To trust an agency???

suzanne4, RN · Nov 18, 2005

For all of you that are reading this:

There is no such thing as a "free green card." The money for it will be deducted from your hourly salary, usually to the tune of about $5 US per hour. Do the math. $5 x 40 hours is $200 per week, x 4 weeks, is $800 per month, x 12= $9600 per year. Contracts are either two years or three years, you can do the rest of the math.

Visa costs are approximately $750, then the attorney's fees, which should be no more than $2000, medical exam and CXR, plus what ever labs or injections, plus exams. You do the math..............Even adding in the flight, and exams, the agency is getting about $15,000 from your contract, just based on that, and nothign else from the facility that is also giving them something.

You can figure on about $5000 at the most for the nurse, if done on your own, plus most facilities are paying a relocation fee of about $4000 plus, so essentially you get the money in your pocket. The reputable attorneys will usually allow you to just pay the visa fees, and expenses associated with that up front, then make payments on the rest once you are working.

The best agency contracts, if you use one, are when they assist you in finding a position, their fee is paid by the facility, and nothing is taken from your check. You are responsible for the immigration charges but the hospital will usually cover that in bonus.

BADDUDES91 · Dec 9, 2005

And I still prefer to have the contract directly with the hospital, not with the agency. Too many times agencies have not been able to come up with a facility, and then everything gets cancelled by immigration. If it is a legitimate hosptial, then there should be no issues at all with immigration.
Agencies can be a great thing, but ideally the name on the contract should be where you will be working.
And I want the hospital listed in the contract, not just city and state, it leaves way too much open for problems to occur.
But again, this is only my opinion.

suzanne:wink2: if my agency is the petitioner listed in my ds230...what problems may i encounter?:uhoh21:

suzanne4, RN · Dec 10, 2005

You are an employee of that agency, you will not be an employee of the hospital where you will be working. The agency can place you where ever they want.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 10, 2005

Thank you all and especially Suzanne4 and LenaUK for all the useful information and tips!!:) To your question about our preferred location, Suzanne, we want to work in a big east coast city in an ICU(which is our specialty of many years). The agency said they will arrange interviews with interested facilities before we take the NCLEX so I assume the contract will be specific about the location. However, I didn`t know the agency takes X amount of $:s of my hourly salary. Is it standard procedure? How long will I pay, say I make a contrac of 2 yrs? What about shift bonuses and overtime, do I pay the agency for those hours? The agency hasn`t mentioned about any of that (naturally I will require that information before signing).
Also, if I want to go on my own (I shouldn`t have any major problems with the GC since my husband and children are US citizens), how should I proceed and how much would it cost? What about my collegues (no prior US contact)?
Any help greatly appreciated!!!:thankya:

Agencies do not work for free, they are either paid by the facility or the nurse, or both. If you want an agency to help you find a position, then you should go only with one that is strictly paid by the facility, so that you get the full salary to you. For the other type of agency, they will usually take $5 per hour from your salary, on average to "cover their expenses" as they call it. I do not agree with that. And that $5 is for the length of the contract, so even if you are working overtime, they will be getting the $5 for each hour. If you the going rate is $30 per hour, they could take $5 and you would only get $25 per hour. That amounts to about $20,000 for the two years or so. I do not like it.

Where do you wish to work exactly? Can you be more specific? East coast is a very big area, at least to us.

letina · Dec 10, 2005

And I still prefer to have the contract directly with the hospital, not with the agency. Too many times agencies have not been able to come up with a facility, and then everything gets cancelled by immigration. If it is a legitimate hosptial, then there should be no issues at all with immigration.
Agencies can be a great thing, but ideally the name on the contract should be where you will be working.
And I want the hospital listed in the contract, not just city and state, it leaves way too much open for problems to occur.
But again, this is only my opinion.

Just wanted to back up everything Suzanne has said here. If you can afford it, go directly for a Hospital Employment Contract. It might mean funding CGFNS & NCLEX yourself, but a reputable hospital will generally refund you these expenses when you get hired. As Suzanne says, a legitimate employer will avoid any immigration problems and the big advantage is you know where you will be working. It could take a little longer than using an agency, I spent 4 months negotiating a contract with a Hospital until I was satisfied and got everything in writing. An agency might have pushed my Immigration papers through quicker, but it's better to take a little longer and make sure everything is as you want it to be. Some might view an agency as a 'means to an end' to get a green card, then worry about the placement later. Fine, if that's what works for them, but some things are worth waiting for :wink2:

suzanne4, RN · Dec 11, 2005

There are some very reputable agencies out there, but again they are the ones that have the contract set up with you and the facility, not thru them. And the best contracts are still the ones where the nurse pays the fees. It really isn't a big deal, the hospitals are normally paying a relocation fee which more than covers the fees, etc. Otherwise, you are essentially paying an exorbitant rate for a loan, if you look at it in those terms.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 11, 2005

Agencies can be beneficial to a nurse, but you need to be in the driver's seat, not the agency. You need to be able to chose where you wish to work, not having someone telling you where you will be working. You need to be able to chose the facility, city, and state.

kersti · Dec 11, 2005

UH,OH!

Now I'm a little bit worried. (or better said, a lot) If only I had come upon this site earlier.....

I'm signed up with an International Recruiting Firm and all the bad things that have been talked about here, well, they have it and I signed on the dotted line! It just seemed like such an unsurmountable mountain- the whole process of getting to America, that I figured I would be better off with an agency. So far, they have delivered what they have promised (to give them their due) and I did pass NCLEX and IELTS all on the first go- but that was more due to my studying, I think, than anything they did or said:idea:

And I did talk to people who had gone through the program and they were satisfied. And it is a very big staffing agency in the U.S. as well.

But they are very vague about where they are going to send my family and myself. I still have no clue. I told them where I want to go, but they were a bit wishy-washy.

How adamant can I be about where they send me? They've told me I have the right to refuse any offer that they make. Hmm.

And I will be paid through them, and not whatever hospital I will be working for. At the time, I thought, well, it's only 20 months, how bad can it be???

suzanne4, RN · Dec 11, 2005

I know right away with who you have signed up with, and sorry, but you will not find out where you are going until right before you get ready to leave. Unfortunately, you belong to them now. But only for 20 months.:wink2:

Sorry that you did not know about us before....................

Their salaries are less than what others get, that is a definite. But since you signed, you are committed to them, or face a huge cancellation fee.

kersti · Dec 12, 2005

Yes, I am trying to look on the positive side and am thinking it is only 20 months. At the time when I started my search for a recruiting agency, there weren't very many available to German nurses. I received a few, thank you but we are not interested letters so when this agency did eventually say they would help, I was really happy.

And I figure- I'll find people that are nice wherever I go.....maybe even through this forum!:wink2:

Thank you for your information, Suzanne. You are definetely doing a great job and I am learning tons from this forum and this website in general!

Geena, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2005

I am going solo based on advice on this website. I approached some agencies and some of them did not really even bother to send a reply; like openheartsglobal; which somebody had ´had a positive experience with.

But this deducting USD5 an hour seems really outrageous! And even for overtime?

By the way, what does this warn 0% mean when I am sending a post? Is that relating to sillyness of my Q's or A's? :uhoh3:

suzanne4, RN · Dec 18, 2005

The warning points come when you do something in violation of the TOS of this site, such as arguing with another poster, etc.

Not all agencies are bad, you can go direct, or try to find an agency that is paid by the facility, and not out of your check.:) They do exist.