nahtanoj

I have a friend who was in the same boat as you are. However, he has a more serious case as both came to U.S. with the "supposed wife " on H4. The wife went on to study and finished nursing. The guy eventually dropped the wife from the petition and the wife has his own petition from the hospital. The U.S. lawyer who was working in INS before mentioned that the guy does not willingly know at the time he applied for H1 that the wife was married. The guy eventually got his green card without hassle although there were some annotation in his petition. The wife still has pending petition.

Currently, all Schedule A are reverted back to EB-3 which means that your priority date is similar to EB-3 priority dates (currently August 03) for the philippines and rest of the world (except China and India). Lately, there are several bills that are pending in both House and Senate. Only one of them has very specific details about solving the nursing problem. The bill is called STRIVE Act of 2007. Section 504 of that bill may state what you want to get approved so Schedule A will go back. However, a bill is not a law. Considering the bickering of political parties currently on different more important issues (like Iraq), this bill stands a little chance to pass. But then again...chance is better than no chance.

the bill was introduced in the house of representative by gutierrez and flake with the support of 29 other congressmen (mostly foreign last names). i have pasted the schedule a part of the bill that i sourced from www.immigration-law.com sec. 504: nursing shortage (a) exception to direct numerical limitations (schedule a):(i) during the period beginning on the date of the enactment the strive act and ending on september 30, 2017, an alien who is seeking admission to the united states to perform labor in shortage occupations designated by the secretary of labor for blanket certification due to the lack of sufficient united states workers able, willing, qualified, and available for such occupations and for which the employment of aliens will not adversely affect the terms and conditions of similarly employed united states workers. (ii) during the period described in clause (i), the spouse or dependents of an alien described in clause (i), if accompanying or following to join such alien. (b) preference status in consular immigrant visa proceedings: for individual beneficiaries outside of the united states seeking classification under section 203(b) who will perform labor in shortage occupations designated by the secretary of labor for blanket certification under section 212(a)(5)(a) as lacking sufficient united states workers able, willing, qualified, and available for such occupations and for which the employment of aliens will not adversely affect the terms and conditions of similarly employed united states workers, a consular officer, upon petition of the importing employer, shall have authority to determine eligibility if the officer determines that the facts stated in the petition are true and the alien is eligible for the preference. the consular officer shall also have authority to grant the preference status.

She want's to work in tele, icu, or med surge. However, she's not sure if hospitals here entertain newly grads with only school clinical experience.

:balloons: Hi Suzanne, The wife passed today her NCLEX. She was very happy. Going forward, she has OPT till end of Feb next year. She finished with an AA degree. Technically, is it possible for her to be sponsored through an H1B program. I know an agency who can sponsor workers from philippines, but I don't want to approach them yet if this is not possible. Now she has to find some jobs on OPT too. Will you happen to be familiar with the Torrance, CA hospitals? Thank you for all your help.:yelclap: You help me guide her through this that is why she has OPT today.

My wife is finishing 2 year ADN in Southern California by end of fall classes 06. She is on a student VISA right now and would be looking for OPT work soon. She also wants to take the NCLEX ASAP when she finished this December. I have heard that Schedule-A will run out by October this year. Susan, in previous replies to my questions to you in this forum (couple of months ago) you mentioned "There is absoltely nothing that can be done at theis time. And there is no reason to worry about it either. You are reading more into it than you need to do" when I was asking about schedule-A cut-offs. I would just like to ask your opinion now on what are the options my wife has in terms of pursuing our green card. How is she affected by this Schedule-A cutoff? I am currently on H1 EB3 in I.T. (hopeless wait). Thanks a lot for your answers.

My wife is studying nursing and is about to finish by december. She will be taking NCLEX late January. Will that mean she has to go EB3 just like me ? Is she in anyway affected by these following news: http://www.murthy.com/news/n_schvis.html and this one too: Excerpt from Immigration-law.com: Schedule A Cut-Off Date Predicted in October 2006 and Visa Availability During FY 2007 A total of 50,000 numbers were provided for use in the Schedule A (EX) visa category which was established last May. Visa demand in this category is approaching that limit, and may require the establishment of a cut-off date as early as October. Once all 50,000 numbers have been made available under the current limitation, processing under this category will end.

Hi Shiloh, Where can I find the list for Los Angeles hospitals that can sponsor, please let me know. My wife will be looking for employers next year because she is finishing up this fall. Thank you.

Suzanne, I finally got my wife changed her status from H1 to F1. This coming semester she will be finishing her 2 year degree in nursing. She will apply for OPT midway of the semester, as advised by the international student affairs office of her college. Considering she finishes school in December and gets her OPT approval, what are her next steps? Can she work on OPT in Los Angeles even if she finishes her school in the Bay Area, or is OPT in the same locality as the school? I also want to confirm if she is really qualified to apply for green card even if it is just a two year degree.

I thought VISASCREEN is for foreign professionals who studied "outside the US"? My wife , as an H4, did her full study here in Los Angeles including her general education. Can you confirm? Can she get NCLEX in NY and have it endorsed in CA to work here? By the way, I am not sure what OPT means, why she needs it and how she can apply for it. Thanks a lot. You have answered a lot of questions going on my mind for the past year. Very good site.

Hi Suzanne, My wife is on H4 under my H1 Visa. She's on second year of associate degree in Nursing in a Los Angeles city college. Considering that we have not started green card processing under my H1 and she finished school next semester, Here are my questions: Would she be able to take the NCLEX exam in California considering she does not have SSN as an H4? How about other states? Does she have to undergo VISASCREEN even though she was trained and schooled here? Will she be able to apply for a greencard based on a 2 year nursing degree? Thanks for you answer.