speedtec

sorry suzanne, i forgot to inform you that my I-140 had already been approved last year and am just waiting for the I-485 approval. so is it okay to move on to another employer? again, thanks a million for helping out confused nurses like me.

hi suzanne, i'm 2 months away from finishing my contract with a nursing home in nj. however, my greencard hasn't been released yet. my adjustment of status application remains pending. it's been over two years since the application was filed. the lawyer handling my case suggests to remain in the nursing home while waiting for my greencard but added it's okay to work elsewhere. is there going to be a negative effect on my pending AOS application if i work for another facility once i've finished my current contract? this particular lawyer isn't giving me a specific answer and he seems to be insinuating that i remain with my current employer (i guess that's because he works for my employer). i hope you can enlighten me with this. thanks in advance.

Here's a very interesting dilemma that I came across just a few days ago. My friend, a new nurse from the Philippines, asked me about the legality of his contract. Here's the story: My friend applied with a Filipino agent based here in the US. He paid $6500 dollars to get everything sorted out and eventually land a job here in the US. In his eagerness to get here, he signed the agent's contract, part of which stated that if he breached his contract, he'd have to pay an additional $4500. That contract was separate from his employer's contract, which had a milder penalty of $1500 plus the amount spent for the processing of his papers. Again, because of his excitement, he didn't even bother to research the place he was assigned to work in. Like many of us, we used to say in the Philippines, "bahala na kung saan mapadpad, basta nasa Amerika." Anyway, when my friend got here, he found himself in a desolate place in the midwest, where tornadoes are common, and where there are more pigs than people. Again, like many of us, he endured the isolation as much as he could, until he finally caved in. After a year (and after much prodding from his friends), he finally decided to leave. Because of his impressive work ethic, his employer agreed to let him go in good faith, and in fact waived the penalty fee. He, however, was asked to reimburse the processing fee. So after settling his dues with his employer, he left for a better place. Soon after his left, his Filipino agent got wind of his transfer, and reminded him of the other contract, and that he needed to pay her (the Filipino agent is a female) $4500 for breaching. He had saved up some money, and so agreed to pay $1500 initially and then settle the rest through staggered payments. However, when his friends heard about it (me included), they began to cast doubt on the legality of the agent's contract. I'm no lawyer myself, so in ending my story, can anyone share their input about this scenario. Does my friend really have to pay out this other contract? Thanks!

Hi Suzanne, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question. Anyway, I'm a nurse from the Philippines now based (and working) in New Jersey. Since I finished my BSN in the Philippines, is there a way for me to pursue an MSN degree here in the US? Do you know what online school will be best for me being a foreign grad? Thanks in advance!

Suzanne, so do you think people from PearsonVue are lying? How come I personally did what PearsonVue instructed and got my ATT sooner than my eligibility notice from the BON? We all know that its the BON that decides eligibility, but PearsonVue does the job of coordinating with the BON to determine whether a candidate is qualified to take the nclex, and their access to the BON makes it easier (and faster) for them to know if a candidate who had registered with them is eligible or not. The problem with the BON is they take so much time informing the candidate of their eligibility (such a waste of precious time). Personally, this is what I did: I applied for licensure with BON, then I registered with PearsonVUe, got confirmation from PearsonVue, received my ATT (online confirmation) from PearsonVUe, got my eligibility confirmation from BON shortly after, then finally received the hard copy of my ATT. The facts I had stated came directly from PearsonVue, not something I plucked out of the air. If you have doubts, you can personally contact PearsonVue. Once you do, you can share the info you've obtained from them regarding the registration process, so others may be enlightened too. Like I said, there may be quite a difference with those applying from overseas. So it would be best to confirm this with PearsonVUe. Good day and good luck to all those about to take the exam. I hope you can settle your ATT problem soon so you can buckle down to serious business and start reviewing for the exam. God bless

Forgot to add: It takes about a month for PearsonVue to process your registration. So if you wait for your eligibility from your BON before registering, that's another month of waiting (probably even more for those based in the Philippines). Whereas if you register with PearsonVue right away, the time spent waiting for your eligibility and the ATT happen at the same time, so the moment the BON notifies PearsonVue of your eligibility, your ATT would have been ready by then. That way, not another month is wasted and you get your ATT sooner. ;-) wish you all the best and God bless!

to mountaineer, and all those with similar problems, hope this answers your questions/doubts once and for all. i took the liberty of contacting pearsonvue's agents through their online chat service and inquired about mountaineer's problem. here's the transcript of the exchange: please wait for a site operator to respond. you are now chatting with 'pam' pam: thank you for contacting pearson vue this is pam how may i help you? ######: hi pam, i just have a question pam: sure ######: a friend based in the philippines who registered with ny-bon wants to know if he could register with pearsonvue right now, or does he have to wait for ny-bon to send him confirmation of his eligibility before he registers with pearsonvue? pam: that would be fine if your friend registered now. the ny baord does not require them to register with them first only california does. rafael dominic: okay, thanks pam. i truly appreciate it. have a good day! pam: your welcome : ) pam: thank you, you too! pam: once you close the chat window, please use the exit survey to rate the assistance you just received and to provide us with your feedback. this is done to help us to improve our service that we provide to you. if you have any further questions or inquiries, please contact us again. have a nice day! thank you for contacting pearson vue and have a great day. okay, so i guess it's safe to assume that mountaineer can go ahead and register with pearsonvue. -- speedtec

Hi lakwatsero, I missed to take into account the country of origin of Mountaineer. Lest I stand corrected, let me clarify that as per personal experience here in the US, I didn't have to wait for the BON's go-signal before I registered with PearsonVue. Fact is, agents from PearsonVue encouraged me to register as soon as I could to facilitate the swift processing of my application. Long before my BON notified me of my eligibility, PearsonVue had already released my ATT. I'm not sure if it works the same way for international test takers. My apologies for the oversight. Perhaps test takers from the Philippines can share their input regarding Mountaineer's query?

Hi Mountaineer, Yes, you can already apply with PearsonVue for your ATT. NY-BOn will only send you notice of your eligibility but it's PearsonVue that will send out your ATT. You may register with pearsonvue online and it usually takes around a month (or less) to have your ATT. For all you know, you might be already eligible with NY-BON but still don't have your ATT cz you haven't applied with PearsonVue. PearsonVue will contact the BON where you applied for to determine your eligibility. Hope this helps.

Thanks, RainDreamer. I'll follow your advice and try to relax on the day of the exam. I'll just keep working on the practice questions (Saunders CD) for now to build up my momentum. BTW, what is that Mosby CAT? Is that a CD too? Thanks for enlightening me. :)

I guess studying just boosts our confidence and makes us get familiar with answering questions. In a way, I guess raindreamer is right, cz even previous takers have said that the questions that come out in the actual NCLEX exam is different from the ones in the books. On the other hand, I don't think studying hurts anyway. It's also nice to gain a momentum going into the exam by doing a lot of practice questions. Like they say, practice makes perfect. Basically, those who have taken the exam have said that it's mostly delegating, prioritizing, and therapeutic communication. So those of us who are about to take the exam must prepare for these type of questions. More importantly, we need to couple our effort with prayers. Divine intenrvention can spell a lot of difference.

Thanks for sharing your insight, Eliza. I truly appreciate it. :nuke: And I hope you'd pass the exam. We'll be praying for you. I'll probably follow your suggestion about going back to my weak areas, particularly pharma. I have a difficult time memorizing all those medications and their side effects. It seems like there are a million drugs out there. I'm familiar with the common drugs (digoxin, morphine, heparin, and the like), but the others are just too rare. Moreover, I wake up each day feeling so nervous, because I keep thinking that my exam is approaching. I have to find a way to relax cz the anticipation is killing me. :stone Anyway, I'll continue with my current pace and gradually slow down as the exam approaches. Do you think I should take a study break once a week or should I study every day till examination day? Thanks so much, and I really hope and pray you made it! :nuke:

I'm taking the NCLEX-RN in about a month (June 5). I've gone over the Kaplan book and CD twice, I've covered every page of the Saunders book, and am halfway through its CD (4,000+ questions). At the rate I'm going, I'm probably going to finish the Saunders CD way before the exam. When I'm done, what do I do next? Do I go over the Saunders book and CD over again, or do I move my exam date earlier? It's hard to say how I feel about being ready, cz although I feel confident about my readiness, I'm also nervous as hell. I guess that's a normal response when you're about to take a very important exam. Do you think it would benefit me more to go over the Saunders CD one more time? I'm even thinking of subscribing to NCSBN's E-learning, but it seems that no one has vouched for its effectiveness. So should I just wait and stick it out with my original exam schedule? Thanks in advance for those who'll help in enlightening me with this dilemma.

Thanks again, Suzanne. Everything's starting to get clearer now. With regard to the Visa Screen, my wife had already completed her application for it before leaving the Philippines, do I still need to complete one for myself? (She's planning to apply for a green card after one year of service with her hospital employer.) What are needed for the EAD so that I may apply? by the way, what type of visas are normally given to nurses sponsored by hospitals? Is it also the H1b (working visa) like the one granted to my wife? I truly appreciate your insightful answers, pardon me for being so inquisitive. I just want to know the right path to take and not make the same mistake of not knowing the better way. If I had come across this amazing site earlier and read your previous posts, I would have been able to apply for NCLEx exam in NY (sigh!) instead of CA, which takes a lot longer. I'll be reading your other posts in other threads so I may pick up valuable information. More power to you and the other moderators of this site!!!

Thank you so much, Suzanne, for that very informative reply. You're indeed a great help to us who want to work as RNs in the US soon, and to those who are already RNs in the US. Here's a follow-up question. (if you don't mind) I took the CGFNS last November (2005) but didn't quite make it, do you think I should re-take the exam or just focus on the NCLEX? do i still need to process a visa screen even if i'm already in the US (on an h4 visa)? or could i just apply for an adjustment of status once i pass the NCLEX (assuming I do pass the exam). can i apply for AOS by myself even without an employer? what are the requirements? finally, what do the abbreviations CES and EAD stand for? (pardon my ignorance..hehe) thanks again, suzanne (like what others have said about you, I really don't know how you're able to answer all these questions, including those in other threads, considering your hectic schedule...you're certainly a great help to us) :)