Stop applying to the USA

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2008

I still say if they want to apply to the US, then let them apply. As long as they're informed that they have a slim chance at a visa to the US, then let them apply. If they're willing to waste their money on something that is is most likely not going to happen then let them do it. It's their choice alone. I want to go scubadiving in a bikini and see the remains of the titanic. Do I have a chance at doing this and coming out alive? Call me crazy.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Dec 1, 2008

I still say if they want to apply to the US, then let them apply. As long as they're informed that they have a slim chance at a visa to the US, then let them apply. If they're willing to waste their money on something that is is most likely not going to happen then let them do it. It's their choice alone. I want to go scubadiving in a bikini and see the remains of the titanic. Do I have a chance at doing this and coming out alive? Call me crazy.

Right, nobody's saying don't apply. Just be prepared to face backlogs in the processing of your visa or the possibility of your employer sponsor withdrawing their support of your visa. In the meantime, do something more productive than waiting for the visa to materialize because you're in for a very long wait which can take more than 5 years. Try to get experience as a nurse in countries that have immediately available employment opportunities. The numbers speak for themselves: with hundreds of thousands of nurses from the Philippines competing for 10,000 US visas a year and not even all of them are slotted for nurses alone for that matter, your chances are probably similar to hitting the jackpot in a Vegas slot machine.

When posters are saying that the passing rate for NLE test-takers are poor, they are merely stating facts. These are public knowledge and are available on the internet which is in the public's domain. True, it takes a lot of hoops to qualify for a job in the US: one has to pass the NCLEX-RN and an English exam at the least as some did not even take the NLE because some BON's did not require it in the past. But anyone can pay a review center and spend weeks being prepped for a standardized exam like the NCLEX-RN. These exams do not test one's skills and one's ability to critically think under pressure and under actual patient conditions. Experience is the best and only way one can hone those.

Please take your emotions out of the equation and face the truth. There is absolutely no xenophobia in play here in my opinion.

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2008

Excellent post, PinoyNP.

Nurse_PUKYAW · Dec 1, 2008

I agree with ghillbert that many people here in this forum are xenophobic. Many foreign nurses come to America for one reason - to live in a better place. I am not Filipino, but I can tell you that, coming from a country that discriminates me because of sexual orientation and race, the only way I can think of is to escape to another country. But this is not what I am here for. I am here because I have a dream to fulfill...a dream to become someone who can contribute to the society. I work hard to achieve this dream, and sometimes, it's sickening to hear comments that discourage others to achieve what they want. I feel no one should be discriminated against, especially those who work hard and are here legally. It's OK to give realistic comment, but putting a certain race in a spot because their passing rate is low is just plain ignorant.
So enough of this **. Give every one a break. We know the retrogression is still going on and most of us probably end up going home. But we don't appreciate you telling us that we are worthless.
Thank you for listening.

absolutely correct :yeah:

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Dec 1, 2008

I agree with ghillbert that many people here in this forum are xenophobic. Many foreign nurses come to America for one reason - to live in a better place. I am not Filipino, but I can tell you that, coming from a country that discriminates me because of sexual orientation and race, the only way I can think of is to escape to another country. But this is not what I am here for. I am here because I have a dream to fulfill...a dream to become someone who can contribute to the society. I work hard to achieve this dream, and sometimes, it's sickening to hear comments that discourage others to achieve what they want. I feel no one should be discriminated against, especially those who work hard and are here legally. It's OK to give realistic comment, but putting a certain race in a spot because their passing rate is low is just plain ignorant.
So enough of this **. Give every one a break. We know the retrogression is still going on and most of us probably end up going home. But we don't appreciate you telling us that we are worthless.
Thank you for listening.

A. No one is telling you that you are worthless but be careful what school you attend. It seems like no is telling the realities of your education.

B. Sorry to hear about your discrimination issues and I don't believe any one has made a comment about anyone being here legally.

C. You dream seems like a good one.

Last it is not xenophobic to wish that any practicing nurses be clinically competent and fluid in English. Also I do think Americans and legal foreign immigrants need to be employed before importing a group of nurses

misspowers · Dec 1, 2008

I have been advocating these. I tell all my relatives, friends and students to not eye US. If they think that nursing is something that they see as a big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, then they have to shift courses!!!!

Nursing is a vocation.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 1, 2008

There has never been any mention of race in this thread. And being a Filipino is not considered a race either. Or someone from a specific country, that is not anything to do with race. Nor is coming from any other country determine race for one. People are discriminated for what ever reason and in what ever country, that does not make it right. But we are not saying anything about discrimination in this thread and once again, it was started by a Filipino and specific to Filipinos in the opening post of this thread.

And that is why most of us have been addressing issues that are specific to those that are from the Philippines, that is what the thread was supposed to be for.

There are many that have dreams and wants of getting to the US to be able to work, whether because they have friends or family members that were able to do so, or for whatever reason. The issue is that there are many more that are applying for visas in the US and the number of visas has not increased, nor will it be increasing. If anything you can expect it to slow down. When you take into account that there are just under 10,000 green cards issued per year to those from the Philippines and add in to it the fact that this is not just for nurses, but other occupations as well, and that spouses and children are also part of that number; one just needs to do the math and see that even if it the goal of someone to get here, it is going to actually be much harder to do.

This is what we repeatedly are trying to get the point across to. If one is going to be waiting more than five years to have a chance at a green card here and now it is looking like closer to 7 years and that is only for a chance, one should not be putting everything into going to the US, it may not happen. So this is why it is so important to get experience someplace else, as well as we are expecting the US to require paid work experience just as almost every single other country is doing now as well as passing the local license. When you have that many applicants, you need to have an extra screening tool in place.

There also needs to be a weeding out of the schools that are not meeting standards in the Philippines; they should not be permitted to remain open if they are having such poor passing rates. And they also need to require that each and every nursing instructor has had paid work experience as an RN first before teaching as well. You will not see this in any other country as well, it is most definitely not permitted in the US or Canada.

But it is most definitely not picking on a race, there was never this mentioned at all. coming from a country does not give it its own race.

================

Because you may had issues in your country for whatever reason, it still does not make it the requirement of the US that one automatically needs to come here and that is the point that we are trying to make here. It all has to do with jobs and nothing more than that. If there are not any jobs, or Americans are being laid off, then the number of foreign nurses are going to be brought over is going to go down. If a hospital has a hiring freeze in place for nurses, then they most certainly cannot bring over someone from another country, even if the petitioning was started several years ago. The letter that is submitted to immigration is only a job offer letter, and nothing more than that. This is the true point of all of this. Recession is now official for the US as of today as well, so that is going to make things even worse. The US is not the only country where one can go to for work, but it needs to care for its own citizens first.

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Dec 1, 2008

I dont have an evidence based piece but in the Canadian nursing forums there have been many posts made by RNs that work with recent new grad nurses from the Philippines that they are finding they are not up to the skill level of a Canadian RN. This is based in Alberta Canada and they have gone to clinical competency testing to ensure that the nurses are competent at a new grad level. A theory based exam does not always indicate the lack of competency. From what I have read because the educational system in the Philippines is different than the US/Canada and only goes to I believe our equivalent of 10th or 11th grade for high school a BSN from the Philippines is not at the same level as a US or Canadian educated BSN. I always find it interesting to see what is happening in Canada. The nurses that are more newly educated from the Philippines are deemed to be clinically more at the LPN level from what I have read. I enjoy reading posts both in the International and Canadian forums to just keep up with what is happening. I work with a lot of nurses from the Philippines that are excellent but from what I have read it is more recently that there has come into question the competence of the nursing schools in the Philippines. And that is likely what the other poster is referring to.

There is a big difference between 19-20 to 21 -22 years old. How can one do all the prereqs for nursing by grade 10, chem, 4 years of english, biology, 4 year of math that is what I had to show prior to admission in nursing school.

greenjungle · Dec 1, 2008

So much money is being wasted by parents in the Philippines sending their children to become nurses - a dead end profession. Parents go around proudly telling everyone that they have a nurse in the pipeline about to graduate, and their friends tell them that they will soon be living high on the hog, receiving dollars through remittances once their children get their greencard from the USA.

Most of them think that its a sure thing that their nurses will work in the USA. This thread is trying to wake them up to the fact that this is now an impossible thing, since so many of them have piled up on this one profession. No jobs in the USA and no jobs in the Philippines either.

There will be a shortage in other professions in the Philippines because so many have been pushed into nursing with the goal of working in America.

We hope that Pinoys stop educating new nurses as the job market for them in the USA is now closed for maybe 7 to 10 years, and with the Recession, jobs should go to Americans first - its only fair.

:nuke:

suzanne4, RN · Dec 2, 2008

The US as well as Canada require that nursing school not begin until after one graduates from high school and at the equivalent of what is being done in US schools. This is one reason why training done in other countries does not always meet the requirements for either of these two countries.

When schooling is done while in HS, then the highest that can be accepted is that of the LPN even in the US. Only vocational certification can be obtained.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 2, 2008

So much money is being wasted by parents in the Philippines sending their children to become nurses - a dead end profession. Parents go around proudly telling everyone that they have a nurse in the pipeline about to graduate, and their friends tell them that they will soon be living high on the hog, receiving dollars through remittances once their children get their greencard from the USA.
Most of them think that its a sure thing that their nurses will work in the USA. This thread is trying to wake them up to the fact that this is now an impossible thing, since so many of them have piled up on this one profession. No jobs in the USA and no jobs in the Philippines either.
There will be a shortage in other professions in the Philippines because so many have been pushed into nursing with the goal of working in America.
We hope that Pinoys stop educating new nurses as the job market for them in the USA is now closed for maybe 7 to 10 years, and with the Recession, jobs should go to Americans first - its only fair.
:nuke:

And the most important of this is that there are no jobs in the Philippines either. 7 years for a wait for a chance at a visa, and not working as an RN during that time is only going to make it that much more difficult to get anywhere.

One has to realize that just because someone did something in the past, it just is not going to work now. And that is what most are missing. And no taking cuts in front of the immigration line either by coming to the US and expecting to be able remain and work now. Just not going to happen and when asked why they did it: " I have to take care of my family. " But what about everyone else that wishes to do the same thing.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Dec 2, 2008

It is OK to have dreams but be realistic in what you are looking for. We know it is hard for the nurses in the Philippines due to the high quantity of nurses being trained and the few jobs available but now is the time to be active in what you want to do. It may be looking at another country instead of the USA, it may be worth thinking about what you can do in the Philippines whilst waiting. This is why the threads was started in the Philippine forum, something to work at/towards

What are your plans as a RN

Jobs that you can create on your own

Just ideas on how you can help yourself which hopefully will help when you do look at moving to another country