are there hospitals in USA who accept foreign RN with little or no nursing experience

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are there hospitals in usa who accept foreign rn with little or no nursing experience?

thanks need ur help guys, i just passed the nclex exam. i am worried that i won't have a employer for my license will expire by 2012.. nursing agencies here in our country only accept nurses with at least 2 years experience:crying2:

The 1000+ figure is from myvisajobs.com (I do not support this website), which lists the employer name in addition the the number of visas they are requesting. Labor certifications mean that the companies are requesting employees, not necessarily hiring them. There were only 100+ h1b visas issued for nurses for 2009, and I no knowledge currently of how many exactly were issued this year, but the 1000+ labor certification figure is a fact.

And as far as connections, I do mean a having a relative in HR, or sibling of a DON. I don't condone the practice, but the spoils and patronage system happens everyday for foreign and U.S. workers alike.

And I have never heard of an eeoc complaint for hiring a foreigner, it is usually the opposite. The complaint for a U.S. resident not being considered for a h1b visa job would be to the OSC (office of special counsel of department of justice) and not the EEOC. To qualify for an H1b visa, the employer will have to advertise a position for 2-3 weeks in 3 different media outlets. He will have to interview all prospective employees and find actual reasons not the hire the U.S. workers. One reason that employers are not facing OSC complaints is because they are hiring foreign workers WITH experience. If the us worker can prove that they are equally or more qualified, they have grounds for a complaint, which is one reason why it is rare for a inexperienced foreign nurse to land a h1b in the first place.

I agree that it is good for the economy to hire us workers, but unfortunately it is sometimes bad business to do so. Florida Hospital in Florida, one of the largest h1b visa employer estimates that it costs $54,000 to train a new nurse for critical care. Hire a foreign nurse with 10 years experience in critical care for a starting salary sounds like a good deal (even considering fees).

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And I have never heard of an eeoc complaint for hiring a foreigner, it is usually the opposite.

The DON is from a foreign country.

When there is a job opening--either for a nurse or a nursing assistant--she fills the position by word-of-mouth, rather than by advertising the position. According to the EEOC, if hiring by word-of-mouth results in a majority of employees being of any one ethnicity, it is a violation.

Since she has been doing this for years, approximately 90% of the employees in the nursing department are from the same country as the DON. Someone finally blew the whistle on the facility and filed an EEOC complaint. It's a shame and an embarrassment for the facility that it will take intervention by the federal government to stop her illegal behavior.

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When I refer to foreigner, I am referring to someone such as the poster who wanted to leave their country and work in the United States. An EEOC complaint does not apply because the company would have to recruit U.S. workers first, and the OSC has juridiction for all complaints.

Workers who originated from a different country or have parents from a different country, who are U.S. citizens by birth, naturalization, or are U.S. permanent residents, I would consider to be U.S. workers.

In the above example, I have a lot of questions, but they don't belong on the international discussion board. This sounds like a dispute of U.S. resident workers.

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I agree with ghillbert.

Hospitals for fy2010 have over 1000 labor certifications stating that they can not fill available positions (usually in critical care). I believe that many hospitals are facing budget constraints, and do not wish to invest in new grads. For that reason, foreign nurses with experience are still being hired. If a foreign new grad has certain connections, I think it is theoretically possible to be hired, but for the reasons that ginger's mom stated it would still be ALMOST impossible.

I don't understand what is confusing about that.

What I'm seeing is that most hospitals are lacking experience nurses. But due to budget cuts, they're not filling the positions. There are many experienced US RNs who can't seem to find a job due to the positions not being filled. What the hospitals are doing is overworking their current staff and the nurses are becoming burned out. So the chances of experienced RNs abroad being hired are even slimmer than for those US experienced RNs.

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And as to your statement "If a foreign new grad has certain connections..." I'd like some clarification. Preferential hiring based on ethnicity is an EEOC violation. It may be OK in some foreign countries, but in the US it is illegal. :nono:

In fact, the facility I currently work at is facing an EEOC complaint because they preferentially hire too many foreign nurses from one particular country (because the DON is also from that country!) Can't wait to see how it turns out...

I was in a facility just like that. Also those people that were hired had the highest complaints against them. What was done? Absolutely nothing until one of the family members of a resident actually got into the RNs face and questioning her education and level of experience.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
What I'm seeing is that most hospitals are lacking experience nurses. But due to budget cuts, they're not filling the positions. There are many experienced US RNs who can't seem to find a job due to the positions not being filled. What the hospitals are doing is overworking their current staff and the nurses are becoming burned out. So the chances of experienced RNs abroad being hired are even slimmer than for those US experienced RNs.

I think this thread is getting way off hand with off-topic posts. However, I do feel a need to respond.

I personally have not seen the scenario where hospitals are "overworking" current staff by not filling open positions due to budget cuts. I have practiced in the State of Michigan and more recently, California. There are job postings for RN's in Michigan hospitals. I just spoke to HR recently at the hospital I used to work for there and was told that there is no hiring freeze in that hospital. The hospital's website has postings for multiple RN positions though I do notice that they are for specialty units and advanced practice roles. The term "experienced RN" can be very loosely defined. For example, if a hospital needs an RN for a position requiring expertise in mechanical circulatory devices, they are going to hire someone who has experience in caring for patients in this population and not just someone who is "experienced" in general bedside nursing. I've seen hospitals leave a posting unfilled for months until the appropriate candidate who meets the qualifications is hired.

California, on the other hand, is different in that there is an oversupply of RN's here both those with experience and those who just newly graduated. The amount of new grads looking for jobs is astounding considering the very little openings that are now available. The state attracted many nurses from out-of-state who came over the last five or so years for many reasons (weather, higher salaries, etc.). Consider this, the hospital I currently work for had thousands of applicants for less than 20 new grad positions. But I definitely do not hear of a hiring freeze that is resulting in RN's being overburdened with patients. You have to remember that California, of all states, is the only one with specific regulations regarding mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. All acute care hospitals have to comply or risk being reported to the state.

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Some hospital have ZERO job postings. There are hospitals out there that do have postings that have gone unfilled since Oct. 2008. Those jobs haven't been filled and they have had many qualified applicants. They are not filling the positions due to budget cuts. Why would the keep the postings active is beyond me. I'm not saying that the nurses are taking on more patients. What they are doing is working them overtime and adding on to their job description. They are canceling their CNAs and LVNs (for those hospitals that still have them) and having the RNs do their job as well. BTW I'm in CA and this is what's going on in the Bay Area. Not all hospitals, but some. I also have resourses in San Benito and Monterey Counties where they have been hit hard too.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
Some hospital have ZERO job postings. There are hospitals out there that do have postings that have gone unfilled since Oct. 2008. Those jobs haven't been filled and they have had many qualified applicants. They are not filling the positions due to budget cuts. Why would the keep the postings active is beyond me. I'm not saying that the nurses are taking on more patients. What they are doing is working them overtime and adding on to their job description. They are canceling their CNAs and LVNs (for those hospitals that still have them) and having the RNs do their job as well. BTW I'm in CA and this is what's going on in the Bay Area. Not all hospitals, but some. I also have resourses in San Benito and Monterey Counties where they have been hit hard too.

I am in San Francisco and work in a hospital represented by CNA as the Nurses Union. I have not heard of those scenarios, at least, not with memos coming from the union that represents the RN's and Advanced Practice Nurses like myself. The unions have made leaps in stifling mandatory overtime in many major hospital chains (Kaiser Permanente being one). Cancelling CNA's and LVN's has nothing to do with RN job openings. The hospitals are still required to keep a specific number of RN's for each number of patients. If anything, the madatory staffing ratios increased the number of RN's needed in hospitals. If it, in fact, added job descriptions that were normally performed by CNA's, it still shouldn't have affected the fact that RN openings need to be filled to comply with the law. Calfiornia is just overflooded with RN's, that's why there are very little opportunities.

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If you visit individual hospital websites-appears most hospitals especially in Medically Underserved or more rural areas are "screaming" for nurses. What can't I see? The first hospital I visited in Texas-Baptist health had over 20 jobs and most stated "less than one year experience"!!!

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

The fact is that the postings rarely reflect reality. The shortage is long over. Our nursing schools are pumping out way too many new grads as it is.

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There might be small pockets here and there that may have a shortage, but those are few and far between. Overall nationally, there isn't a nursing shortage at least where new grads are concerned.

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Thanks for update Crunch... and NurseCubanita... If I get some positive hospital feedback, I'll post where the "pockets" are. Best wishes,

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