Options for Indian Nurse to work/stay connected to nursing while in USA

allnurses Guide · Feb 9, 2009

Do you have the equivalent of a bachelor degree from India? If you do, as well as 6 yrs ICU experience, you MAY be able to get a work visa (H1B) - this is for professional specialists. You should be familiar with this if your husband is on H1B. If you got a job at a university-affiliated hospital, there may be no "cap" or limit to the number they can apply for (no lottery). You would have to have completed the NCLEX and Visa Screen Certificate, as well as having an RN license from your state.

There are no green cards available. There is nothing you can do about this except apply for licensure to your state, and pass the requirements such as english tests/NCLEX-RN exam.

Your husband's employer submitted AOS (adjustment of status, applying to change from H1B to green card) for him. You would then be included in his application. EAD is a work authorization document, which you get as part of the AOS process.

Unfortunately, if your husband is also Indian, the wait for a green card is VERY long.

As an H4 visa holder, you may NOT work in any capacity, including volunteering, if it's a job anyone usually gets paid for. You could go volunteer at an animal shelter, or talking to patients at a nursing home, etc. You could not volunteer in a hospital as an aide or anything (and the hospital wouldn't let you). You may study, but you can NOT work, even the 20hrs, unless you're on an F1 student visa. If you meet the requirements, you could switch to this visa.

I'd recommend you go get a one-time consultation with an immigration attorney to see what your options are.

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Feb 9, 2009

Hospice has a volunteer training program and many RNs do donate their time.

Your Country's date is 10-15-01, if you completed an application you would be behind all the people who have been waiting since 01.

Education you need a masters in nursing to teach at any level.

HB1 specialists are not in demand in my area ( MA). It has been my experience in tough economic time these positions are eliminated.

Good Luck.

suzanne4, RN · Feb 9, 2009

Hospice may have a volunteer program, but the issue is with the H-4 visa, one cannot do anything where one would normally be receivng pay for it.

tellmemore · Feb 10, 2009

Thanks all for quick replies.

So here is what understood from these replies :

1: AOS and EAD are be related. Husband will go through AOS and then i can get EAD. But retrogression issue applies to AOS also not just new application from outside USA. Is this correct ?

2: So Date X for retroregression is like : government is processing applications done on that day .. one day at a time. First applied fist serve kind of. Is this correct ?

3: Yes i have Bsc degree (12 + 3+2 years of nursing education) from India. If this makes me very much eligible for H1 B application, I would be happy to persuade this option. Can you provide some more details ? What do i need to do try for H1 visa ?

4: My question about what is best course of action to take advantage of window opening (luckily or so) still remains unanswered. Any thoughts about this ?

5: So if I enroll for some nursing course on H4 i would still not be able to work those 20 hours also like F1 students.

6: So i can not even volunteer work. Even if i am not expecting money ? So what else i can do to remain connected to nursing in USA if none of these options work.

Thanks,

Nurse

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 10, 2009

thanks all for quick replies.
so here is what understood from these replies :
1: aos and ead are be related. husband will go through aos and then i can get ead. but retrogression issue applies to aos also not just new application from outside usa. is this correct ? retrogression is affecting everyone both in the us and outside
2: so date x for retroregression is like : government is processing applications done on that day .. one day at a time. first applied fist serve kind of. is this correct ?vb comes out approx 15th of the month and will indicate what date is being processed by what country as visas are allocated on place of birth. whatever the date is means applications filed before that date will be processed.
3: yes i have bsc degree (12 + 3+2 years of nursing education) from india. if this makes me very much eligible for h1 b application, i would be happy to persuade this option. can you provide some more details ? what do i need to do try for h1 visa ?for h1b you have to find a employer willing to sponsor you, not all employers will process h1b
4: my question about what is best course of action to take advantage of window opening (luckily or so) still remains unanswered. any thoughts about this ? best course of action should (although i doubt it will happen for several years) is make sure you have everything like application with state and pass nclex and vsc
5: so if i enroll for some nursing course on h4 i would still not be able to work those 20 hours also like f1 students.no
6: so i can not even volunteer work. even if i am not expecting money ? so what else i can do to remain connected to nursing in usa if none of these options work.will be very hard to remain connected to nursing without a visa allowing you to work
thanks,
nurse

posted my answers in red, be aware even i your husband is able to file gc through employer he can not maintain h1b whilst waiting if he has been in the us and extended his h1b to 6 years. if they do not extend h1b but employer still willing to support gc application will have to return home and wait. if i remember rightly 6 years is the max for h1b and if from india current processing times is oct 01

suzanne4, RN · Feb 10, 2009

If your husband was not already submitted for the AOS during the short open window in Summer of 2007, then there is nothing that is going to be able to do under this as well. The US actually did not have any visas available then, they had been used up by June, but were forced to accept the I-485 petitions then just during July/August and with strict requirements being met. There were just over 800,000 petitions submitted.

If you look at the Visa Bulletin that comes out every month, you will see that people with a birth country of India or China are actually retrogressed further back than others as there are already so many with pending petitions. Back about 6 years just for that as we speak.

Only thing that can get submitted at this time is the I-140 and this will not get you permission to work here. In order to get the EAD, the government must be accepting the I-485 and this is where your problem lies.

The above is for the green card.

--------------------------------

Next for the option of the H1-B in your case. First it is going to depend on where you are located, some areas have no H1-B visas that are used for nurses as a start. Next issue is with the sudden downturn in the economy right now, the facility would have to prove that they are unable to hire an American for the job. And this is going to be very hard for them to do.

In order to even be considered for this type of visa, you will need to pass the NCLEX exam, pass the series of English exams as well as have a Visa Screen Certificate in hand. You would have to have passed the NCLEX-RN exam before a job could be offered to you as an RN.

You must be under the F-1 visa in order to be able to work the 20 hours per week, and this requires that you attend school full-time as well. Be aware that in most locales if you are under the H-4 visa, you get local resident tuition; but under the F-1, you will be paying considerably more as well. You also do not get the permission to work immediately either, you will need to meet the requirements of the program to be able to do this.

Not sure how long that your spouse has on their H1-B visa at this time either. They are only valid for three years and can be renewed one time only.

Even though you could not get paid, if the job that you were volunteering for normally was a paid position, you would not be able to do it. You may be able to do something with disaster relief, but you would have to check with the agency to see what they are covered for.

tellmemore · Feb 10, 2009

suzanne4 and Silverdragon102 thanks a lot for your replies. That has answered almost all the question that i have for now. If i have anything more to ask, I will start new thread.

You two are doing great work and i wish you all the best.

Thanks,

Nurse

suzanne4, RN · Feb 10, 2009

As a favor for us, and to make it easier to follow; can we ask that you just post any other questions pertaining to this topic in this thread and not start another. It will make it easier for everyone to follow, especially us.

Thanks in advance.

(It makes it much more difficult when we find a new thread started for each question when they are all pertaining to the same issues.)