Greencard for US educated nurses

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I am an international student and just completed a 4 year nursing degree here in the US. I am hoping to find employment in an institution that can sponsor and file for my greencard.

At the moment i am finding trouble finding hospitals that are willing to do that. From some of the recruiters i talked to, most of them do not file for international students anymore but are willing to hire me for the duration of my work permit which is one year.

Any help or suggestion on how to go about this? I know some agencies do hire foreign nurses from other countries and file for their greencards but it seems to be harder for US educated foreign students.

Xenzen

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I am an international student and just completed a 4 year nursing degree here in the US. I am hoping to find employment in an institution that can sponsor and file for my greencard.

At the moment i am finding trouble finding hospitals that are willing to do that. From some of the recruiters i talked to, most of them do not file for international students anymore but are willing to hire me for the duration of my work permit which is one year.

Any help or suggestion on how to go about this? I know some agencies do hire foreign nurses from other countries and file for their greencards but it seems to be harder for US educated foreign students.

Xenzen

I had a hard time with that as well at first...and I got promises with my original employer that didnt come through. I think it is easier to find a petitioner when you are in an area where the nursing shortage is more pronounced. Where are you located? I was in Washington State at the time. Many nurses come from Canada on the TN visa in Washington due to the proximity to Canada and they don't have as great of a need to begin with. There are quite a few nursing schools in the Seattle area that seem to provide a lot of nurses. They seem a little less interested to hire a new grad. Oddly after a year of applying for a job at a particular facility I got a letter from them about a year to a year and a half later asking me to consider them...once I got the desired experience??? Seemed kind of coincidental to me. I moved to Arizona and had no difficulty with getting a hospital to petition me but I have read there are many not willing to do so anymore. Probably due to retrogression to an extent. I am surprised employers are even willing to hire for a year since many employers still consider a person a relatively new grad after one years time. Takes a lot of training even in that first year. Good luck to you and keep trying...but as you may know at this time you cant file a I-140 and I-485 concurrently and without that there is not much point to finding a petitioner.

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Specializes in CTICU.

The problem is that currently the visa category which nurses usually fall into is retrogressed, meaning there are no visas available. It's going to be hard to get a hospital to want to sponsor you when they won't be able to have you work for (possibly) several years.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Suggest you have a good read in this forum on retrogression

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