International nursing students in the US

World Immigration

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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.

i know its really hard to get a nursing job in NY or anywhere in the US, but i really can't see myself working in Israel- here nursing is just a glorified, educated maid.

i'm just considering my options right now- what will be the most efficient way to get a license in the US.

thanks for the quick response! :)

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

It isn't so much as getting your license to be a RN in the US the issue is obtaining a visa allowing you to live and work in the US. That at the moment is taking 6+ years due to retrogression. You may want to consider either gaining experience in your own country or look at another country to live and work

does anyone know what will happen when one cannot find a job during the opt? i did my adn and got my rn license. now, i am on opt. as far my information, one can be without a job only for 90 days while in opt. however, i am tired of applying everywhere in my locality. i begged to offer me any nursing job in any facility (lvn, aid, or ma). but nothing helped. when should i apply for f2 visa (spouse visa, as husband is f1)? should i wait for 12 whole months or apply now when i can not find any job? please provide me suggestions.

never felt so helpless. i am really regretting my decision to study "nursing". why everyone lied about "nursing shortage" ? i really wish i did some research on this community before starting nursing! i do not want to go back to school and do bsn or msn, because same thing will happen after i come out of school.

i was crying when the biggest hospital in the locality said they are not going to hire me because they have to sponsor me after one year. this was the same hospital where i did most of my clinicals. i interviewed there for two times. they were interested in hiring me until this visa issue came forward. in my class there were 61 graduates (4 of us were international). who would hire someone with all these visa issues if they can hire easily someone else without any visa issue?

please students beware of these false claims of "nursing shortage"!!!

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

If you can't meet requirements for OPT then you need to change status to F2 quickly to maintain your legal status in the US. Things are hard for US nurses never mind International students that need sponsoring. Even if you find a job and employer willing to sponsor you, you will generally come under EB3 which is under retrogression and you will not be able to change your status and continue working. Currently there is a 5-9 year wait depending on where you was born for a immigrant visa

Thank you so much for your reply. I understand the situation here. Just regret that why I did not study Biology (in which I have an earlier MS) or Law (in which I have a BS)! Always love older people and thought I could be really compassionate Geriatric Nurse. May be "nursing" is not made for me :(

I really appreciate your reply.

Dear bsnwnab, thank you for your reply. I do appreciate your words of encouragement. I will definitely consider the paths you showed me. Please, carry on this good job because those words can bring a ray of hope to the life of people (like me). :))

Dear bsnwnab, thanks a ton for sending me the link for RN to MSN program. I am giving it a serious thought now. No words of appreciation can explain how much grateful I am. God bless you :)

Specializes in CTICU.

Change status ASAP if you no longer meet the requirements for your F1 visa. Don't wait 12 months. Don't wait 12 days. Do it before you accumulate unlawful presence. Also be aware - just because you do a masters degree gives you no more guarantee of a job or visa at the end of it, and it is very expensive to study on a student visa as you no doubt already know.

Thank you ghillbert, for your reply. I agree with your suggestion. Yes, it is sad but truth that even a MSN degree will not guarantee a job. I appreciate your reply.

does anyone know of any hospitals in southern california that will sponsor?

I think there was a question about online classes on this thread, but I can't remember where/which of the 106 pages of this thread, so I'd like to ask again...

F1 students are NOT allowed to be enrolled in 100% online programs?? For example, MSN Educator, MSN Admin, MSN NP, MSN IT??

thanks

Hey Spring2002, which school are you graduating in? nAre you based in the city? What are your plans after graduation?:nuke:[/quo

I am going to graduate from Dominican College in new york. i have a lot of plans, the problem is a lot of them are not good. one plan is to go with an agency (but then i might not get the visa plus the agency pays about 1/2 of what an american nurse would get), my other plan is to look for hospitals that sponsor directly, but a lot of them do not do this anyone, and I don't know which ones will :( ! my third plan is to just get a job regardless of weather i can be sponsored and after my OPT expires, i will go back to school, the problem with that is i don't have the money to do that. my last option is to still get a job, then after my opt expires, i could go to another country, but then i know it is easier said than done. i know i am being very negative here, but there is nothing positive about the situation right now. i am very stressed out!:cry:

HI spring2002

I am new to this forum and i would like to know how everything worked out for you.. I am in my senior year of nursing in Dominican College and on F1 student visa here as well... I am looking into a lot of hospitals right now , however, still waiting for this semester with medical surgical II to be done.

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