Any Filipino Nurse here that is currently working in Calif?? Work on tourist visa?

lawrence01 · Feb 11, 2007

This may not be what the answer you would want to hear but since you asked for opinions....

It is actually illegal to work with just a Tourist visa and during retrogression, as we are now, Tourist Visas cannot be adjusted to another status (Adj. of Status) and no Employment Authorization Document (EAD) that permits people to work while their status is being adjusted is not being given as well.

I know you may have heard some people w/ just tourist visas and working 'under the table'. We cannot deny that this is being done but this isn't legal.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 11, 2007

you can not get a SNN with a tourist visa, and agree with Lawrence

suzanne4, RN · Feb 11, 2007

If you get caught working on a tourist visa and without a SSN#, you will be deported for minimum of ten years. And they are cracking down all over CA at the moment. Immigration detention is packed to the gills in San Pedro and not a pretty place to have to stay.

You will be coming to the US to write the NCLEX-RN exam, there is not a specific one for Vermont. And be aware that you can also be denied entry at the airport, and they are doing that as well. Take a close look at your visa, no where does it state automatic entry to the US, it states that entry is up to the official at the airport when you arrive.

Not a smart idea to come to the US at this time with the idea of staying and working. It cannot be done legally right now, and even during good times, you must be in the US for at least five months before you can begin work legally. And that is hard for most to do.

suzanne4, RN · Feb 11, 2007

You must have gone thru the immigration process and have a visa that legally permits you to work to get a SSN#, it cannot be gotten any other way.

And a license to work as an RN does not give you permission to work in the US, that only comes thru US Immigration.

batasMTR_RN · Feb 12, 2007

I need your help. I am about to go to the US to take my Vermont NCLEX. If I pass that exam, i am planning to apply for endorsement in California and one I know that one of their requirements is the SSN. Can I apply for a SSN even if I only have a tourist visa? If yes, how am I going to do this? My next question is, is any hopital in California that accepts an applicant even if his status is just tourist? If yes, how am i going to do this? Pls clarify my 2 concerns. thank you so much..

this is imposible... i would not recommend you to work without authorization because if you get caught, you will be deported and will neverbe able to practicce nursing in the USA.. so please be careful.....

scrubs224 · Feb 13, 2007

hello! i was interested to answer this post as i know of a friend's daughter who passed the Phil NLE 2006 and went to the Calif on a tourist visa last Oct2006 to take the NCLEX last Dec 18 and passed. My friend told me this week that her daughter has found an employer in one of the Nursing homes in Bakersfield, CA who petitioned her as a nurse on a working visa. I could not believe it for myself coz I know of the present situation regarding the retrogression and the fact that she is just 3 months after she arived in the US.

My friend even told me the employer will reimbursed her NCLEX fees and her plane fare. She was made to sign a two year contract. I just can't imagine how they got this offer since she does not yet have a SSN, therefore CA BRN will not issue the license.

What kind of working visa is she having? I will ask my friend the name of the facility that has petitioned her daughter so quickly.

On my part, I have passed the NCLEX and was issued by CA BRN the license last Dec. 13, 2006 since I have a SSN since 1988. I am a B1/B2 visa holder but i will go the long process of being petitioned by an employer while I am here in the Phils. so the whole family can be petitioned in one time.

sorry for making this long.

lavalin · Feb 13, 2007

For example

You are on a tourist visa and a registered nurse from the Philippines and you just passed the NCLEX-RN exam. And assume your I-94 will expire on April 15, 2007 (sample date) - There is a hospital in California that is interested to sponsor you but you cannot file applications for adjustment of status and work authorization because of the retrogression.

Your question would be

Should I go home and just wait for interview in the Philippines or should I stay and take my chances here? Please advise me.

According to the January 2007 Visa Bulletin issued by the U.S. State Department, Schedule A Workers [i.e., registered nurses (RNs), physical therapists] will only be allowed to apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status if their priority date is earlier than June 15, 2004.

Generally, the priority date in an employment-based immigration case is the date when the labor certification application was filed. In the case of RNs, however, the priority date is the date when the employer filed the immigrant petition on behalf of the RN since RNs are exempt from the labor certification process.

Thus, based on the January 2007 Visa Bulletin, you will only be allowed to apply for LPR status if your priority date [or the date when the immigrant petition was filed on your behalf] is earlier than June 15, 2004. If your employer has not yet filed any petition on your behalf or your petition was filed on or after June 15, 2004, this means that you are not yet allowed to file applications for adjustment and work authorization. If you file applications for adjustment and work authorization even if your priority date is not yet current, the government will just reject your applications.

Can your employer file an immigrant petition on your behalf now? The answer is yes. A lot of employers actually still do file petitions on behalf of RNs. Why? So that they can reserve priority dates for their RNs.

Employers can still file immigrant petitions on behalf of RNs because the retrogression only affects the filing of applications for adjustment and work authorization. The RNs, however, who are here will not be able to work for their employers because of the retrogression and will have to decide whether to go home and wait for their visa interviews abroad or stay here and hope and pray that Congress will pass the law granting additional visa numbers for RNs soon so that they can file their applications for adjustment and work authorization.

If you do not want to become out-of-status, then you should go home on or before April 15, 2007, the expiration date of your I-94.

If you decide to stay after April 15, 2007 and take your chances here, you should be aware that you would become out-of-status beginning April 16, 2007 and therefore, deportable.

Generally, if you are already out-of-status, you are no longer allowed to adjust your status to that of an LPR. As an exception, however, please note that under Section 245(k) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, you will still be allowed to obtain LPR status if you can file your adjustment application within 180 calendar days from date your I-94 expired.

Thus, using Section 245(k) as part of your strategy will only work if two things occur:

1. Congress passes the law granting additional visa numbers to RNs at any time prior to the lapse of 180 calendar days from April 15, 2007; and

2. You are able to file your adjustment application at any time prior to the lapse of 180 calendar days from April 15, 2007.

rajotolentino · Feb 13, 2007

I still have 6 yrs remaining in my visa so i think i would just take my chances there. I am very confident that the US Congress would pass the law granting additional visa for foreign RNs anytime soon. this is not a false hope. i am basing this on the fact that US lacks a lot of RN according to the news that I have just read.

I know that working on a tourist status is illegal. But, what if there is an employer who wants to petition me or there is an immigration lawyer that helps me change my status form tourist to working visa. Will that still be illegal? I don't thnik so.

lawrence01 · Feb 13, 2007

I still have 6 yrs remaining in my visa so i think i would just take my chances there. I am very confident that the US Congress would pass the law granting additional visa for foreign RNs anytime soon. this is not a false hope. i am basing this on the fact that US lacks a lot of RN according to the news that I have just read.
I know that working on a tourist status is illegal. But, what if there is an employer who wants to petition me or there is an immigration lawyer that helps me change my status form tourist to working visa. Will that still be illegal? I don't thnik so.

Maximum validity to stay that the immigration officer can give on the port of entry is 6 mos. and could be less depending on the officer. It is totally on the immigration officer's discretion on how many months to give but max. is 6 mos. at a time/per visit w/c means you have to go back home on or before the date the officer will give but of course you can always go back after going back home.

The 6 years validity is only the validity of you Tourist visa but the max. length of stay on US soils is only 6 mos / per visit .

During retrogression, only the I-140 petition is allowed to be filed and Adj. of Status (AOS) and EAD (w/c allows a nurse to work temporarily while waiting for AOS) is not allowed to be filed as lavalin has said also.

lawrence01 · Feb 13, 2007

If retrogression is lifted before your 6 mos. max. stay on US soils expires then Immigration lawyers can file an Adj. of Status (AOS) and EAD for you but if it's not lifted before your 6 mos is up then you would have to go back home.

suzanne4, RN · Feb 13, 2007

hello! i was interested to answer this post as i know of a friend's daughter who passed the Phil NLE 2006 and went to the Calif on a tourist visa last Oct2006 to take the NCLEX last Dec 18 and passed. My friend told me this week that her daughter has found an employer in one of the Nursing homes in Bakersfield, CA who petitioned her as a nurse on a working visa. I could not believe it for myself coz I know of the present situation regarding the retrogression and the fact that she is just 3 months after she arived in the US.
My friend even told me the employer will reimbursed her NCLEX fees and her plane fare. She was made to sign a two year contract. I just can't imagine how they got this offer since she does not yet have a SSN, therefore CA BRN will not issue the license.
What kind of working visa is she having? I will ask my friend the name of the facility that has petitioned her daughter so quickly.
On my part, I have passed the NCLEX and was issued by CA BRN the license last Dec. 13, 2006 since I have a SSN since 1988. I am a B1/B2 visa holder but i will go the long process of being petitioned by an employer while I am here in the Phils. so the whole family can be petitioned in one time.
sorry for making this long.

Your friend's daughter is working illegally and if she gets caught will be deported. Not one document could be filed until she passed the NCLEX exam, and there has been a freeze on anything being submitted since November 1, so she is doing it illegal and can get deported for ten years minimum. There is no one that could petition her that quickly, plus she ould need to be in the US for at least three months before the petitions could be submitted in the first place.

There have been many immigration crackdowns in the that area, you will probably be seeing her again soon, but it will depend on how backed up that immigration detention is. Right now, extremely overcrowded in CA.

And that is the biggest clue for you, if she was working legally, she would have a SSN#. So she is working illegally, and if she is working in the role of an RN, but has no license to show, then that is also illegal and she can be denied a license ever in the US.

She has no visa.