Is the hiring freeze/retrogression of foreign RNs over?

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I got surprised, an old acquaintance of mine sent me pictures (of their hospital orientation and their hospital ID badges showing they are RNs in that particular hospital). They flew in from the Philippines to the US less than two weeks ago to work in a big South Texas Hospital, although I didn't get additional info how they were hired and how their docs were processed. But I was wondering, are they hiring RNs from different countries again?

easy.....before you have a heart attack from being angry and thinking that the world is not fair, i would like to clarify that she also worked as an icu rn in the middle east for a short while. but in the philippine setting, she only was a volunteer before and was not paid at all----- because she told me that in as much as she wanted to work there, there are not very many staff rn jobs available.

keywords: for a short while. you need several years experience in order to qualify for a h1b visa. a short while usually wont qualify.

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How do you know that a "short while" wouldn't make one qualified? She didn't tell me exactly what a short while is-----that is subjective-----short while could be one year, two years, three years.....it depends on her perspective. Also, I don't see in the immigration website that anybody with an experience in nursing that is "short while" usually won't qualify? Apparently it got her a working visa. By the way, may I ask you, when you say "you need several years of experience in order to qualify", how many years are you exactly referring to?

Keywords: for a short while. You need several years experience in order to qualify for a H1b visa. A short while usually wont qualify.
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I know. That is why I said take it easy. This is a forum -----a place for intelligent discussions and a place to share your thoughts, insights, and opinions with the whole world-----no need to take things personally.

People were only responding to the information YOU put out there.
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Several years experience can be anywhere between 2-5 years, it just depends on how you look at it. A short while could mean anything less than that, but most likely anything less than a year. If your friend doesn't have years experience in a specialty area of nursing in which a BSN is a requirement, and doesn't have several years experience then I'm sorry but that person doesn't qualify. Sometimes people manage to obtain a visa that they don't qualify for and usually they get caught. If someone is willing to lie in order to obtain a visa and they get caught then they should be prepared to suffer the consequences and not complain if they're forced to return home and are banned for how ever many years. As stated earlier, you get what you pay for. People shouldn't assume that they wont be found out and most likely it's because someone rightfully turned them in. Since you seem to be the one who is taking things personally I suggest you don't read this forum because you're going to come across a lot of people opinions whether you like them or not.

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She is an acquaintance and not a close friend and I wasn't with her when she filed her documents. As far as I know and based on what she said, she followed the rules. I cannot speculate further than that. IF she didn't follow the rules (I'm not saying she didn't but ASSUMING she didn't), then she would suffer the consequences. If she did follow the rules, then I don't see why she should be deprived of that chance.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

There certainly are no arbitrary number of years required for experience written in the rules as far as H1B Visas. All it says is that the petitioned employee works in a specialized profession requiring a Bachelor's degree. That's where nursing becomes problematic in terms of H1B Visa approval. The minimum requirement for entry into many professional nursing practice roles is an Associate's degree - even for nurses in Critical Care. In fact, there are many "experienced" ICU nurses who have an Associate's as their highest nursing degree.

To the OP, I am just wondering why you started this thread in the first place. Your initial post was questioning how a goup of Filipino nurses were able to get hired recently in a large hospital in South Texas and then you later gave an update that one of the nurses arrived on a "working visa" having only had volunteer experience in the Philippines. Then, when that fact was questioned (and rightfully so), you said that this person has experience working for a while in the Middle East. Against a backdrop of an economc recession when many nurses (even some experienced ones) are having a tough time finding a job, it's hard for others reading this thread to not react the way they did.

I am happy that this person you know has a job in the US. I sure hope that the real circumstances leading to this person's arrival to the US weren't fraudulent. Each case is reviewed individually by the immigration service and we really don't know much about this case other than what you've posted based on what you were told. As a Filipino-American, I would be very careful posting threads that doesn't really do a lot of service to the kind of image we Filipino nurses are conveying to the International Nursing Community. I hate to say this but your posts did make it seem like this person cheated their way into an H1B Visa.

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If she did follow the rules, then I don't see why she should be deprived of that chance.

If one does follow the rules, they shouldn't be deprived of having the chance to work on a H1b visa. But the way you described things it seemed as if she didn't qualify. If she did indeed qualify then good for her, if she didn't then she was one of the lucky ones who slipped through the cracks and wont be so lucky if caught.

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Specializes in CTICU.

Regardless of her experience, she does NOT qualify - because a position in a SNF does not REQUIRE a bachelor degree.

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exactly my thoughts, juan de la cruz.

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Texas Hospitals are understaffed for RN's, and it is still a employee market in many cities.

The are still Visa's that Pinays' came come to the USA with, and eventually work with. I would just ask your friend what Visa she was granted.

Texas Hospitals will take new nurses from Philippines and put them in a 3 to 4 month New Grad Training Program. Philippines Nurses have a excellent reputation and that tend to be highly sought after from hospitals from what I have observed

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Texas Hospitals are understaffed for RN's, and it is still a employee market in many cities.

The are still Visa's that Pinays' came come to the USA with, and eventually work with. I would just ask your friend what Visa she was granted.

Texas Hospitals will take new nurses from Philippines and put them in a 3 to 4 month New Grad Training Program. Philippines Nurses have a excellent reputation and that tend to be highly sought after from hospitals from what I have observed

H1b visa is not for new nurses. Currently there is retrogression so there is a long long wait to come to the USA>

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Texas Hospitals are understaffed for RN's, and it is still a employee market in many cities.

The are still Visa's that Pinays' came come to the USA with, and eventually work with. I would just ask your friend what Visa she was granted.

Texas Hospitals will take new nurses from Philippines and put them in a 3 to 4 month New Grad Training Program. Philippines Nurses have a excellent reputation and that tend to be highly sought after from hospitals from what I have observed

There aren't any visas available for new nurses from any country unless they are coming under another visa or had a PD from many years ago. They also don't qualify for a H1b visa.

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