Relief for retrogression hope???

suzanne4, RN · May 4, 2008

This is just a bill that was submitted, far from being approved.

It just means that there would be 20,000 extra visas per year, but those still include dependents so will not make much a dent in the amount that are waiting.

There are now more than 950,000 currently enrolled in school in your country, and no jobs there. And still only 10,000 per year of green cards that are issued here, so the wait and chance to get a visa is not going to be changing in anyone's favor. Just not going to happen at all.

Unless one is at the end of the process, chance of getting a visa is going to be far from now.

Turtle08 · May 4, 2008

So what you are saying is you would need to be in the usa on another valid visa say student visa so you could do an adjustment in status, have passed nclex and have your visa screen in hand in order to have any chance of these visas helping you?

Silverdragon102, BSN · May 4, 2008

you can only go the AOS route if visas are current

Turtle08 · May 4, 2008

I thought from what I read that it meant unlimited visas for nurses and the 20,00 limit was for their dependants?

1. Lifting of retrogression for Schedule A workers. Any immigrant visa quotas or caps are waived for all visa applications filed for Shortage Occupations (Schedule A occupations: Physical Therapists and Registered Nurses), provided that the I-140 is filed prior to September 30, 2011.

2. 20,000 primary beneficiary quota. While there is no retrogression for Schedule A cases filed before September 30, 2011, Consulates may not approve more than 20,000 primary beneficiary visas in any one year. There is no quota for the immediate family members of such beneficiaries.

dave787 · May 4, 2008

well lets just pray im sure it will be resolve soon lets not be negative even if it is just a bill.

elkpark · May 4, 2008

Do you all have any idea how many new "laws" get proposed each year in the US Congress but never get passed? I wouldn't waste any time even thinking about this (or any other proposal, whether it's about immigration or anything else) until it passes. There's no point in getting your hopes up that something's going to change just because the proposal has been made -- it's a long, difficult journey from a bill being submitted to it being signed into law (and most bills that get submitted never make it).

Just trying to be realistic ... :)

suzanne4, RN · May 4, 2008

They are two very different things, and the US has never had unlimited green cards for nurses. Never has and never will.

Someone was asking about benficiary visas and there is a limit on those. And we have heard mention of unlimited green cards for years and it has not happened up to date and do not think that it ever will. You do not want an unlimted number of others coming in to the US, you may not agree with me now but ask any that have been here a few years working. The US also has a large number that are in nursing schools at this moment and it only takes two years to train a nurse here before they are ready to begin work, same time that is takes to get thru licensure and immigration on average for many of you.

The unions are also very strong in the US and have job needs to have their approval as well before the I-140 is going to be submitted and accepted. And they have never wished for unlimited visas and will be strongly against this.

We have also seen so many bills come and go, that until they are actually approved by the House and the Senate, and get signed into Law, they are just talk and nothing more.

We have not seen an increase in the number of EB-3 visas and and the number of applicants is only increasing, not going down so chances to get a visa are going to actually be harder and harder to come by.

You can read all you want about this, but it is just not going to happen.

suzanne4, RN · May 4, 2008

well lets just pray im sure it will be resolve soon lets not be negative even if it is just a bill.

This is an election year, nothing is going to be resolved quickly.

Look at it the other way around, what if there were plenty of jobs in your country, and then all of a sudden the flood gates opened and many entered and attempted to take your job, what would your feelinge be like?

The US is very strongly union and with the number of jobs that have been sent overseas, there is almost a boycott in place in some areas. The nursing unions are also covered by the auto unions and they are very strong in number, it just is not going to happen. And prayer has nothing to do with it at all.

The US is also under a recession and why should a facility pay about $10,000 for a foreign nurse approximately before they can begin work when it is less than that even for tuition at a community college for an American and a job is provided for them as well.

Because one government has gone crazy and is being overrun by nursing students, does not mean that the US has to open their doors to select all. And if there were to be an increase in the numbers accepted, they are going to go to those with substantial work experience so that they will need minimual orientation, not coming in as a new grad or without any clincial experience.

If you take the time to do some research on this forum, you will see hundreds and hundreds of threads on this very same topic and we have not seen one thing pass as of yet. Schedule A came and is gone.

ryan_2008 · May 5, 2008

This is an election year, nothing is going to be resolved quickly.
Look at it the other way around, what if there were plenty of jobs in your country, and then all of a sudden the flood gates opened and many entered and attempted to take your job, what would your feelinge be like?
The US is very strongly union and with the number of jobs that have been sent overseas, there is almost a boycott in place in some areas. The nursing unions are also covered by the auto unions and they are very strong in number, it just is not going to happen. And prayer has nothing to do with it at all.
The US is also under a recession and why should a facility pay about $10,000 for a foreign nurse approximately before they can begin work when it is less than that even for tuition at a community college for an American and a job is provided for them as well.
Because one government has gone crazy and is being overrun by nursing students, does not mean that the US has to open their doors to select all. And if there were to be an increase in the numbers accepted, they are going to go to those with substantial work experience so that they will need minimual orientation, not coming in as a new grad or without any clincial experience.
If you take the time to do some research on this forum, you will see hundreds and hundreds of threads on this very same topic and we have not seen one thing pass as of yet. Schedule A came and is gone.

Hi, Suzanne,

If given the chance to have a comment or opinion infront of a Congressional Committee on Nurses Retrogression, what would you recommend to the panel?

blarf · May 5, 2008

does the retrogression concerns everybody? how would it take (in average) if you are not from india, china or philipines?

by the way, it is just out of curiosity

suzanne4, RN · May 5, 2008

You may not like what I am going to say, but after having worked in the US for years and having seen shortages come and go, they should not make any changes to what is in place now and what is in place. There is a reason that the US government has never made any changes to the number of visas issued per year. And have seen it in the past when nurses were only using the H1-B and there were times that none were granted to nurses for about five years. And it has happened more than once.

We are seeing more and more jobs shifted to overseas for manufacturing, so people are getting laid off here and it is much better from a tax standpoint, for them to be retrained and permitted to obtain nursing degrees and then be able to provide for their families just like everyone else wishes to do, but Americans need to come first. MI actually has a program already in place now to do exactly this. And when you figure that it takes approximately two years for a foreign grad to get thru licensure and immigration and actually get a visa for the US, one can train someone here and provide a job for them. Money spent for importing nurses, can be spent on their tuition and other related expenses and then it becomes a win-win solution in several ways.

Things have changed significantly in other countries as well, look at the UK as well as the EU; they are not routinely offering licenses and visas to work there any longer as well. And then there are some countries that do not have any jobs for their own graduates but expect them to just be absorbed all over without any training or experience, and other countries are starting to clamp down on this and for good reason.

Retrogressions have been in place in the past and will be in place in the future, there are going to be more applicants for the limited number of visas for sometime.

And if you read some of Daly City RN's posts on the Philippine Forum he has hit it right on the head. If you are going to have 30 openings for jobs and have 3000 applicants, who are you going to accept? Any manager or HR person is going to select the ones that trained in the best schools and have the best experience. They can be selective and we are seeing that all of the time.

Certain areas have shortages and others do not and you do not see any facilities even wishing to petition for a foreign nurse as they have many graduates right in their own area to select from to begin with. And you see this in the cities that many foreign grads like to go to such as NYC, San Francisco, and even Los Angeles. You are not seeing direct hiring in any numbers from these regions at all, only sometimes an agency petitioning but then if there are no jobs available when it is time to go for the interview, the petition actually gets cancelled and we are seeing more of this as well.

Changes need to be made in other countries first, not the other way around, and personally, I would like to see local licenses required as well as work experience in a paying job being required as well. It makes it very hard when someone comes here and their training is not equal to what we expect over here in the first place.

Sorry to be on my soap box, but you asked and this is the reason why I believe as I do.