Hello from the new girl!!

sjb2005 · Nov 6, 2005

Welcome to allnurses...janejoeben. This is a very valuable site. Glad you found us and glad you are here!

Editorial Team / Admin · Nov 6, 2005

hi all, i have just discovered this web site, bloody fantastic!! i am a e grade in a&e and have just started my us application procedure. have just filled our the millions of forms and hoping to sit my nclex in three months. i have some questions i hope some of you can help me with..... has anyone gone with ogp? are they pretty good? (seem efficient enough at this early stage!), how is the nclex? i have years of a&e experience, think i will trip up on the other area questions! have any of you travelled to the us with family? i am planning to go with my husband and two kids aged 9 and 2 years! how do you pick a region as you preferance? i have only ever visited florida, so we are picking out of thin air! so many questions! hope someone will answer me! cheers, jane. xx:uhoh3:

hello and welcome to allnurses.com

it is great to have you with us. you should receive responses to your questions. so good you found us. enjoy the forums.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 6, 2005

Hi all, I have just discovered this web site, bloody fantastic!! I am a E grade in A&E and have just started my US application procedure. Have just filled our the millions of forms and hoping to sit my nclex in three months. I have some questions I hope some of you can help me with..... Has anyone gone with OGP? Are they pretty good? (seem efficient enough at this early stage!), How is the nclex? I have years of A&E experience, think I will trip up on the other area questions! Have any of you travelled to the US with family? I am planning to go with my husband and two kids aged 9 and 2 years! How do you pick a region as you preferance? I have only ever visited Florida, so we are picking out of thin air! So many questions! Hope someone will answer me! Cheers, Jane. xx:uhoh3:

hello and welcome

NCLEX is a hard exam to pass especially if you have yrs of experience. I found the saunders an great book and also this website. I paid for a 7 or 9 week course and it was great for explaining the US side of things. http://www.learningext.com

OPG can be very orginaised but they cannot generally place you where you want to go even tho they ask for preferences. Some times it is worth sticking to your guns on where you want to live, do plenty of research.

There are a couple on here going with OPG and it hasn't taken them long whereas I am generally doing it with a recruiter from a hospital and it has taken us over 2 yrs to get to this stage and still waiting for approval. the benefit I have doing it this way is that I am going where I want to go not where the agency places or tries to place me

Have a search on a few of the threads there are plenty of good info about

Good luck

plato353 · Nov 6, 2005

OGP are like the plaque i hate the buggers.you can diy.look at this website http://www.21stcenturynurse.com. click on the us flag go to directory. the there will be an interactive map click on hospital links there are loads of them.the website gives you a hospital profile

the idea is you can contact a hospital arrange an appointment fly out and sign a deal.its what my wife and i will be doing:)thus your circumnavigate the whole process.its good if the hopsital is willing to pay for your visa and you will probably getpaid more because ogp wont skim your wages you will be paid directly by the hopsital

check out the area where you would like to live http://www.realtor.com as to get a flavour of house prices.

hope it helps

plato353

janejoeben · Nov 6, 2005

Thanks for that info, just one question..... If the hospital sponser your green card, does it then become invalid if you leave their employment? That was one of the things that appealed about OGP, you finish your contract then can go wherever without loosing your green card. The other thing is that we don't really know where we want to go, we are looking at so many different areas. As I am A&E, I want a decent trauma centre. Do the hospitals sponser your family as well, or do you have them on your green card, not sure how it would work with my husband wanting to work once we got there?? So many questions!! lol, :uhoh3:

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 7, 2005

Thanks for that info, just one question..... If the hospital sponser your green card, does it then become invalid if you leave their employment? That was one of the things that appealed about OGP, you finish your contract then can go wherever without loosing your green card. The other thing is that we don't really know where we want to go, we are looking at so many different areas. As I am A&E, I want a decent trauma centre. Do the hospitals sponser your family as well, or do you have them on your green card, not sure how it would work with my husband wanting to work once we got there?? So many questions!! lol,

no it does not become invalid. You are only contracted to the hosptial for agreed time and then you can move on. You keep the greencard. If you leave before you finish your contract with the hospital there is usually a fee to pay back which helps cover the cost of the hsoptial paying for the immigration process that is all. My husband is also getting a greencard and wll have his interview the same time as me and then can start looking for work immediately we get out there. When ever that will be.

good luck

plato353 · Nov 7, 2005

becomes invalid when you change employment.basically a contract with an american hospital is legal and binding its not like in the uk where you have a contract and them leave midway through.in the us they like to enforce contractual agreements.however there are time when you can opt out amicably sometimes there might be fee involved. i can site so many names of my friends who have been dumped in dives in arizona by ogp

the idea to choos e where to work by looking your self is great ogp places nurses at the last minute at a hospital thats why you never know in advance where you are going specifically.there is an added advantage to that (planning for school ,house hunting etc).

when you do get your reen card it would include the whole family and children under 21.your husband is your spouce and is covered

try www.salary.com to see what a rn earns across the us

hope that helps

plato353

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Nov 7, 2005

Welcome aboard! :)

english_nurse · Nov 7, 2005

becomes invalid when you change employment.basically a contract with an american hospital is legal and binding its not like in the uk where you have a contract and them leave midway through.in the us they like to enforce contractual agreements.however there are time when you can opt out amicably sometimes there might be fee involved. i can site so many names of my friends who have been dumped in dives in arizona by ogp
the idea to choos e where to work by looking your self is great ogp places nurses at the last minute at a hospital thats why you never know in advance where you are going specifically.there is an added advantage to that (planning for school ,house hunting etc).
when you do get your reen card it would include the whole family and children under 21.your husband is your spouce and is covered
try www.salary.com to see what a rn earns across the us
hope that helps
plato353

i think you may have your facts a bit wrong here, a greencard is a residence visa not a work visa, if you dont complete your contract with ogp you have to pay them a fee to cover their costs you do not have to return to the uk as you have the right to remain on your green card. you could flip burgers at macdonalds if you wanted to but still remain as your visa allows you to do this. (obviuosly burger flipper wouldnt get you a greencard in the first place as its not a skill shortage that they have at present:rotfl: )

is this right silver dragon? thats the impression i got anyway

plato353 · Nov 7, 2005

i think you might have extacted the wrong section.it did state that green card does not change at all your status.the issue i am adressing the freedom you have if you do it yourself like i did my going out to cali and negotiating with a hospitall myself.they do appreciate it.

the website sited in the paragraph gives you an idea of where to look and what to expect.

hence the fact that i am not silverdragon but

plato353

Silverdragon102, BSN · Nov 7, 2005

i think you may have your facts a bit wrong here, a greencard is a residence visa not a work visa, if you dont complete your contract with ogp you have to pay them a fee to cover their costs you do not have to return to the uk as you have the right to remain on your green card. you could flip burgers at macdonalds if you wanted to but still remain as your visa allows you to do this. (obviuosly burger flipper wouldnt get you a greencard in the first place as its not a skill shortage that they have at present:rotfl: )
is this right silver dragon? thats the impression i got anyway

That is also how I believe it works. I know of a couple of people where it didn't work out with the hosptial and they just had to pay a fee to cover costs taking into account a deduction for time served. They was then free to look for work elsewhere. Nurses was chenged to getting a greencard to safe guard them and ensure that they get the same pay as their US counterparts, as many foreign nurses used to be abused and dropped at a moments notice and have to leave the US straight away

I am sure Suzanne would offer more advice on this post