For those of you that are studying in the US under either an F-1 visa, or any other where you do not have permission to work, and will need to apply for a green card when you finish your schooling-----this is for you.
You must meet all of the requirements for immigration that a foreign-trained nurse does, the only exception that you have is that the English requirements are waived for you. You still need to submit the application and get a Visa Screen Certificate. This is offered by CGFNS and the application is available on their website, http://www.CGFNS.org. There is only one application available, whether you did your training in the US, or overseas.
You will still need to find an employer that will petition for your green card. You will still need to undergo a physical exam at a physician's office that is approved by USCIS an have verification of all titers and vaccinations. If you do not have verifiable proof of having had chicken pox, etc., you will need to have either a titer drawn, or receive the vaccination. Immigration is very strict now with this, they will no longer go on what you are verbally telling them.
Hope that this helps...............most of you will also be able to get an OPT for one year of training while your documents are being processed, but you can only receive the OPT once, especially if this is now a second career for you, and you already used your OPT status for the other.
If you are coming to the US just for the MSN, and already have a BSN from overseas, you will be required to write the English exams. You are only exempt from them if this is your initial training as a nurse, meaning ADN or BSN only.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi....i just want to ask if i have a BSN already but was done outside USA....is it possible to take a refresher course in the US and work eventually?
there are refresher courses in the US but not sure about PI. How long ago did you do your BSN. You may find employers treat you as new grad anyway so may make no difference
so what's the common position/shift for newly grads with clinical hours and at the same time asking for GC petition? My nursing school is in Michigan and I think most of the hospitals here aren't too savvy about hiring US educated foreign nurse. Any other experience?
thanks,
velv
She want's to work in tele, icu, or med surge. However, she's not sure if hospitals here entertain newly grads with only school clinical experience.
Very important question for you: Did you use the OPT with your other degree at all? If so, you will not qualify for it now. That is something that I did not see you post about.
You are currently under the F-1 status, and will remain under that even if under the OPT. The OPT is not a visa, only a document that permits you to work for up to one year. It cannot be renewed.
You can continue your studies while you are under the OPT. You are still a student at that time.
The I-140 and the I-485 can be filed at the same time, the issue is that it takes about a month to get the documentation together that the attorney needs submit the I-140. The other issue is that the US is still under the retrogression, and only the I-140 can be submitted at this time. If there are no visas avaiable when you are done with your OPT, you will have to go back to becoming a full-time student to be able to remain legally in the US. And there is no way to work during that time until you can qualify for the CPT, available during you during school under certain circumstances.
Hope that this helps.
Hi Suzanne,
you are very helpful. I never used OPT before. This is my plan, I will finish school in May, I will start my OPT in July. If I will be granted my GC within the year great, if not I will go back to school to get my BSN and work at the University Hospital. Hopefully by the time I get my BSN I will get my GC. If it works out for me I will have a GC and enough ICU experience to apply to CRNA school.
I just hope that the retrogression is not going to kill my dreams, I feel I can contribute to this country, I am top of my class, I would like to go home but I don't because I am afraid I won't let back in..... I love this country and I know I will be a great nurse.
thanks silverdragon102...i dont think PI offres refrsher courses for nurses....i had my BSN in 1996...i have been working in the Arabian Gulf as a nurse for 8 years...and i plan to take or have a Nursing refresher course in the States. I dunno if there are places i can work with just my BSN degree Have my RN when i get there.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
thanks silverdragon102...i dont think PI offres refrsher courses for nurses....i had my BSN in 1996...i have been working in the Arabian Gulf as a nurse for 8 years...and i plan to take or have a Nursing refresher course in the States. I dunno if there are places i can work with just my BSN degree Have my RN when i get there.
If you have been working as a RN then I don't see any reason to take any refreher course. You should have no problems with your BSN and would suggest you have a good read on here especially the thread/sticky called Primer to working in the US. You need to decide where to live, apply for licensure with that state BON and they will decide whether you meet their requirements. You may also have to go through CGFNS for CES unless they do their own requirements (which only a few do) or need CGFNS exam but again only a handful require that.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
so what's the common position/shift for newly grads with clinical hours and at the same time asking for GC petition? My nursing school is in Michigan and I think most of the hospitals here aren't too savvy about hiring US educated foreign nurse. Any other experience?
thanks,
velv
I think at the moment a lot of hospitals are reluctant to petition foreign nurses even US trained foreign nurses because of retrogression and no visas currently and average waiting time is well over 12 months or much longer
so what's the common position/shift for newly grads with clinical hours and at the same time asking for GC petition? My nursing school is in Michigan and I think most of the hospitals here aren't too savvy about hiring US educated foreign nurse. Any other experience?
thanks,
velv
It can be any shift, but the bigger question for you is where are you from? If from Canada, then you can get the Nafta TN Visa and be able to work. The hospitals in MI have been employing foreign nurses for many years, back since I can remember. But the issue that you face is that there are no visas currently available, so most will not start the process for you to begin with. We do not know when visas will be available again.
There is absolutely no difference in hiring requirements or procedures in the nurse trained in the US or in another country. You have to go thru everything, the only thing that is waived is the English exam, and nothing more.
Hi....i just want to ask if i have a BSN already but was done outside USA....is it possible to take a refresher course in the US and work eventually?
If you have not been away from nursing for a number of years, there is no reason to take a refresher course. It will not help you at all. You have experience and quite a few years of it, you are just going to need to find an employer to start the petitioning process for you. If you are going to a hospital, you will get what ever other skills that they want you to learn from the facility in the first place. You will be going thru their orientation process.
you are very helpful. I never used OPT before. This is my plan, I will finish school in May, I will start my OPT in July. If I will be granted my GC within the year great, if not I will go back to school to get my BSN and work at the University Hospital. Hopefully by the time I get my BSN I will get my GC. If it works out for me I will have a GC and enough ICU experience to apply to CRNA school.
I just hope that the retrogression is not going to kill my dreams, I feel I can contribute to this country, I am top of my class, I would like to go home but I don't because I am afraid I won't let back in..... I love this country and I know I will be a great nurse.
Sounds like a good plan. But you make mention of if you go home, then you will not get back into the US. If you do not have the proper documentation right now, then you cannot even start the green card process, or even the OPT process without having immigration problems.
Please be very careful with this, the EAD that comes with the OPT is sent by immigration, if you do not think that you can go home again and return; then you are going to have big issues with this.
thanks silverdragon102...i dont think PI offres refrsher courses for nurses....i had my BSN in 1996...i have been working in the Arabian Gulf as a nurse for 8 years...and i plan to take or have a Nursing refresher course in the States. I dunno if there are places i can work with just my BSN degree Have my RN when i get there.
Read my other post to you. If you have been working as an RN, there are no refresher courses even available to you. You will get all of the training that you need for the job that you are hired for when you start. There is no way for you to take a refresher course before you get a visa to work in the US.
nurse.me
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Hi....i just want to ask if i have a BSN already but was done outside USA....is it possible to take a refresher course in the US and work eventually?