Relief for retrogression hope???

suzanne4, RN · Jun 3, 2008

What you are not understanding is that these bills are not quick fixes to any problem, nver have been and never will be. And there has always been a limit as to the number of green cards issued per year. We are seeing more and more going into nursing, but the fact remains that there are only 140,000 EB-3 visas issued per year and that included spouses and children. And also other professions, not just nurses. Even if just nurses, would not make a dent in the number that are waiting for visas.

With over 950,000 enrolled in nursing schools in the Philippines, no jobs that pay for them there, and less than 10,000 visas allotted for that country, then you have the makings of a national disaster, and there; not here.

Even with going to grad school here, depending on the country of birth, there may still be a wait to get a visa to work here when one is done. And all of the certifications must be completed before one can be petitioned for the EB-2 and that means licensure completed as well.

You can say what ever you want about my posting, but people need to be aware that things are not going to be the rosy picture that you here out of the US, things are quite different here.

And sure, agencies can spring up all over, they just sell people to the highest bidder in many cases and could care less about the nurse. Some are actually involved in what we could refer to as slave trading and nothing more than.

When one is now going to attend school with the idea that they will automatically get to come to the US right away, they need to be very aware that this is not going to happen. There are no longer ways to adjust from a tourist visa or even a student visa at this time once the OPT is completed.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 3, 2008

And for those that think that I am against foreign nurses coming here and tha the floodgates are going to open since there are so many more agencies that are now operating. But you are not aware of one major thing when you sign with them, and what they are hoping for: All of those contracts have large cancellation fees and if you sign and then cancel, you are going to owe them much more money for doing that and that is where they are going to be making their money.

There are a few agencies out there that actually put the cancellaton fee into effect as soon as you sign with them and even if it is just a week later, the cost to you for that one signature is a whopping $8,000 US and up to $45,000 if you back out later on. So yes, agencies are more than happy to sign you and hope that you will cancel, they get money that way.

Looking at it from the other side: Why is an agency going to invest thousands of dollars for immigration fees and attorneys, etc., and not be able to get reimbursed for that for several years now? Makes no sense at all if their return on their money is not going to happen in the forseeable future. And then add in the surety bonds that are required out of India in the sum of about $20,000 US before the nurse can even leave for the US and have never seen one agency return it either.

Any of can say what you want, but I have never been known to sugar-coat anything and I am not going to start. Everything that I have said would happen has, and you do not see your agencies being correct on much of anything at all. We are still seeing agencies promising that if you sign with them, they will have you in the US in just a few months, but the fact remains that they do not issue visas, only the US government and they are not doing that right now.

If one is not already in the pipeline with petitioning it is going to be even longer than the five years for many, as there are more and more that are wishing visas, but no increase in the number issued.

Expect the US to tighten requirements and we are already seeing states doing it and that is what I said would happen and many of you can see that by CA now as well. They are requiring the local license and others are following.

There are areas in the US where new grads that are actually American can not even find a job, so why would a foreign nurse expect to be hired in those areas? Just not going to happen. And just because someone went to nursing school in their country, does not make it a requirement that the US must provide a visa for them to work here.

sofia_815 · Jun 3, 2008

Too many nurses including their spouses and children are applying in the USA-- and greencards have limited numbers per year, even if Retrog is lifted--Retrog will happen again and again--as applicant influx exhaust the number of visas and these nurses will not stop trying--they will still take their chances unless NCLEX testing centers in foreign countries would close down..

suzanne4, RN · Jun 3, 2008

Even with this bill that we have been hearing about for months and have not seen any forward motion with, it is not going to make a dent in the bucket of those that are waiting. Remember that it is only for 20,000 visas each year x three years.

And right now there are many more applicants in the pipe-line and not enough visas to go around. And even add in the 800,000 petitions that were submitted last summer and the fact that only 140,000 green cards per year under the EB-3 category, that is why it is going to be years for many of you to even have a chance. And that is what I am always very upfront about. Sorry that the employers are not. I do not get paid for offering advice, the agencies are trying to sell you and make money.

Your choice, and they also do not issue visas or have anything to do with the process at all.

Turtle08 · Jun 3, 2008

Even with this bill that we have been hearing about for months and have not seen any forward motion with, it is not going to make a dent in the bucket of those that are waiting. Remember that it is only for 20,000 visas each year x three years.
And right now there are many more applicants in the pipe-line and not enough visas to go around. And even add in the 800,000 petitions that were submitted last summer and the fact that only 140,000 green cards per year under the EB-3 category, that is why it is going to be years for many of you to even have a chance. And that is what I am always very upfront about. Sorry that the employers are not. I do not get paid for offering advice, the agencies are trying to sell you and make money.
Your choice, and they also do not issue visas or have anything to do with the process at all.

But does this mean if you are in the USA if this Bill comes into affect and numbers are current you can file for adjustment of status so if your already in the usa on a valid visa this bill will help a great deal.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jun 3, 2008

But does this mean if you are in the USA if this Bill comes into affect and numbers are current you can file for adjustment of status so if your already in the usa on a valid visa this bill will help a great deal.

Well for a start it wouldn't be fair on everyone else who has been doing it properly but would image it will not make visas current but they will start processing the ones already waiting

lawrence01 · Jun 4, 2008

But does this mean if you are in the USA if this Bill comes into affect and numbers are current you can file for adjustment of status so if your already in the usa on a valid visa this bill will help a great deal.

Also, adjusting status may not be as easy as before for people coming from tourist and student visas. It is expected that USCIS may not allow concurrent filing of the I-140 and I-485 (AOS) anymore. Applicants would have to wait until the I-140 (job petition) be approved first until the I-485 (AOS) be allowed to be filed. So, if it will take 6-15 mos. for an I-140 to be approved depending on w/c Service Center is processing it then it is more likely that someone visiting the US exhaust his valid legal stay before the I-140 gets approved.

*See: https://allnurses.com/forums/f75/possible-proposition-suspend-concurrent-filing-i-140-i-485-a-301143.html

Couple this with the news (I'll look further on to this and make a thread about it) I just heard that all visitors to the US (including from countries that do not need a visa to visit) will now have to give their name at least 72 hours before their planned flight then some people may not even be allowed to even fly going to the US.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 4, 2008

Even if this bill were to pass, the numbers still are not going to be made current as there were over 800,000 that were petitioned last summer and the fact is that there are still only 140,000 visas per year.

We are not expecting anything to open up as far as Adjustment of Status for several years if you do the math just based on those numbers and add into it the fact that that number does not even include those that are going thru the CP processing.

No way in the expected future to go the AOS route, just not going to happen. Things are actually going to get tighter and not easier.

lost_stranger · Jun 4, 2008

Also, adjusting status may not be as easy as before for people coming from tourist and student visas. It is expected that USCIS may not allow concurrent filing of the I-140 and I-485 (AOS) anymore. Applicants would have to wait until the I-140 (job petition) be approved first until the I-485 (AOS) be allowed to be filed. So, if it will take 6-15 mos. for an I-140 to be approved depending on w/c Service Center is processing it then it is more likely that someone visiting the US exhaust his valid legal stay before the I-140 gets approved.
*See: https://allnurses.com/forums/f75/possible-proposition-suspend-concurrent-filing-i-140-i-485-a-301143.html
Couple this with the news (I'll look further on to this and make a thread about it) I just heard that all visitors to the US (including from countries that do not need a visa to visit) will now have to give their name at least 72 hours before their planned flight then some people may not even be allowed to even fly going to the US.

Actually the bill has a provision which states that I-140 petitions filed for Sch A cases should be reviewed not later than 30 days since date of filing of completed petition. So if the bill is passed, I-140 processsing times will be reduced greatly.

lawrence01 · Jun 4, 2008

Actually the bill has a provision which states that I-140 petitions filed for Sch A cases should be reviewed not later than 30 days since date of filing of completed petition. So if the bill is passed, I-140 processsing times will be reduced greatly.

If the bill passes and if that specific provision holds as well. No guarantee that 100% of what is in there will make it and they might add some safety nets as well. I'm also sure the dual-intent provision coming from a tourist visa will still hold. It always had. Even when there was still the Schedule A visa category, some AOS cases were still denied for dual-intent.

Actually, there are two ways to see that provision. Some people might see it as an easier way to spot someone with dual-intent for all we know.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 7, 2008

(This was in response to another post)

You are entirely missing the point and that is that there has never been open doors to the US in terms of coming here to work legally. Has never happened and do not think that it will.

The issue is now that there are many more applicants than there are visas available per year so that means that the chances of getting a visa are not as good as they once were. I have no issues at all with foreign nurses coming to the US when they do it legally. However, there have been many that have tried to take shortcuts as well as cuts in line in front of others trying to get here thinking that they were more deserving than others that had been doing things legally and were waiting their turn for a visa.

We are seeing more and more people go into nursing for the chance to get to the US to work, but the fact remains that the US still needs to look out for its own first and provide jobs for them before anyone else.

For a new grad to demand that the US take them just because they think that it is their right to be here, that just does not fly with me. And it is not just me, we are seeing more and more states require the local license and even CA, that was always first choice for many. They have even changed their rules as well.

And yes, I am all for legal immigration, and just that. Legal and without an open door policy just because someone wishes to come here.

Even this thread that speaks of a possible bill that has been discussed for sometime, it is still not an open door policy, all that is does do is take the dependents out of the count. When we had Schedule A, and there were 50,000 visas in that, only about 17,000 actually went to nurses as spouses and children were included with that total. This would be 20,000 per year, the dependents would get a visa but their number would not be in the count. Still does not grant visas to everyone and will only be a drop in the bucket for many and if someone does not have a completed file then they will not even have a chance at any of these.

There have been times in the past when there were no visas issued to nurses for more than 5 years here and that is when the H1-B was used for all coming to the US, the green card was only then applied for if things worked out between the employer and the nurse. Or they were not even renewed for the temporary work visa.

Many of you are believing that this is something new for the US government to have a retrogression, but it is definitely not the case. When demand is larger than the supply, things get stopped and that is what is happening now. Even with these added in visas, the demand is still going to be greater than the supply and do not expect the retrogression to end anytime soon.

I think that for anyone to bury their heads in the sand and do not think that all of this applies to them, is crazy. Pure and simple. And to come here to go to school expecting to be able to remain is no longer a viable option for most, the OPT only gives one year and is not renewable.

I just believe that everyone needs to be very aware of what is actually happening here and come into the process with open eyes and ears, not screening out what they do not want to hear.

elkpark · Jun 7, 2008

It seems to me that the International moderators are just trying to be realistic. Lots of people from other countries post here and it is clear that they have gotten misleading and/or incorrect information, and they often have very unrealistic expectations about coming to work in the US (as well as other countries). I never really thought about immigration issues before I started participating on the allnurses site, but, apparently (based on what I've read here), for many years it was very easy for RNs from other countries to come to the US to work whenever they wanted to. Immigration rules and policies have changed dramatically in recent years and that is just not a realistic expectation any more (and probably never will be again).

Also, international nurses frequently post here all excited about some new bill just introduced in the US Congress that would make a big difference to their situation if it passed, and they don't seem to have any understanding of how the law-making process works in Congress (I don't mean that as a criticism in any way; it's completely understandable. I don't have any clear idea how the political process works in most other countries, either. :)) The vast majority of bills that get introduced in the US Congress never become law; often the congresspeople who introduce the bill know that it's never going to pass, but are just trying to make a political statement or "score points" with their constituents or other supporters. Often, if a bill does pass, the final version signed into law is very different from the original proposal. Also, there is a great deal of sentiment within the US public these days against immigration; regardless of whether that is good, or fair, or right, that's how a lot of the US population feels and our representatives and senators know that.

I don't understand why people get so huffy about the US having more restrictions on immigration than we used to; every nation on earth has immigration laws and restrictions, and most are much more restrictive than the US. US immigration rules and policies, like those of every other country, are developed to protect and promote the interests of the US and its citizens, not the people who want to come here (and, again, that's no different from any other country on the planet). It's not the job of the US and other first-world countries to "rescue" people who happen to have been born in poorer countries, and provide them with a good life and comfortable income.

I also think it's interesting (and this is just a general observation, not directed at any particular individual) that so many of the members who post here about how wrong and unfair it is that they can't come to the US any time they feel like it and practice as an RN come from a country (the Philippines) in which it's impossible for anyone who isn't a PI citizen to get a nursing license. If it's okay for the government of the Philippines to decide that all RN jobs in their country are reserved exclusively for PI citizens, why would it be wrong for the US (or any other country) to take the same approach??