I live in a state where I was able to get my RN license without SSN, so now I have it but I'm not able to do anything with it, and it seems that d/t retrogression, no hospital will be able to sponsor me. I was thinking, why not be a volunteer? I love helping others, so do you think that could be a possibility for me? can I use my RN license to volunteer since I'm not going to be paid. I'm also concerned with the hours that I'm suposse to fulfill every 5 years to be able to keep my RN, but how can I have work hours without being able to work? Also, can I maybe work independently as a contractor, could I lose my license if I do that? I don't want to do anything wrong but I want to use my skills, I'm also going to get my BSN to keep learning, is that a good idea for me, do you think that I would ever be able to work in this country with or without that? Please help me, I love being a nurse and when I started studying for RN I didn't know about retrogression, and I feel so sad that after all that I've been through to get the license now I won't be able to do anything at all.
I came here with a tourist Visa and obviously stayed. I've been reading about how to get work permit by filling 1-140 but I don't think RN ASN is enough, is it?
This isn't her original post, I can see how you missed this. It was a few posts down from the original.
Thanks everybody for your responses, I'm actually very sad still, because, well the news are not too good, it seems. USA is my home for now and hopefully for many more years. I came here 8 years ago, so yes I know I'm illegal since, even though my visa is for 10 years, my 1-94 was for 6 months only. My whole family lives here. When I got into school again, I applied without lies, and the board of nurses knows and have an affidavid stating that I don't have SSN, so I've been clear about it, hopefully one day I will be able to use it, for now I will get my required hours by finshing BSN, hard thing to do because I don't school loan's d/t the same reason. Anyways, thanks everybody and sorry if I bothered somebody by telling you that I'm here as an illegal immigrant, I know many feel strongly about it, and I wish I wasn't like that, I don't like breaking the rules or living with the fear of loosing everything because I'm not legal.
You are in much bigger trouble than if you had crossed the border illegally, in which case you would not have had an agreement with the US government. Instead you made an agreement that in exchange for granting you a visitor visa you would return to your home country within 6 months. You broke your word and essentially cannot be trusted. Today Homeland Security wants to keep tight track of all nonimmigrants, particularly after 9/11 and you have also violated security. No matter what education you get, no board of nursing will issue you a license. All new applicants for a license go through an extensive background check, including full fingerprint check, and even an unpaid parking ticket can be cause for refusal of a license. Most places that accept volunteers would also want to run a background check. Imagine letting in to a hospital a thief of drug abuser under the guise of being a volunteer!
No matter how much family you have here, if you are caught you will be deported, and whether you will ever be allowed back into the US within 3 or 10 years will depend entirely on the consulate in your home country. Most likely they will deny you since there are too many people applying that do not violate their status. No matter how long you live in the US, you will never be eligible for Social Security or Medicare or other government benefits. If you ever decide to go back to visit your home country, you will be refused admission if you try to come back.
In past decades the US has occasionally granted amnesty to illegal aliens, that is people that have crossed the border into the US illegally. The amnesty has NEVER been applied to those out of status, meaning those that entered the US legally and then overstayed their visa.
Thanks everybody for your responses, I'm actually very sad still, because, well the news are not too good, it seems. USA is my home for now and hopefully for many more years. I came here 8 years ago, so yes I know I'm illegal since, even though my visa is for 10 years, my 1-94 was for 6 months only. My whole family lives here. When I got into school again, I applied without lies, and the board of nurses knows and have an affidavid stating that I don't have SSN, so I've been clear about it, hopefully one day I will be able to use it, for now I will get my required hours by finshing BSN, hard thing to do because I don't school loan's d/t the same reason. Anyways, thanks everybody and sorry if I bothered somebody by telling you that I'm here as an illegal immigrant, I know many feel strongly about it, and I wish I wasn't like that, I don't like breaking the rules or living with the fear of loosing everything because I'm not legal.
Your problem is that even if you go and get the BSN, or even the MSN; you are not going to be able to get a job and work in the US. You cannot adjust a visa that you do not have even if there were visas available. And passports are not given out for life either, so has the one that you came here with expired as well?
Best suggestion that anyone can make to you is to leave the US and apply thru Consular Processing to be able to return and work here as a nurse.
If you get stopped for any reason, even if in a taxi or on a bus, you can be asked for ID and papers to prove that you are legal here. If you do not have them and cannot prove it, ICE does not care. We have seen people that have let green cards expire get deported, the government here does not want to hear a story.
But the fact is also that you attended school here and even though you paid tuition, the rest of it was paid by tax dollars here and without a SSN#, then you are not paying taxes.
You came to ask for advice and we are giving it. What you decide to to with it is up to you. But there is no way under any conditions that you will be able to work in any form in the US without having legal documentation to do so, and any employer that would offer you something can also get charged and receive heavy fines because of it as well.
And it is for this very reason that many states have gone to the requirement of the nurse possessing the SSN# before they will issue a license to them.
Visa may have been issued for ten years but any I-94 on tourist status is never for more than six months. That is because you were issued a multiple entry visa, not one to remain here for ten years at a time.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that she "cannot be trusted". I think that's a bit harsh to say. Sure, she did break the law and is here illegally, but think about it, how many of us "broke the law" and speed on the freeway? We've all done it, does that mean that we can't be trusted?
I think she feels bad enough as it is already, lets not make her feel worse. I know we all do things that sometimes isn't right, and sometimes when we make our bed we must lie in it. We must accept full responsibility for our actions and I'm sure she's aware she will have to do that. But can't she at least go back home for the time being and apply for a student visa? Are they denying those at the moment too? I just wish she'd thought about it twice before going to school here with out any legal status. I just don't see how she could have slid right through school and not asked that. It's next to impossible.
But the previous poster is right, they can ask you for papers if they want you. I heard even a cop can stop you on the street and ask you for papers.
Good Luck, and I hope you make the right decision for yourself.
Thanks again everybody! living here for how long I've been living has taught me the problems that that involves, but I was mainly wondering about volunteering because I don't want to loose the skills that I've learned, an RN license I do have and it's totally legal, I also have my ID and my ITIN number, issued by the IRS, to pay taxes, which by the way I pay every year from my personal bussines, and I'm not going to be getting any back from social security, not that I'm asking for it either. I know that no matter how good I try to be in this country, I will always be considered an illegal and be compared with a "thief," or "drug abuser." I know that I have to pay one way or the other, anyways, I've been living here for a while and if I have to leave soon or later I will be more than ok, thankful to God, to this country and to the people that have helped me and my family. Thanks again for your advice, I really appreciate your time and the information, thanks to that I've decided to give that up for now, I will keep studying though, and I've found somebody that is giving me legal advice, believe it or not, my future is not to gray after all :)
I hope it all works out in your favor. Let us know how you're doing. Good luck with the rest of your studies and I really do hope that someday you will be able to use your skills that you've learned in school.
SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN
10,263 Posts
People are also admitted on student visas.