International student and hospital sponsorship

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I know that some hospitals and medical facilities pay your way through nursing school in exchange for mandatory years of dedication to them after graduation. some even give stipends in exchange for the hours that you work while in nursing school, while others don't require any sort of commitment til after you graduate. I live in New York but I am an international student who has 80 credits towards a bachelor's degree in Biology, thinking about switching from premed to nursing. I would like any information from any one who could help. my ultimate goal is to become a CRNA and i would not mind sticking it with one institution with minimal pay til i accomplish my goals. let me know what you guys think i do love reading the threads. thank you.

thank you guys for all the responses. i am beginning to think that maybe i have been misinformed or that my question was misunderstood.

getting the BSN for me is the easy part. I currently have a 3.9 GPA from Iona college in premed Biology, i might just finish up the biology degree and enter into a bridge program. m

my problem though is with the "gaining experience" bit. I have been on other forums with nursing recruiters who were adamant that they could place international student nurse graduates into hospital sponsorship for green card relationships but in places other than new york city, which is where i would love to remain.

My question was simply to try to find if there were any facilities in New York City that were willing to do this, and even better, facilities that were willing to stick it out with a student, and not a nurse. I do not mind doing volunteer work (no pay). i am not after a job, but help in gaining the experience.

I also will not mind working for more than a year as an RN as long as my eventual dream of becoming a CRNA is reached.

My entire life i thought that becoming an anastesiologist was in the cards for me. My goal was never motivated by financial gain, but rather with the thought of using my skills to help others. then i found out about CRNAs and i LOVED the job description. the stress, the long hours all appeal to me. (yes, the salary does help a bit, but that is not my primary concern).

i want to know that i am doing something with my skills that will benefit people. thanks again for all your responses.

Once again, it was my understanding that there WERE facilities out there willing to sponsor green cards, but i am beginning to think that i am mis-informed.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
thank you guys for all the responses. i am beginning to think that maybe i have been misinformed or that my question was misunderstood.

getting the BSN for me is the easy part. I currently have a 3.9 GPA from Iona college in premed Biology, i might just finish up the biology degree and enter into a bridge program. m

my problem though is with the "gaining experience" bit. I have been on other forums with nursing recruiters who were adamant that they could place international student nurse graduates into hospital sponsorship for green card relationships but in places other than new york city, which is where i would love to remain.

My question was simply to try to find if there were any facilities in New York City that were willing to do this, and even better, facilities that were willing to stick it out with a student, and not a nurse. I do not mind doing volunteer work (no pay). i am not after a job, but help in gaining the experience.

I also will not mind working for more than a year as an RN as long as my eventual dream of becoming a CRNA is reached.

My entire life i thought that becoming an anastesiologist was in the cards for me. My goal was never motivated by financial gain, but rather with the thought of using my skills to help others. then i found out about CRNAs and i LOVED the job description. the stress, the long hours all appeal to me. (yes, the salary does help a bit, but that is not my primary concern).

i want to know that i am doing something with my skills that will benefit people. thanks again for all your responses.

Once again, it was my understanding that there WERE facilities out there willing to sponsor green cards, but i am beginning to think that i am mis-informed.

Not so much as mis informed just not informed of the effects of retrogression and that although some hospitals (although getting less and less) will petition you for GC but not via the route of AOS as that at the moment does not exist so therefore not able to stay in the US whilst going through that process. To be able to stay in the US and work or gain experience you need I485 filing and that can not be filed unless visas are current.

I commend you on having a plan on where you see yourself in the future just may not take you the time you are thinking of but longer.

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Recruiters can promise anything, but they are not the ones that issue the green card, nor set the requirements for the type of program that you are interested in for grad school. And most recruiters are just marketing you to facilities and do not usually work for them, but get a commission on those that they place.

Having the grade point that you do now with your Biology coursework does not mean that it will continue thru a nursing program, there are many more things that are thrown into the equation.

And having just completed two years here, it is going to be hard to get into the nursing program directly in the third year, there are many other classes that you will need to have completed. You are looking at it from a point of being finished, not from the starting point. And again, just because you can get the OPT, it does not mean that you will get accepted to a program during your first year of being out of school.. Actually quite hard to do that.

And with the retrogression, things have changed considerably and there is no guarantee that one will be able to remain in the US, no matter what any recruiter tells you.

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thank you guys for all the responses. i am beginning to think that maybe i have been misinformed or that my question was misunderstood.

getting the BSN for me is the easy part. I currently have a 3.9 GPA from Iona college in premed Biology, i might just finish up the biology degree and enter into a bridge program. m

my problem though is with the "gaining experience" bit. I have been on other forums with nursing recruiters who were adamant that they could place international student nurse graduates into hospital sponsorship for green card relationships but in places other than new york city, which is where i would love to remain.

My question was simply to try to find if there were any facilities in New York City that were willing to do this, and even better, facilities that were willing to stick it out with a student, and not a nurse. I do not mind doing volunteer work (no pay). i am not after a job, but help in gaining the experience.

I also will not mind working for more than a year as an RN as long as my eventual dream of becoming a CRNA is reached.

My entire life i thought that becoming an anastesiologist was in the cards for me. My goal was never motivated by financial gain, but rather with the thought of using my skills to help others. then i found out about CRNAs and i LOVED the job description. the stress, the long hours all appeal to me. (yes, the salary does help a bit, but that is not my primary concern).

i want to know that i am doing something with my skills that will benefit people. thanks again for all your responses.

Once again, it was my understanding that there WERE facilities out there willing to sponsor green cards, but i am beginning to think that i am mis-informed.

In the healthcare field, you are not going to find any facility anywhere in the US that is going to be willing to pay your expenses in return for a stipend, it just does not work this way for international students, because again, there is no guarantee that you will be able to remain here. Things have changed considerably the past 18 months or so and actually is only getting worse and not better.

The OPT is only valid for one year maximum and is never renewable for any reason. If you can only work for one year, then what are you going to do if you do not get into school during that time? We are not trying to be difficult, but only want you to be very aware of what is happening in the world of immigration as well as healthcare.

Hospitals are getting tighter and tighter on just petitioning, let alone being asked to pay for the schooling of a student at this time. Things are not how they were even just a year ago.

And even though a recruiter is telling you something, it has no bearing on anything as you are looking at minimum of two years of being at the point in time of needing them as well as they actually cannot even legally offer a job to you until you have either passed the NCLEX-RN exam or have the OPT in hand. Those are requirements of the federal government here.

And what there is even a chance of now does not mean that it will even exist two years from now and that is what we are trying to get you to understand.

Best of luck to you.

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hi, i would like to study nursing,I do not have any degrees but i have 7 years experience as a care worker ,is there any institution that would sponsor me>?,when i qualify i would work the required amount of years with them.?i am actually British but i hold an American passport as my dads American.

any info,advice..would be great!!!

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any advice would be much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
hi, i would like to study nursing,I do not have any degrees but i have 7 years experience as a care worker ,is there any institution that would sponsor me>?,when i qualify i would work the required amount of years with them.?i am actually British but i hold an American passport as my dads American.

any info,advice..would be great!!!

I think you will find it hard to find a hospital willing to sponsor you in the manner you are looking for. Due to the recession the US is suffering and many hospitals having financial difficulties many hospitals are reluctant to assist with training for x amount of years service.

Just a note for others reading this UK girl has dual UK/US citizenship and isn't looking for sponsorship to the US but assistance with costs to go to nursing school

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Hi, I am the exception. I graduated as an RN in 08, worked in a CICU for 11.5 months using my OPT, then went home, got one more year of ICU. Took the GRE, scored 1310, flew to Miami for an Interview and got in. So it is not impossible, just very difficult.

Now I have a question, what will the chances of getting a green card as a CRNA? will I be able to get another OPT year since CRNA is different than RN?

Thank you for your advise, I have two weeks to accept my spot.

Thanks

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
Hi, I am the exception. I graduated as an RN in 08, worked in a CICU for 11.5 months using my OPT, then went home, got one more year of ICU. Took the GRE, scored 1310, flew to Miami for an Interview and got in. So it is not impossible, just very difficult.

Now I have a question, what will the chances of getting a green card as a CRNA? will I be able to get another OPT year since CRNA is different than RN?

Thank you for your advise, I have two weeks to accept my spot.

Thanks

In theory, CRNA's should qualify for EB-2 Visa sponsorship (professionals holding advanced degrees, at least a Master's degree). I believe EB-2 visas are currently available (someone can correct me if I'm wrong). But again, the process has to start with a job offer from an eligible employer once you become a full-fledged CRNA. You have over 2 years of full time studying which includes a large amount of financial cost in the form of tuition and living expenses before you could be certified as a CRNA, receive an offer of employment, and hopefully get the visa process going. To me, it is somewhat of a big gamble because you don't know what's going to happen within that period of time as far as your chances of getting a job offer and visas still being currently available. It would be totally worth it to continue on and accept the slot at the university if you have a Plan B in place such as being able to practice as a CRNA in your country of origin if everything else fails. Finally, I would absolutely seek the advice of an immigration lawyer who knows how these things work instead of relying on this forum.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

China and India are still affected by retrogression in EB2 however other countries at the moment are current

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Hi and thank you!, well...I am not chinese or indian, I am from Italy. So yes, E2 is current and I do not see it going into retrogression (it never has).

But I am scared! this is a 150k dollar investment, and if I cannot find an employer who will provide an H1b and then a green card I am screwed! I am trying to contact potential employer to test their reaction, but so far I only talked to a large employer in FL and they did not think they would do that for me since there are plenty of American for the job.

One part of me says go!, I mean if a CRNA cannot get an H1b who can?

Another part of me says, you are crazy, spend 150k dollars without knowing if I will be able to stay!

Gosh I don't know what to do! I have 2 weeks to decide to accept the position or not!

Also, I do not know if I would qualify for the OPT since I have taken OPT once as an RN. But CRNA is very different than RN, so I believe I still qualify.

Thank you for your replies.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

To use OPT it has to be higher than what the previous OPT was used for. I would check with your International student advisor. There is no guarantee that you will find a employer for either H1b or GC when you qualify, also think about what if there isn't and you have to return back to Italy, can you use your qualification in Italy?

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