Need your advice for RN job

suzanne4, RN · May 11, 2007

First, you cannot hide that you are on the OPT, and everyone is aware of what is happening right now. Without having a full year available with the OPT, you are going to run into facilities that will not even consider you at this time. And sorry, they will know how long that you have the OPT for as you need to show them a document that states how long that you can legally work in the US. So that is out of the question. The issue for you is that is a retrogression in place and since we do not know for sure when it will end, there are many facilities that are not willing to even start with the training process.

And for the green card, the nurse is petitioned. Sponsorship no longer exists.

And about your friend, that is truly insane, five years for a contract? I woudl tell her to run as fast as she can from that. Or your friend is going to have to live with it, and I am sure that there will be a wonderful cancellation fee that is due if they leave before the five years. Never, ever should someone consider something like that............too many issues everytime I have heard of someone that signed something like that.

Bad news.

suzanne4, RN · May 11, 2007

Your next issue is that most facilities will not even consider you if you have not taken the NCLEX exam. And we see this over and over again. Always a much better selection of job offers when the NCLEX is already completed. So applying for the job without having the NCLEX passed, will also give you even lower chances of finding something.

Always tell any new nurse, especially that is foreign and needs petitioning to get the license first and then look for the job. And especially now with the retrogression in place.

usdsu · May 14, 2007

Respected Suzanne,

I would like to add one more thing on top of what previous poster asked.

In most of the hospitals, they have online application form where it clearly asks a questions: " Are you legally eligible for employment in the United States?"

and the options are: YES NO

Since we are on F1 visa, we do not have legal documents to hold such job. Does that mean we should click on NO?

Won't that be a big turn off for hospitals even if we graduate with magna cum laude and have passed NCLEX?

You also encouraged us not to ask any questions about petitioning for GC with HR people when we will be seeking a job. Does that mean we need the permanent job offer as an RN to step up our legal procedure and then, let our attorney talk about legal matter to HR people instead us? If that is the case then do we have to mention that we will be working 1-4 months after the job offer (waiting time EAD) or our attorney will all those questions?

Honestly, I felt like we are here to grab that one chance of "Permanent Job Offer as an RN" and turn that in to our attorney and rest will be taken care by the attorney. Is that the main reason you dicouraged us not to talk about petition issues with HR people when applying for jobs?

I would appreciate your comment. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

R.S.

suzanne4, RN · May 15, 2007

The OPT is a legal document for you to work in the US. It provides you with an EAD, which is actually an Employee Authorization Document. The same document that you would get to work while waiting for the AOS processing if it were available today.

So yes, you do have a legal document that will permit you to work if you have the OPT.

Right now with the retrogression in place, facilities are not interested in anything having to do with petitioning. When visas (green card) are available, it is another story. Many are running the other way when they hear anything about the petition process right now as we still do not know when it will end.

Many facilities are not aware of the minimal amount of input that they need to do to process the paperwork. Very different in every respect when there were the H1-B visas that required a full time staff of at least three people to handle all of the paperwork. The attorney is still not the one to get the you the job, they will handle the paperwork. I prefer an attorney that is working for the nurse, not the facility when there is a choice, as you would be their client and not the facility. Always better for you, at least most of the time.

owura143 · May 15, 2007

Hi Suzanna,
I am an international student with F1 student visa.I will be graduating next week with a B.S. of Nursing. I plan to take my NCLEX exam in MA in July.I have my OPT starting from July 16 til the end of March 2008.I have read a lot of recommendations about trying to get a RN job first before asking for petition at this moment.As you can see my opt only last for 8-9 months(I use some of the opt last summer for summer job),and many of the facilities requires the employee to sign at least a yr contract.Here are my questions:
1. Do you think I should find a facility where I don't need to sign any contract,work for a while and not telling the employer about my status?
2.What could possibly happen if I sign the contract and don't be able to work for at least 1 yr?
2.One of my classmate finds a nursing home in MA whose willing to provide sponsorship to her in exchange for 5 yrs contract.Do u think it's a good idea to accept the offer at this point?
Thanks very much!!!
zzziday

To add my two cents, I think five years is way too much. I signed a three-year contract and I sometimes regret it. Most places are two years.