lenaUK

So what you are referring to is a PERM posting by the facility, in immigration terms, Labor certification is different from a PERM posting. I quote from a close family member is a US Immigration attorney and does browse through this forum often...

Suzanne - Just to correct your information posted. Schedule A does exist for Nurses and has nothing to do with retrogression. Sch. A occupation do NOT require Labor Certification aka LCA. Sch. A is decided by the US Dep of Labour based on the vacancy rate or shortage in a profession in the country - it is then declared as a Sch A occupation. Reg Nurses come under Sch. A, instead of going through the entire labour certification process (takes 18 months) i.e. prove by advertising the said position in national papers, collect responses and CVs etc...and prove that there is no one suitable to match that job hence sponsoring of the nurse of that position, they are filed as Sch A occupations Check out The U.S. Department of Labor Home Page, Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and quote below Schedule A is a list of occupations, set forth at 20 CFR 656.15, for which the Department has determined there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available. In addition, Schedule A establishes that the employment of aliens in such occupations will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed An employer shall apply for a labor certification for a Schedule A occupation by filing an ETA Form 9089, in duplicate with the appropriate USCIS Center, NOT with the Department of Labor or a SWA. Hope it helps

Suzanne, I am not sure if it is typo but you do not need to be in the US for 600 days (thats 1.5yrs on a tourist visa!!) to qualify for AOS:o For AOS you need to be in the US for 90 days on a legitimate visa (like tourist, business ) after which you are eligible for an employer petitioning for AOS. You can do without VisaScreen at the time of petition and Immigration will come back with RFE (Request for Evidence), most often they give a time limit of 90days to submit however in some instances they give only 30 days. If that is the case you have to be extremely sure of CGFNS issuing your VSC, there are absolutely no extensions to this timelimit. FOr Nurses seeking AOS best is to apply for VSC at the same time you apply for US license/NCLEX, they keep your file active for 2 years so no worries if you have not appeared/passed NCLEX. As long as you pay the fee they will review and approve other documentation in the meantime. I know this since I to a few Immigration lawyer friends in NY for advice and did some research myself. Hope it helps.

hey suzanne its a foreign nurse site ofcourse english may not be upto the highest standards, so lets show some empathy for the effort made by nurses to participate in this forum. not everyone in the world has the same english capabilities or access so how about some tolerance!! appreciate it, lena

Hey Macarena I recommend the hospital uses their own legal department to recommend an attorney for immigration. My brother who lives in NY did a lot of research when i was seeking a position in the US and hospitals may sponsor you for a greencard however any management change in the hospitals (they are private and very large) or if there is a budget cut or financial difficulty, generally they cancel sponsorship for foreign nurses instead of making local nurses redundant. Make sure hospital will hire you and there is an assurance or guarantee of continuing sponsorship no matter what Hope this helps Lena

Just thought I should put in my two bit, now that i eagerly await my GC interview, I wish i had not bungled up my misplacing an important document I lost 3 months...by now I would be in sunny california!!!! I spent a lot of time, effort and sweat researching agencies, hospitals etc...and here's the deal 1. An agency referred by a nurse who has been through the process is ideally a good pick, you get first hand information 2. A reputable agency will not charge you fees, will be prompt in responding to your emails, telephone calls, is very direct and will follow up. 3. Your contract should mention the city and state, some of them take you through the entire process and the job offer does not mention the key details. My contract does not mention the facility, according to the agency the facility will be advised at the time of the consulate interview. I questioned why? and the response was that the facility may confirm a job at the time of signing the offer, however sometimes the delay in the Greencard or organisational changes in the facility etc...could change the confirmation of the job offer and it is disappointing for the nurse. The agency I signed with has multiple contracts with facilities in my city of choice, they have sent my CV recently (as I await my interview call) to 3 facilities and I have been re-interviewed and confirmed by 2 of them 4. My cancellation contract is for $10,000 and they did not charge any fees, they paid for my entire greencard costs and attorney fees for self and family. I paid for my family - again I questioned them why they do not pay for family. Their response was they get single nurses and nurses with 4 children, so it is not fair they pay more for some nurses and less for others. Their policy is to pay for everything for the nurse. I think it is fair policy. 5. An agency will send immigration updates, you do not need to wait for years to find out there was no petition filed and you have wasted your time. My agency in London faxed me INS receipt, approval and advised me on a monthly basis what was going on. All I can say is I interviewed in Feb 05 in Stockholm, I140 was approved in May 05, waiting for interview call in Dec or Jan. (I would have been interviewed back in Oct had I not screwed up). I am so glad the papers moved so fast........... Wish all of you lots of luck Lena

I have been a reader rather than a writer on this forum and understand the frustrations of nurses who are stuck in this retrogression jam and my heart goes out to you all - however I do think there is a solution to it. The shortage of nurses is so acute in the US - they will have to resolve it - so every cloud has a silver lining. I have been very fortunate with my GC - after trying on my own for 3 years I nearly gave up and signed up with an agency in london, petition was filed end Jan 05 - believe it or not my priority date is 8th Feb 05! That was super super fast for me !! May have something to do with the fact that i was born in sweden I have an update to share about Retrogression - this bulletien was sent by my agency today, please do not hang your hopes on it untill the bill is signed. After several months of behind-the-scenes advocacy work, we are pleased to report an important development in the efforts to reverse retrogression for EB-3 green card applicants from the Philippines, India and China. The US Senate voted today to add a provision to the defense/tsunami appropriations bill that would allow unclaimed EB-3 numbers from the last four years to be reclaimed. Half will be available to nurses and physical therapists. The other half will be open to all other occupations. One previous versions of the bill would have made no distinctions between occupations while another would have only allowed nurses and physical therapists to claim the numbers. The final version passed is seen as a compromise that could be supported by the various groups working on this issue. The draft language was sponsored by Senators Hutchison R-TX, Domenici (R-TX), and Schumer (D-NY) reads as follows: "Recapture of Visas Sec.6047. section 106(d)(2)(a) of the American competitiveness in the twenty-first century act of 2000 (PL106-313; 8 USC 1153 note) is amended- (1)in paragraph (1), by inserting before the period at the end of the second sentence "and any such visa that is made available due to the difference between the number of employment-based visas that were made available in fiscal year 2001,2002,2003 or 2004 and the number of such visas that were actually used in such fiscal year shall be made available only to employment-based immigrants and the dependants of such immigrants, and 50% of such visas shall be made available to those whose immigrant worker petitions were approved based on schedule A, as defined in section 656.5 of title 20, Code of Federal Regulations, as promulgated by the Secretary of Labor"; and (2) in paragraph(2)(A) by striking "and 2000" and inserting "through 2004"" GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL - WE ARE ALL PRAYING... Lena

Thanks to Tina, Suzanne & Anna for responding to my query. Regards to direct hire by hospitals - My brother is in NYC and he called many hospitals and he spoke to a couple of CNO's who said they would love to hire foreign nurses however the complexity of the ceritifications, immigrations which is always a nightmare and then housing and handholding required for a new nurse etc...require lot of resources, time and effort hence they are not keen to directly recruit nurses fm overseas. They do have many forein nurses in their hospitals and are very pleased with their performance. This is just another view - wish there was some clear and concise info on this thing. Spoke to some agencies this morning, if anyone would like me to share the info feel free to let me know. Regards L

undefined I did post a response to your question about recruiting agencies in the UK - as I am new to this website maybe it did not get posted. I have many friends who are applying to go to the US and been doing a lot of research myself. Have some family in the US and nurses who moved to the US. And one of them wrote me a long email with these points to remember: 1. An agency should not charge Nurse any service fees at all, they are paid by the hospitals etc.. Some of them do ask nurse to pay for own NCELX or VisaScreen which is ok 2. Measure an agency by it attitude to the nurse, do they place you where you wish to live (its a major decision) or they do force you to work where they have jobs? 3. Are agencies prompt in responding to a nurse? do they set up interviews in a reasonable time or you wait for 3 to 6 mths before you hear from them 4. It is important agency understands US immigration or they will not be able to keep you informed as i believe it takes 12 mths to process the visa. Sharing what some of my friends experienced when they were looking for US jobs, some of them have offers some are already in the US and some are shopping like me. Once i do the rounds will let you know. Hope it helps. Good Luck L

Hey how do you apply for a greencard on your own?? I'm thinking of going through the process myself and from what i am told it goes like this - pl let me know if its different -Apply for NCLEX (only 5 or 6 states dont require CGFNS - CA, NY, Florida, Maryland, Vermont dont knwo the rest) - Apply for CES (evaluate ur credentials) - Pass NCLEX - Pass English exams (i did nursing education in sweden so it is reqd) - An interim license is issued and need some social no to get complete license How does one go about doing the immigration without a sponsor??? my friend went to an agency and they are paying for her greencard and in lieu she will work for the hospital for 1.5 yrs - thats not bad its a short period. what do other agencues require? pl let me more.....can someone make this easy