I thought Retrogression was in Effect!

[Neveranurseagain, RN]

First of all, I do NOT want this to become a bash the foreign nurse thread. My only concern is that in Oct. 09 retrogression may be lifted, allowing foreign RN's to work in the USA. Due to the economy, there are many RN's getting laid off as well has hundreds of new RN grads unable to find work. Right now, retrogression is in effect and has been in effect for quite some time. But when I come across a Blog like discussing this it makes me wonder why RN's are still being recruited. Some of the companies that have responded to immigrant RN's requests state they have H1B visa openings left from 2008 that they can fill. I thought retrogression meant no new RN immigrants....yet by reading this blog it seems they are still immigrating here. How many H1B visa's were issued in 2008? How many will be issued in 2009?

Here is another link about how to get in the USA: http://www.lexisnexis.com/practiceareas/immigration/pdfs/web506.pdf

The foreign RN's that are here need to be treated with support and respect, and should be treated like a fellow sister RN. Do not post unless you just want to discuss the H1B visa's and retrogression.

[travel-everywhere]

H1B visa should be stopped for RN's but only when the new grads are willing to relocate to another area so those unfilled jobs will be filled by the unemployed/new grads. However, we cannot point a gun at the new grad/unemployed nurses and ask them to relocate; perhaps this is the reason why they still have the H1B visa.

But I remember I visited a hospital website last week, it stated the hospital is not sponsored any H1B visa at this time. It was a hospital located in Glendale, Calif.

Also, this thread is very open minded and very respectful. I am glad there are people like you in the nursing field.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Not all hospitals now use H1b and unless the hospital is affiliated with a university the visas are actually limited and can only be applied for in April when most if not all are gone in a couple of hours. Allocation for H1b in this case is allocated to 65000 and covers all occupations and very much a lottery. Even if the hospital is affiliated to a university there is a cap on how many H1b they can have the only main difference as far as I can tell is they are issued all year round.

I seriously doubt retrogression will be over this year. Latest visa bulletin has pushed processing dates back to 2003 and many nurses have been affected. Until I came to Canada I was looking at the US had a job etc but retrogression affected me. I accepted it as the country has a right to limit how many visas it accepts, yes it was a bit of a pain as it felt as if life was on hold but as long as I made sure I was up to date on what was happening in the country I wanted to move to I was fine. I think some people do get frustrated and want to move but they have to understand each country must look after their own people and legal residents first. Now I am in Canada, loving it and staying the US will always remain a place for me to visit and enjoy.

[rn4ever?]

That may just be another rumor. Unless it's actually lifted, that's the time I will believe it. But at present, there is still retrogression. With the hard economic times at present, I don't think lifting the retrogression will be any time soon. Because, to hire a nurse from overseas, you also have to pay him/her the same rate/a fair rate you would pay someone from the US, and at times, they even give out generous sign-on bonuses.