h1b criteria

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Does anyone know if an RN would qualify under the criteria requirements for a H1B visa?

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Generally, no. You have to be a "Specialist" to qualify for it and even then even some specialists who truly qualify for the H1B Visa are not considering it anymore as the H1B visa category has been a lottery event since April, 2007 and is expected to be the same in the next filing opportunity on April, 2008.

You can read more about it on why this is so by clicking the link below . And I recommend reading the stickies above as most FAQs are generally already answered on the stickies.

https://allnurses.com/forums/2433654-post61.html

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What about a nurse researcher? I finshed BS Biology and BS Nursing. Passed Local Boards in Manila and NCLEX in CA. Will that be on a specialty occupation?

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What about a nurse researcher? I finshed BS Biology and BS Nursing. Passed Local Boards in Manila and NCLEX in CA. Will that be on a specialty occupation?

You need to find an employer willing to hire and petition you for being a nurse researcher and needs to be a legitimate job being a nurse researcher at that. Having finished BS in Biology alone in addition to being a local and US nursing board passer is not enough and how does a degree in BS Biology make someone a nursing researcher already ??

Filing for a working visa or an I-140 petition also scrutinizes if there really is such a job that is needed and if the one petitioning is qualified to petition as well besides from scrutinizing the qualifications of the one being petitioned, otherwise anyone can just make up a Hospital A or a Facility X that needs so and so but no such hospital or facility exists nor was there a shortage that an American Citizen can easily fill-up in the first place. If Employer X or Y cannot prove such things then they cannot file a petition for a foreigner or it's petition rejected. An employer also needs to prove to be financially stable for obvious reasons.

So, as you can see it is not that easy to file a petition and if you read the link from above, you will understand that they are getting strict with such measures already. Plus, even if one is truly qualified for it, the chances of your file being randomly selected is slim and if indeed selected, they will scrutinize the case if they know that it is from a generalist nurse. You do need to present proof that you qualify for being "Nursing Researcher" or whatever it is and a degree in BS Biology or even a Medical Degree is not proof of being a "Nursing Researcher".

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To make it easier to understand:

The H1-B visa has not been available to bedside nurses for more than three years, hospitals do not want to have anything to do with it as well. And add in the fact that many hospitals are unionized and the unions will not accept a temporary visa like this any longer.

Nurse researchers in the US have the MSN after their names for most of the positions to start off with, and it is almost impossible to find a company that will sponsor you with that, there is not a shortage of nurses that are willing to do research.

And for the other poster above, if you hold an Australian passport, then you can qualify under the E-3 visa which is a treaty visa similar to the NAFTA TN Visa that Canadians and Mexican RNs can get rather easily. It does require that you have passed the NCLEX exam, and have a Visa Screen Certificate in hand before you can even apply for it. You may wish to check things out with the US Embassy down there for specifics on it.

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