luck !!

we are all on the same boat if that any consolation ( immgration services have putnow in queue, more then 75000 nurses waiting worldwide )

all the best!!!

nina

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 29, 2010

Nina what you mean by Canada is the NAFTA (TN) agreement and you have to be a Canadian citizen for that and you have to have resided in Canada 1095 days out of 1461 and apply to be a citizen and go through the process so looking at a bit longer than 3 years

To become Canadian citizens, adults must have lived in Canada for at least three years (1,095 days) in the past four years before applying. Children do not need to meet this requirement.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/become-eligibility.asp

Trauma Columnist · Mar 29, 2010

Getting a masters degree isn't the way to get a job in the US either: many of my friends (US citizens) who have masters degrees and many years of experience continue to work as staff nurses because there are no jobs.

The US is no longer the land of plentiful jobs.

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Mar 29, 2010

I wonder - how many nurses who have a sponsoring hospital, will still a position since the economy has tanked. If a hospital pays for ien over a us nurses, that is not allowed.

my point is once you become current....will you still have a job?

angel1966 · Mar 29, 2010

Guys, thank you for all your responses, honestly, i am a little bit frustrated now but i am still hoping that after 2 or 3 years, i will be there in america. i don't want to wait for another 5 years...my question as well is what if after 5 years, and then i've got the visa and everything, do you think the salary that I signed in my contract will still be the same or they will increase the rate as cost of living will be expensive in next 5 years...sometimes, i am blaming myself because i spend a lot of money to take the review and the nclex exam, though i passed the exam, but here i am still waiting for green card...maybe i should just stay here in the UK for good...but i am already commited to the hospital there in the US.

ninarn25 · Mar 30, 2010

hi

thank you silverdragon, cos i was not sure about those details , regards!! :))

i was recruited by a hospital in the US, i travelled and did the interview there

i signed a job offer

i had to go through a very difficult process in order to obtain the RN license , it was very tough and expensive

and then at the end of this long process i was told about retrogression

and its like i threw all my efforts and money for nothing

and here i told my supervisor at work that he has to expect me to leave anytime to the US so i also could have lost my job

and i am not even sure now that if i have the visa from the US consulate and immigration services that my job offer is still waiting for me! because it was signed in 2007 now (

all this is very unfair to foreign nurses because we are around 75 000 waiting, they made us spent a lot of money , please trust me on that, people are still recruiting them now! and making the other generations of foreign graduate nurses hope and spend money, the machine is on and no one is telling us abroad until the very end that there is a retrogression, this is not right! why wait for us to spend all this money why cant the just tell us Before ?

i live in europe and i have a good job here, i was supposed to go to the US for few years to improve my skills in cardiology, and experience in cadiac surgery unit, but this whole situation; economic and political , got me parked neutral now

i hope that the nurses in the US will find a job, its such a beautiful profession, i feel sorry and sad about this economic situation

it has affected us all, me i lost around 5000 dollars , and all i want is you out there in the US spread the message among nurses , that we nurses here who were recruited spent a lot of money and then found ourselves parked neutral, CGFNS is still accepting new candidates and as well as the other organizations, recruitment agencies , lawyers, etc... while they moraly cant do this since they know that the national visa center is NOT giving any visa for the past two or three years

i know one person who got her visa she was recruited from russia in 2003, she recieved her Green card in 2009, and she said they gave her the worse schedule , she was married with a child, she had to work night shifts from 7 to 7 am, she was in surgery unit and the bells could not stop ringing and she was alone ( lol ) so its not like it was paradise :)

me now i changed my mind about working in the US as a nurse, its too expensive and risky ( retrogression ), but when i travelled and visited some hospitals i really liked how nurses work there its soooo different from here it would have been a great great experience!! and i saw how nurses work in ICU , wow!!

anyways good luck to you all

nina :=)

elkpark · Mar 30, 2010

hi
thank you silverdragon, cos i was not sure about those details , regards!! :))
i was recruited by a hospital in the US, i travelled and did the interview there
i signed a job offer
i had to go through a very difficult process in order to obtain the RN license , it was very tough and expensive
and then at the end of this long process i was told about retrogression
and its like i threw all my efforts and money for nothing
and here i told my supervisor at work that he has to expect me to leave anytime to the US so i also could have lost my job
and i am not even sure now that if i have the visa from the US consulate and immigration services that my job offer is still waiting for me! because it was signed in 2007 now (
all this is very unfair to foreign nurses because we are around 75 000 waiting, they made us spent a lot of money , please trust me on that, people are still recruiting them now! and making the other generations of foreign graduate nurses hope and spend money, the machine is on and no one is telling us abroad until the very end that there is a retrogression, this is not right! why wait for us to spend all this money why cant the just tell us Before ?
i live in europe and i have a good job here, i was supposed to go to the US for few years to improve my skills in cardiology, and experience in cadiac surgery unit, but this whole situation; economic and political , got me parked neutral now
i hope that the nurses in the US will find a job, its such a beautiful profession, i feel sorry and sad about this economic situation
it has affected us all, me i lost around 5000 dollars , and all i want is you out there in the US spread the message among nurses , that we nurses here who were recruited spent a lot of money and then found ourselves parked neutral, CGFNS is still accepting new candidates and as well as the other organizations, recruitment agencies , lawyers, etc... while they moraly cant do this since they know that the national visa center is NOT giving any visa for the past two or three years
i know one person who got her visa she was recruited from russia in 2003, she recieved her Green card in 2009, and she said they gave her the worse schedule , she was married with a child, she had to work night shifts from 7 to 7 am, she was in surgery unit and the bells could not stop ringing and she was alone ( lol ) so its not like it was paradise :)
me now i changed my mind about working in the US as a nurse, its too expensive and risky ( retrogression ), but when i travelled and visited some hospitals i really liked how nurses work there its soooo different from here it would have been a great great experience!! and i saw how nurses work in ICU , wow!!
anyways good luck to you all
nina :=)

I am sorry that your plans haven't worked out as you expected, but I don't see how any of this is "unfair to foreign nurses." Immigration policies in the US, as in every country, are developed and enforced to meet the interests and needs of the US, not people in other countries who may want to come here. It is a shame that there are people and businesses who make a living by exploiting the hopes of people who want to come here, but it is the responsibility of each individual, IMHO, to personally investigate the circumstances in the country before spending money and making commitments. I don't think it's any big secret that retrogression has been in place for several years now. With the current large number of USC nurses who cannot find work, it's hard to see any justification for importing nurses from abroad.

And even USC nurses who are new employees typically get the less desirable shifts and schedules, until they earn some seniority, so the experience of your acquaintance from Russia is not unusual or related to her being from another country.

Good luck to you with your future plans.

ninarn25 · Mar 30, 2010

elkpark

my friend from russia was 45 and trust me her collegues had better shifts but thats not the point here

with you

i agree and disagree , but i am happy you opened this door so i can expalin myself better

let me tell you about immigration for foreign nurses

there are two steps ( after of course the steps with cgfns, nclex and board of nursing)

at immigration services:

first they need to approve a document called I-140 IF the file is approved it is transferd to NVC ( national visa center)

the waiting is between those two

so when the file fist has to be approved it means that the nurse must have a job offer signed so here is my point

why accepting and approving a file ? why not sending a letter to the applicant before ( because I-140 costs money) and avoiding payment why waiting after document is payed and then putting it on hold?

no other countries elkpark do this

canada doesnt, australia and Europe certainly not either, once a file is approved they continue to the end

only in the US they are not doing this so of course how would you want a foreigner to know since no one tell ? that's exactly the problem. i mean do you know if foreigners stop applying to CGFNS how much money this organization lose and how much staff, meaning further unemployed? but if its a business and a market , why does the foreigner has to be the victime here ?

why cant they just talk about retrogression more openly

of course if there is an economic crisis in the US why would international recruitment be an option , i agree! of course the priority is for americans i mean this is the very very least !

what is not fair is to give hope to foreigners and i am sure you agree

if for instance foreign nurses know there is retrogression do you really think that they will undergo all those efforts for nothing ? i doubt it

so we need ( everybody) to talk about it openly and yes of course admit the errors and the obvious reason why in the next few years no visa is going to be issued for foreign nurses

but as a nurse aren't we morally engaged to be sincere and honest ? can't we just explain to the future applicants that there is no hope, because first, the econimic situation is not good, people who are nurses in their own country ( US) can't find a job right now, second retrogression is still on and for a very long time, third that instead of accepting applications so easily , all organizations, or companies etc...involved starting CGFNS until board of nursing and lawfirms , they have to mention about retrogression , what is not fair is that they dont , we are informed very late and sometimes by websites like this one or other forums you know...

so i perfectly agree with you, why recruitting abroad if there is an economic crisis, but my point is then, why accepting candidates, you know that CGFNS and international exams center for the NCLEX will go bankrupt if this is publicly said, elkpark its a very big business but immoral to foreign nurse trust me

no, it doest happen in other countries . a lot of money is taking out of our pockets, and if you multiply this by thousands , it just give you an idea how big this business is

so morally we are all involved

regards

nina