neriners

hi rep! are you sure about this? i just received this from one of the nurses groups.. please check it out: the department of state (dos) has just announced that, effective october 1, 2005, retrogression will apply to a wide-range of immigrant visa classifications. retrogression is caused when there is full subscription of the employment-based immigrant visa rolls.when full subscription is reached, us law compels the citizenship and immigration service (uscis) and the department of state (dos) to establish visa quotas, which create waiting list queues. these queues can delay immigrant visa (a.k.a. permanent residency or green card) cases by several years. this phenomenon is known as retrogression. traditionally, chinese, mexican, filipino and indian workers have been the hardest hit. a foreign national's case is prioritized by three different factors: (i) his initial filing date of either a labor certification or petition for immigrant visa (i-140), whichever comes earlier (this is the "priority date"); (ii) his country of birth (not nationality); and (iii) his employment based classification (see end of this article, which describes the categories- eb1, eb2, etc.). the allocations are announced in the monthly visa bulletin. the visa bulletin is ordinarily released about two weeks prior to its effective date, which always falls on the first of the subsequent month. in other words, a visa bulletin released in mid-september 2005, is effective october 1, 2005. the visa bulletin lists cut-off dates for each classification. applicants who hold priority dates before a cut-off date are unaffected by retrogression. applicants with priority dates after the cut-off date will have their cases held in abeyance until their classification's cut-off date is after their priority date. for consular processing immigrants, retrogression means that the consulate is not allowed to issue a visa to any applicant unless that applicant's priority date is "current," or the applicant holds a priority date before the listed cut-off date. for adjustment of status applicants, retrogression means that applicants are not allowed to file i-485, adjustment of status applications unless that applicant's priority date is "current," or the applicant holds a priority date before the listed cut-off date. if an applicant has a pending i-485 adjust of status application, the uscis will not approve that application until the applicant's priority date is "current," or the applicant holds a priority date before the listed cut-off date. for details, please read the following visa bulletin (especially section e): http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_2631.html

hi suzanne, :balloons: (belated) happy birthday! may god continuously bless you...because you've been such a blessing to many nurses around the globe! we can never thank you enough for all your help and support... i will pray that all your heart's desires be granted... of course, everything.. in god's time! regards, ~ neriners

Thank you so much for that. I wil l keep you posted for any developments.God bless you! :)

hi suzanne! thanks for the reply! yes, my agency petitioned me. some of my friends under the same agency were approved already and now waiting for the u.s. embassy interview. they were approved in less than 3 months. do you have any idea if it is true - that lack of experience is a ground for denial of visa in the embassy? thanks for your time. God bless.:balloons:

Hi Ms. Suzanne, How are you? I have learned a lot just from reading your messages. Though I have few questions to ask. i passed CGFNS-July 2003, IELTS - Oct 2003, received my Visascreen-April 2004. INS received my I-140 petition last july 2004. now, I am still undecided to what state is best for me? I have an option to go to either texas or maryland. i am preparing to take the nclex-rn because my petiion is now under processed. i have visited their websites (board of nursing). i saw in their FAQs that there is a minimum work requirement to be approved to take the nclex-rn exam in texas, of about 2 years? is that really required? would you also have an idea if maryland doesnt accept/recognize IELTS for the english exam requirement? only TSE or ILA OPI. does that mean that even if i passed IELTS, i still have to take TSE, just to be eligible? Ms. Suzanne, please help out. Thanks again and May God bless you! Regards, neriners:balloons:

:) thanks nornor! i perfectly understand that i need to prioritize, but the thing is i have 2 kids to feed. and giving up my work is gonna be the biggest risk of my life. consider me as "sigurista" or someone who always wants to make it sure first. that's the way it is when you're a mother/parent. you don't easily take any risk if it will affect your children. hope you understand that. good for you, you were able to give up HK work. where are you based now? is it really hard to adjust? i understand you're there 2 years ago? did you bring your family with you? i just signed up the INS form last month. accdg to agency, if everthing goes well, we can leave before the year ends. we'll probably based in maryland. keep in touch! God bless you.. :balloons:

Hi Suzanne and Kyutnurse,Thanks for your messages. I passed both CGFNS (Jul03) and English - IELTS (Oct 03) I have submitted visa screen application last Dec03. All these, I have coursed thru an agency. LAst Mar 25, I got a job offer. Accdg to my agency they will start my petition this month of APril. and probably I will be based in Texas. How long would it really take? Im a bit confused though. I heard from someone that it will only take a minimum of 8 months, but i just read somewhere in this forum that it will take longer, same is true if you'll be based in california or florida. Unlike if you're going to NY, NJ or that part near Vermont, which is a lot shorter. And one more question, do i really need to have the hospital experience? My agency wants me to resign from my job now and apply in hospital to get that clinical experience. (I only had one year of PDN and 2 yrs as first aid volunteer in Red CRoss.) I am currently working in a pharmaceutical company as clerk/secretary and Im properly compensated. It's a big risk, really, to leave the company that enables me to feed 2 mouths. I have 2 kids, ages 5 and 3. If I am going to apply in a hospital and work as a nurse here in the phils, I fear I may not be able to buy white stockings for my duty. :angryfire wanna know how much a nurse earns for an 8-hr duty? brace yourself - it's as low as $5. Approx $0.625 an hour!!!! I'm talking about big tertiary hospitals in the metropolis huh, cut it by half if you work in a rural areas. mind you, nurses will get paid only after 1-3 months of "NO-SALARY" training. BIG RISK, but do I have a choice not to get the hospital training here? I'd greatly appreciate your comments. thanks and God bless...

hi ria! tnx for the message. may i know where are you working ryt now? any tips for the NCLEX - RN reformat? what book to read/review? are you in immigrant visa, did you bring your family with you (just in case, ur married and have kids)? thanks.

hi everyone! this is my first time to join a forum and post a message. i have read some of the messages here and i find it very informative. i would like to address this message to all filipino nurses who are now successfully working in the us. it was last year when an opportunity knocked my door. an agency offered me a scholarship program (sponsorship in all exams, review and visa processing). i passed cgfns and ielts. but i felt frustrated because they have only few employers. the ones that came were very particular with hospital experience. that's the reason why i was not called for an interview. the agency now requires us to go back to hospital while waiting, or attend their training program(which will cost arnd p17k), for us to be marketable.this was not cleared to us when we signed the contract with them. they have accepted us even without hospital experience. in our present economic situation, i can’t afford to give up my job without the assurance that i will be deployed very soon. i have 2 kids to feed and i can't take the risk just like that. right now, i am exploring other options and i hope you would help me on some concerns: 1) is hospital experience really necessary? i heard some were able to emigrate and work there even without experience? 2) which is better? safer? faster? going thru an agency or direct hire? 3) is it really 12 – 18 months of processing for immigrant visa? that’s all for now. i would greatly appreciate if you could find time to send your comments or share your experiences. thanks and god bless! ~neriners~