LPN nurses and O.P.T.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jun 28, 2008

As far as I know OPT for nurses is 12 months with no possibility of extending it. I do not think PN will give you the option to remain in the US and work as for immigration it needs to be RN. Plus with retrogression and coming fro India you will be looking at several years even if you did your RN training in the US to stay and work (can not AOS)

Proverbs 16:3 · Jun 28, 2008

Silverdragon102,

there's been some change to the OPT where a person can get a 17month extension. The only thing is that while is says bachelors of science, nursing doesn't qualify under the new extension. It's just STEM professionals who already have OPT about to end.

They made this change in may or so and i think they keep changing it because when it first came, students had to do it through the uscis but in june, they changed it to where you can take the i-20 to your international students office and have them do the extension on the back.

So to the OP, you can't get the extension because currently, nursing doesn't qualify and even if they could find a way to say a BSN is a bachelors in science, LPN wouldn't qualify should it come to that.

Also, keep in mind that they did this extension to allow STEM professionals between H1b's to work. Who know's if they'll discontinue this extension thingamajig once they're able to handle all those applying for the H1b. There was a pdf released somewhere that listed the rules regarding this opt extension. Take the time to read it.

As far as I know OPT for nurses is 12 months with no possibility of extending it. I do not think PN will give you the option to remain in the US and work as for immigration it needs to be RN. Plus with retrogression and coming fro India you will be looking at several years even if you did your RN training in the US to stay and work (can not AOS)

suzanne4, RN · Jun 28, 2008

Those that have gone thru the LPN program, provided that they were on the F-1 can qualify for the 12 month OPT; but never anything any longer.

The other issue that you need to be aware of is that with the LPN, there is no way to get a visa after the OPT is completed to remain in the US legally and work. We do not have any valid visas for that training.

I would recommend doing some reading on the forums here, as you will also find that the LPN training will not get you a visa in any other country either as it does not meet immigration requirements.

You also need to be aware that even if you go on for the RN, it is going to be years before you are able to work here; many from your country are ahead of you and there is a limited number of visas.

sweetlady10 · Jun 29, 2008

thanks guys for all the very informative replies. It seems the one way will be doing the LPN, go for OPT, then do RN, again go for OPT, then do BSN or MSN... if one has a BSN or MSN is she eligible to apply for H1B?

and regarding the retrogression thing, though I am naive with those terms, it seems its like a backlog, right? or like a long queue.. in simple terms..

i did some research on google and found this site>> http://www.nursingusa.com/retro.html

.. is this true what the site is saying? is retrogression almost gone for nursing for the time being..??

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jun 29, 2008

thanks guys for all the very informative replies. It seems the one way will be doing the LPN, go for OPT, then do RN, again go for OPT, then do BSN or MSN... if one has a BSN or MSN is she eligible to apply for H1B?
and regarding the retrogression thing, though I am naive with those terms, it seems its like a backlog, right? or like a long queue.. in simple terms..
i did some research on google and found this site>> http://www.nursingusa.com/retro.html
.. is this true what the site is saying? is retrogression almost gone for nursing for the time being..??

Nothing at the moment is happening with retrogression and there is talk of a bill going through but will not ease the huge queue which is waiting. Nurses at the moment come under EB3 which includes a lot of other professions. There is high demand from certain countries and India's current processing time is unavailable but talk when new year begins in Oct will return to Nov 01 so going by that time scale you are looking at 7 years wait for a visa

suzanne4, RN · Jul 1, 2008

Sorry, but that is definitely not the case. And you are looking at years from now for a chance at a visa to be able to work here and without any guarantee that you will be able to remain in the US once you finish your training. That should be playing an important decision on what you decide to do.

H1-B visas were not designed for nurses, and to get one, one needs to have at least a BSN and be a specialist in their field. New grads are definitely not specialists by any interpretation of the word.

There is also an investigation going on concerning the H1-B visas at this time as well, due to issues on how they were issued and not for what they were designed for.

And you may see the OPT program get changed as well, since there is no way for one to remain in the US to work after that one year of training and get a visa to permit them to remain. So it really does not do any good to grant the one year of OPT in the first place to them. There are no other countries that will accept the one year training for the LPN for immigration purposes either.

nalejha · Feb 15, 2009

Hello All,

I also have some questions regarding this OPT. Currently I am in my Associate degree in nursing program. Does an ADN qualifies fro OPT. I also used my OPT when I graduated from MS in Chemistry. Does this make me unqualify for OPT? Does anyone know how long it takes for an RN to get green card or work permit in US. Thank you in advance.

Nalejhs

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 15, 2009

Hello All,
I also have some questions regarding this OPT. Currently I am in my Associate degree in nursing program. Does an ADN qualifies fro OPT. I also used my OPT when I graduated from MS in Chemistry. Does this make me unqualify for OPT? Does anyone know how long it takes for an RN to get green card or work permit in US. Thank you in advance.
Nalejhs

Welcome

If you have used OPT already and the level was the same then you do not have the option for OPT. With retrogression you are currently looking at several years for a GC and being able to stay and work in the US. You may want to consider going higher than ADN as you may have to consider another country and not many accept ADN training

Proverbs 16:3 · Feb 15, 2009

i think a person can get OPT again when they switch the course of study. is that not right? i think i read somewhere. i say talk to your international students advisor.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 15, 2009

i think a person can get OPT again when they switch the course of study. is that not right? i think i read somewhere. i say talk to your international students advisor.

No if the course is at the same level as a previous course and you used OPT on that course then you can not use it again. OPT can only be used again if higher than the one before

suzanne4, RN · Feb 16, 2009

i think a person can get OPT again when they switch the course of study. is that not right? i think i read somewhere. i say talk to your international students advisor.

That is not true. If they have used the OPT after a Master's degree, they cannot get another one for anything less than a doctorate. You have to go up a level to be able to get it again.

Otherwise people would go for one training, get the OPT, then go back to school just so that they could train again and get another OPT. That was not what it was designed for.

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If one gets the Associate degree in respiratory therapy, they could qualify for the OPT and use it. If they decided that they wanted to become an RN, they would need to get at least the BSN in order to be able to use the OPT again. They could not get a second one for the same degree or less. It has to be higher with each successive one.