Hi, I was hoping for some advice regarding my sort of special case. I am a nursing student, originally from Bosnia. I moved to the US a little over 9yrs ago and have completed part of middle school, all of high school, a bachelors degree in science and am about to complete a BSN in Nursing, all here in the US. I came to the US under my parents' work visa, but since we had still not received a green card yet, I had to transfer to F-1 student (International student) status once I turned 21 years old. This is my status presently. I will graduate next May (2008) and am planning to apply for Employment Authorization Documents so I can do my Optional Practical Training (OPT) as soon as I graduate. I understand that once I start the OPT, I have 12 months (plus possibly 2 more months) to finish this training. In this time, I assume, if I desire to continue to work in the US, which I do, I would need to have my employer sponsor me for a work visa. Is this correct? And all this has to be done before I could be eligible for a green card? Correct? I am trying to understand the process in order to plan accordingly. Does this mean that I need to be talking to my prospective employers who may want to hire me next May about sponsoring me for a work visa right away? Is it true that I may apply for a work visa only in March and could, under best circumstances, get it in October (this is information my mom received, but she is an architect so I don't know if it applies to nursing). I would greatly appreciate some help in understanding the requirements for non-citizen nurses desiring to work in the US, and having a US nursing degree.
As silverdrangon said, it's not bad to ask for a fee but do you want to ask for a fee in this era of nursing glut? most hospitals are getting rid of the sign-on bonus. Heck, some have also gotten rid of weekend differentials. If you're gonna ask them to petition, be flexible when negotiating a salary and things like sign-on bonuses. There are citizens of this country who can't find nursing jobs.
As i read in your post is there really a short windo wto apply for I140, EAD and AOS at this time or r u talking about last year.
Up until last October (2006) nurses was expediated under Schedule A. Then the demand became too high and visas ran out nurses reverted back to EB3 which resulted in retrogression. Now unless visas are available you are not able to adjust if living in the USA unless you meet the criteria and visas are available and then you can file for I140,EAD AOS and be able to work. At the moment there has been a short window to be able to do this and things may change next year but because you will be starting the process next year we can't predict what will happen.
All I can say at the moment is complete your studying and pass NCLEX and wait to see what next year brings.
Hopeully Suzanne can put a bit better light on this although I hopefully have given you something to think about
The window has been closed since August of last year, there is no way to file for the AOS at this time.
And there is no way to file a petition for the EAD either since the US government is not accepting the I-485 and that is what is needed to adjust your status.
We do not expect it to open up for several years, and not before then.
Much has already been written on this subject of the retrogression, there is not going to be any forward movement for quite some time with the AOS.
suzanne4, RN
26,410 Posts
Many are all in the same boat right now and will be for some time.