AlinaMathew

I am for June 4th intake at perth IHNA.

No, still waiting for AAON's offer letter for June intake.

Waiting for AAON offer letter for June intake. Interview was on 02nd April.

Dear Prathima, The blog administrators do not permit to give personal information. I am still in Muscat, working in the second largest hospital (Khoula Hospital). It is under the Ministry of Health. I work in OR (Ortho). Anyway, I will try to give you some more information in some other way. Regards, Alina Mathew

Application process is lengthy in NY. They need CVS from CGFNS and it may take 6-8 month (on average). After that NY Board will make you eligible for NCLEX examination. So the whole process may take upto a year to complete and if you pass the NCLEX, NY Board will issue your RN license even without SSN and it is valid for 3 years. You need not retake the NCLEX to renew your license after 3 years. Just pay the license fee and you will get it renewed.

Hi, If you are applying for the first time to CGFNS (for any service), they will provide you (or with your authorised person) a CGFNS ID number. You can register with their web site and and can verify the details of all of your pending order details. But usually they send out a Welcome Letter and ID number to your/your authorised person's address via normal post. It may take upto one month for the issuance and arrival of these letters. Just wait for a couple of weeks. Best of Luck Alina Mathew

Hi, You can search NY Board webpage to find out the names of online service providers for child abuse reporting course. You can find a couple of them. I applied for CVS first. (it may take upto 8 months to complete but I was lucky that I got it within 6 months) and after about 3 months from the date of application of CVS, I applied for NY Board. If you apply for CVS now, it may complete within next 6-8 months (provided everything goes fine with your case) and you can apply to NY board in coming February/March 2008. Alina

I did an oline course (for child abuse reporting). Its cost was about 30 US dollars. They issued me a certificate (printed online) and I attached copy of it alongwith my NY application and it was mentioned in the application form. (Online service provider will also report directly to NY Board). Best of Luck Alina

I would like to share my experience: Applied for CVS: 03 March 2007 CG Issued Request for Transcript: 04 April 2007 CG received Transcript from School: 09 May 2007 Application for Licensure submitted to NY Board: 27 May 2007 CG Issued CVS report to NY Board: 09 August 2007 NY Board Issued Eligibility Letter: 17 September 2007 Date of NCLEX: ????? The whole process took almost 6 months to complete. Best Regards, Alina

Hi, Oman is a good to live. I would like to point out the following facts. Workplace Descrimination: Nationalisation drive (known as omanisation) of all nursing jobs are currently underway. To attract more nationals to the nursing and other paramedical professions, government is giving more pay and perks to its nationals. You can see that national RN's with no experience and less qualifications are drawing double the amount as salary. They may get flexible duty schedules while you will be paid no overtime and may require to work throughout the weekends, night shifts etc. Here we call it as 'you do the work and they draw the money'. Moreover, they will become your supervisors within a year or two while you will remain as 'staff nurses' without any pay increase or promotions. Pay & perks: Current salary rate Rials 310 (US$788) for staff nurses including all allowances and you will be provided with furnished shared accommodation and you need to pay water and electricity charges. If you prefer to live outside, Ministry will permit you provided you find your own accommodation and perhaps you may never receive your house rent allowance. Leave: You may get 48 days paid leave after completion of 12 months of service with 75% of the actual return airfare to your hometown. Duty Schedule: 40 hrs per week with two weekly off days. Night shifts may be upto 4 nights with 4 days off (may vary according to individual hospital rules) But there are two hospitals; The Defense (Army) hospital and Sultan Qaboos University hospital - Pay and other benefits are better than MOH hospitals but I am not sure about the actual figures. Recruitment: There are no big private hospitals but a few polyclinics like Muscat Private Hospital, Al Shatti Private Hospital, Hatat Poly Clinic, Badr Al Sama Polyclinic etc. But vacancies in these polyclinics are very limited. Most of the jobs are in Ministry of Health hospitals like Royal Hospital, Khoula Hospital and Al Nahda Hospital (in Muscat region) and interior hospitals like, Niswa, Sur, Salalah, Ibri, Ibra but these places are isolated and require hours of driving from the capital Muscat. If you are in Oman (you can come on visit/family joining/residence visas) you may require to pass a written examination followed by an interview to get your job. Sometimes, Ministry of health conducts job fares in India, Srilanka, Philipines, Iran, Tunisia to recruit nurses. There also you may need to pass the written exam and personal interview. Climate: Summer: from March - August - Outside temperature can be upto 50 Deg Celcius. From September - October - Moderate - Temp can be upto 35 Deg C. November - February - Winter - Temp ranges between 15 Deg C to 28 Deg C. Rain: You may get one or two rains through out the year. The only exemption was last June's "Gonu' Supercylcone which devastated entire Muscat region. Food: Everything is very costly because oman produces nothing in this desert. Imports are from India, China, USA, Egypt, Pakistan and Iran. Other facts: There is a nursing council in Oman but it is not an independent authority it is under the Ministry of health and we still do not know what they are doing! People are friendly and moderate but most of them speaks only Arabic. Limited religious freedom is permitted. You can find churches (in specially designated areas) in Muscat, Salalah, Sohar etc. If you require any further information, please don't hesitate to ask me. Alina Mathew Staff Nurse Muscat

Hi ambitious nurse, Are you from India? How can we get specific information on this issue? Regards, Alina

Hi, One of my friends has her NVC case completed and is waiting for Consular Interview. She is preganat now and her EDD is 2nd week of November 2007. If she get a chance for an interview schedule after the opening of visas in October 2007 (for fiscal year 2008), how can she proceed with it? What are the steps to add her newborn child to her case? I mean how to file DS-230 etc? Does anyone have similar experience? Alina Mathew

Hi jrhyle, Once again thank you very much for your valuable information. We really appreciate it. As you said, we have contacted the US Embassy in Muscat and got the following information. 1) As my sister's case is still with NVC, she just need to write NVC and ask them to send the file to Chennai (India) consulate upon completion. If she is not writing to NVC right now, the file will move to Muscat Embassy upon completion and she may need to follow the steps you mentioned in your comments. 2) One more option is there; she can attend the interview in Muscat and after getting visa she can ask them to sent the case to Chennai for interview of her spouse. 3) Another option is that; spouce need not be a permanent resident in Oman only thing required is to bring him at the time interview to Muscat (even on a short family visit visa) and they she can have their interview in Muscat (if she prefers so) The consular officer was very nice to us and he gave the above information very politely and instantly. Thank you jrhyle for your support. Alina

Hi, My priority date is 27 Sept 2006 and NVC issued visa fee bill on 2nd July 2007. My agent asked me to send money for my spouse and child. I paid the money but I am not sure whether or not my agent paid the visa fees to NVC. I have noticed on NVC's websiste that when a priority date become current, NVC start processing the case and process up to completion? As per July Visa bulletin, dates were current (in August bulleting no dates cut off date mentioned but they put it as unavailable). That means my case is eligible for futher processing and my agent can still pay my visa fees and submit DS-230 etc. and if there is a visa available for me in next fiscal year (starting from October 01, 2007) my case can be moved to my assigned consulate! Am I right? Alina

Hi Jrhyle, Thank you very much for your reply. It is really helpful and informative. As my sister's case is now with NVC, is it possible to write to NVC and request them not to send the completed file to Muscat Embassy and instead send it to Chennai Consulate in India? Is there any need to write to these embassies? Thank you Alina Mathew