percy-rn

Sorry meant to say get CES, then apply to BON that doesn't require SSN, get ATT, take exam, pass it, you will get license issued. There are definitely states out there that will issue you your RN license without a SSN, I got mine without SSN, recently. Then you can apply for non-immigrant VSC, get a job offer, get visa approved, get SSN and start work. Of course this is all assuming that eveything goes smoothly, which it may not...anticipate problems. Have a positive attitude yes, but if you don't prepare for setbacks you won't be able to deal with them properly when they arise

CGFNS in my case used the same documents that they already had from my Credentials Evaluation Report to issue a Visa Screen certificate. Apart from the Verification of License; they asked for another one of those. But the educational transcripts, etc, they did not askk for them again, they sent me an email actually saying they were using the info they already had from my evaluation. It's such a money making scam it should be a crime They charge you $540 to produce a certificate saying that you're a Registered Nurse (which they've already ascertained from putting together your credentials evaluation report) and they use the info that you've already sent them anyway. Just another hoop you've gotta jump through, it makes no sense and seems to serve no purpose because it;s just a replication/duplication. An official looking certificate saying, 'yes, this person is a real nurse & not a fake one, just like we already said they were on the other report we issued a few months ago.' Anyway Google which states allow you to apply for the NCLEX-Rn without a SSN (most of them) and which ones will issue a license without a SSN (quite a lot of them.) These concurrency issues are crazy. They effectively block all immigrant nurses from ever working in that state. You can't have a SSN if you haven't got a visa, and you can't get a visa if you haven't got USA RN licensure. It's like a vicious cycle I don't get how they are allowed to do it. So, once you've got your VSC start applying for jobs. Take the following steps: 1.Get CES report from CGFNS which I think you already have 2.Get VSC (non-immigrant.) 3.Apply for jobs. 4.Find employer willing to go H1b route. 5.Obtain a H1b visa. 6.Go to local Social Security office in the States, apply for SSN. Look on the website. Info is clear and concise. 7.Start work. Show employer proof that you've applied for SSN. Call SS office a couple of days after submitting application and they will tell you your SSN. Your card will come a couple of weeks later in the post. It's all a pain in the butt. Good luck hope that clears it up

Hi, which category of visa were you approved for and was it difficult finding I hospital willing to sponsor you? Thanks

I suggest you look at the TX Board of Nursing website. The information on there is easily accessible and tells you quite explicitly what their requirements are. Why haven't you looked at it before now? I would have thought if you were serious about moving to Texas you would have been researching this for quite some time (unless you just decided very recently, that is.) If you had looked into this in any detail you would have seen that there is no possibility AT ALL for a non-USA trained Mental Health nurse to get an Authorization to Test (ATT) for the NCLEX-RN from the TX BON. You can't just take the exam, you need authorization to do so from the BON once your credentials have been evaluated from CGFNS and have been deemed comparable to a USA educated Registered Nurse. Being deemed comparable to an American RN means your educational transcripts must demonstrate you received xxx amount of hours in both clinical & theory in Medical & Surgical care of the neonate, child, adult & geriatric patient as well as obstetrics & maternity nursing, and mental health too. Clearly your transcripts will not show this as the curriculum in the UK for mental health nursing does not cover most of these 'generalist' areas. You will either have to return to university and do another degree in Adult Nursing at a university that has a dynamic curriculum whereby the Adult Nursing programme includes OBGYN/paediatric/mental health hours (mine did fortunately), or you will have to find some way of 'making the hours up,' an almost impossible task since you will have so many hours to make up and even then you will still be a registered Mental Health nurse. I am not trying to be discouraging just presenting you with the facts as they are. If you have been thinking of moving to the States for some time now, you should have known all of this already. The immigration process is complex and getting to the point where you have a visa in your hand and you are flying out to the States to start work will entail a lot of research, hard work, exams (yes, plural, not just the NCLEX), expense, stress and time (several years.)

What a lot of conflicting information. You do NOT 'need a SSN to get a job.' The info provided on the US Social Security is very clear. Once you have a job offer, the employer will petition your visa. Once the visa has been approved and the visa is stamped in your passport, you can go to the States. Prior to starting work, you must go to the local Social Security office (in the States) and submit the paperwork/documents (proof of identification and proof of job offer plus your immigrant/non immigrant visa) and apply for your SSN. It takes 1-2 weeks to receive the card but you can call the office within a day or two and they will tell you your number which you can then relay to your employer. You don't have to have the actual Social Security Card to start work but you must have applied for one and you have to give your employer the receipt from the SS office proving that you've applied for it and you are waiting for it. Obviously the CA concurrency issue presents immigrant RNs with an obstacle pretty much impossible to tackle, so I am only referring to the other state BONs that don't require a SSN... All of this info is easily obtained on the USA SS website, why haven't you looked at it?

Fascinating! Lmbasurto, do you work in endoscopy? Those who give propofol - do you have moderate/conscious sedation certification? Are you trained to insert LMAs if the patient stops breathing spontaneously? Do you receive a higher salary due to your advanced skills or is this not considered to be 'advanced'? I don't know how on earth travel nurses keep abreast of all these different state laws. Interesting how one state can deem an activity as illegal and another state think it is fine. Lots of overlap with medicine. Sign of the times I guess. I think our job/role needs redefining. We, and our jobs, are clearly not the same as nurses were 50 years ago, we obviously live in a very different world nowadays with advances & technology etc. But legislation and public opinion hasn't kept up with what we actually do in practice. Too many discreapncies IMHO. When I'm in charge it will all be different lol!

Wow....

Yes I see it now, Thanks. Your responses really help although I am still anxious and nervous. I am trying to brush up on hemodynamic monitoring too.... so much to learn! However, I am Happy about that because I like pushing myself

Thanks a lot that is really useful. Has my thread been removed from the Critical Care Nursing forum? I can only see this thread when I look at 'activity' in my personal account. It has disappered from the actual forum. Don't know why? Anyhow thank you.

Thanks for your replies. Do you have CS certification? Is there anybody else out there please who could provide any feedback and/or experience with this issue? I agree, it is imperative to know individual State laws. What kind of analgesia/sedation are RNs out there administering? It seems that fentanyl and midaz/versed are most commonly used. Do people find that this generally works out fine and no additional assistance is required? Or has anyone had a negative experience with CS? Thanks!

Hello all It seems that regulations differ HUGELY from state to state when it comes to RNs administering conscious (moderate) sedation, which includes analgesia. I have read a few older posts on this subject on this website: can any seasoned RNs out there give me some current feedback about current practice please? In settings such as radiology and cath lab, what are nurses administering and what is beyond the limit of the RN scope of practice? At what point does the anasthesia provider need to be present (by that, I guess I mean who out there is administering propofol?) And...why the hell is it so fragmented and non standardized? It makes me a bit nervous! One state says it's fine - the next state says it's illegal...How are we to know which drugs we are legally permitted to give as RNs when there are literally thousands of them out there? Obviously we come across the 'commonly used' drugs depending on where we work, so we feel confident about what we can and can't do. But, it's not always that clear cut, is it. Sometimes the situation is unusual or our practice is callenged. RNs out there who are NOT CRNAs, please let me know what y'all are up to when it comes to CS. I will be working in a Cath Lab soon and am interested to know what everyone is doing. Thanks!

Thanks so much Silver dragon you are a great help, providing info and reassurance! Another quick question, I understand that they see the applicant and any close dependents at the same time (spouse, children.) Does the dependent get their H4 processed in the same time frame, 3-5 days? We are UK citizens and have a fairly common surname but there aren't many RNs going to the States on a H1b so hopefully there won't be a huge list of nurses all called Jones/Smith/Johnson/Clark etc to warrant any delays!!

Thank you Silver Dragon. Do you know why it would go to further admin processing? If the applicant (RN) doesn't have any convictions etc and has never had any issues with immigration at all, would the process be classified as 'standard' and incur a 3-5 day wait? Trying to figure out what would justify this potential extra administrative time. Thank you very much

Hello, can anyone help please. Can anyone tell me how long it takes once a H1b visa has been approved by USCIS, to get the visa stamp in your passport. I have read some conflicting information, the US embassy in London website states that it takes 3 days to process the visa and send the passport back but i a footnote it says that the 3 processing days do not include the administrative processing time - which can be up to 90 days! But according to other websites (immigration attorneys/lawyers, immigration blogs & chatrooms where people recount their personal experiences), most people only wait a few days. I am not sure I am understanding this correctly. How can the US embassy keep someone's passport for 3 months? Meaning that person cannot travel anywhere or use their passport for ID/legal purposes, etc. Is this just a 'worst case scenario' doomsday time frame which is fairly unheard of, or is it common to take so long? What exactly are they doing for 3 months, sice USCIS has already approved the visa (and USCIS often takes a long time to approve the visa in the first place, unless premium processing is used.) Anybody out there who has a H1b visa who can share their experience with me I would really appreciate it, because 3 months to get a stamp for a visa that US Immigration have already approved seems totally illogical and unrealistic. Would the employer understand and be prepared to wait even longer? Seems ridiculous. Thank you!

Thank you Ghillbert. You are right there is not really any benefit with going with an agency. Thank you for your response. I think when ppl like me ask if anyone knows of hospitals sponsoring, I know there is no list of facilities willing to do it. I was holding out a slim hope that maybe someone else out there had gone throught his process with a happy ending and could help, e.g letting me know which hospital they personally had success with. TraumaRn no offense taken (and it can only be taken, never given, lol!) Thank you for your apology anyway. I was merely pointing out what some people's attitude seems to be. But observing attitudes doesn't mean I am upset by them, it just means I am making commentary on it. Gosh there are some ppl on this website who put A LOT of posts on and get into a lot of cyber fighting and nasty remarks, that's what I was saying. I appreciate the economy has everyone frustrated. But just to reiterate what I was saying earlier.....before the H1b is even petitioned, the employer has to submit an application to the Department of Labor (Labor certification) to prove that they have had the positon advertized for some time and no USA nurse has applied for the job or if they have they were unsuitable. I don't make the rules! And I'm obviously not making this up! If there were no posts out there which went unfilled by an American Nurse then no foreign nurse would ever be granted a H1b, it would be impossible. But they do issue a certain amount each year, ergo there must be unfilled posts. You can't argue with the facts. It may seem unbelievable but clearly it is true. Otherwise the H1b would not exist. Anyway thank you everyone. Peace and love !!!