I could not believe my ears the other night on the news. Evidently, our government has placed nurses in the 'unskilled' category for visas to bring in cheaper, less-educated nurses from other countries.
What a slap in the face. :nono::nono:
_________________________________
On Lou Dobbs, CNN - 06/27/07
". . . According to the State Department, the biggest of these programs is the H visa program. More than 300,000 H visas, in fact, were issued last year, including H-1B visas that allow American companies to replace American workers with cheaper paid foreigners. H visas are also used for nurses, farm workers and other so-called unskilled workers, if you can call a nurse unskilled... . "
Anyone actually able to find proof of this besides that quote? Whenever I look on the state department's web site it lists nurse aides as unskilled, not nurses, lpns or rns.
I believe foreign nurses, other than from Canada, require a greencard. The H visas haven't been allowed for a few years as far as nurses were concerned.
Ka-Ching! Bulls eye!
(Insert other assorted compliments for gettin' the right answer :))
maybe i am sounding naieve here but what can be done to change this. unskilled. wth!!!:angryfire
i know of a hospital in our area that is offering nurses from the phillipiens jobs and help obtaining thier visas. they are being paid a much lower rate than the standard rn. i don't understand how this works. the problem that some of them are running into is their spouses are unable to find work.
My apologies to FinNurse for the mistaken reference to his sexual identity. Thanks to fergus51 for posting the CNN transmission transcript link. From what I can gather after reading it, the classifications for workers possessing 'specialist knowledge' (the H-H1B vias), is a broad definition. Lou Dobbs wasn't denigrating nurses using the H-H1B category. To my mind, his qualified remark (..."if you can call nurses unskilled) supports his oblique praise of them. His remarks were in response to the gap in the H-H1B visa, through which unscrupulous organisations (ie, hi-tech/computing companies) exploit to ferry workers over to the US, in the face of 'home grown' workers of specialist knowledge capable of executing the same or similar tasks required by the defaulting companies.
Do you suppose that, with the growing body of professional nurses with specialist abilities, nurses could consider using another category, in line with the category doctors might use ie- the 'O' visa - workers of extraordinary ability? Might the choice of category depend on the evidence one can present with their application?
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
maybe i am sounding naieve here but what can be done to change this. unskilled. wth!!!:angryfire
i know of a hospital in our area that is offering nurses from the phillipiens jobs and help obtaining thier visas. they are being paid a much lower rate than the standard rn. i don't understand how this works. the problem that some of them are running into is their spouses are unable to find work.
surprised at this unless they are getting h1c (which not many hospitals have this) the nurses can only apply for green card and the hospitals have to pay foreign nurses the same pay as us rn's. if the spouse can't work sounds like h1c and with that they can pay what they want but the nurse is they loose their job have to leave the us immediately as currently no visas to change to green card.
Specializes in ICU, now in Palliative Care Home Health.
Wait, wait.
Just doing some research here...
There are multiple types of H visas.
H1B visas "...applies to persons in a specialty occupation which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher education. This classification requires a labor attestation issued by the Secretary of Labor (65,000). This classification also applies to Government-to-Government research and development, or co-production projects administered by the Department of Defense (100)"
This site states that " The H1B visa is an option available to a limited group of foreign national registered nurses."
This site(the first one linked above) states that "H-2Aclassification applies to temporary or seasonal agricultural workers" and that "H-2Bclassification applies to temporary or seasonal nonagricultural workers. This classification requires a temporary labor certification issued by the Secretary of Labor (66,000)"
Not sure what the quoted gentleman was talking about, but according to this, he's wrong.
Specializes in ICU, oncology, home health, hospice.
Well, I don't know about you but somehow I am not shocked we would be considered "unskilled." My husband (also a nurse) and I have over 18 years of secondary education, which WE had to PAY FOR, yet our salaries certainly are not commensurate with our educations. We did not become nurses for the money, but, COME ON, I would certainly not consider myself, or ANY OTHER NURSE unskilled!!!! Just goes to show you what the government must think of us. Only WE can put a stop to this....
I could not believe my ears the other night on the news. Evidently, our government has placed nurses in the 'unskilled' category for visas to bring in cheaper, less-educated nurses from other countries.
What a slap in the face. :nono::nono:
_________________________________
On Lou Dobbs, CNN - 06/27/07
". . . According to the State Department, the biggest of these programs is the H visa program. More than 300,000 H visas, in fact, were issued last year, including H-1B visas that allow American companies to replace American workers with cheaper paid foreigners. H visas are also used for nurses, farm workers and other so-called unskilled workers, if you can call a nurse unskilled... . "
I think that any influx of foreign healthcare workers must be measured in light of their potential as terrist. The Doctors in the terrist plot in the UK should teach us that lesson.
OH! The government do a lot of dumb things. This is a great example.
:nono:
Kelly_the_Great
553 Posts
Oh crap! Does this mean when the nazis take over I won't be considered an essential worker? :uhoh21: