i urge you to read this...

suzanne4, RN · Jul 26, 2007

I am leaving the above post intact to get this point across to all of you that are reading this:

There are already several LPN programs that have opened in your country, yet they fail to tell anyone that just because you can pass the licensure exam for the NCLEX-PN, it does not get you a legal visa to work in the US. It is not accepted by US immigration for a green card. And any agency that offers you a job with it, it actually doing that illegally and bringing you in as unskilled laborers, which then makes you part of immigration fraud and subject to deportation for ten years or longer.

Other countries do not accept the practical nurse course for immigration purposes.

I have to laugh everytime I see something like this. They have no idea of how we do things in the US, but tell you things will be just fine. Sorry, they will not. If you cannot get thru this NLE exam and as an RN, then you will not be able to work in the US. No exceptions made to this for anyone if they have taken that NLE exam.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 26, 2007

And that sentence that requests for practical nurses abroad are increasing just is not the case if the person requires a visa to work in the other country. Forgetting that minor detail makes all of the difference in the world.

The US will not accept it, Canada will not accept it, all of the European Union countries will not accept it.

Not sure which part of the world that he is speaking of, but doubt if anyone truly wishes to work there. Think he would do much better addressing the bigger problem of having over 632,000 currently enrolled in nursing schools in PI; and there is definitely not going to be placement for even 10% of them. What is he going to answer to that?

Good question that perhaps someone from here can pose to him?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jul 26, 2007

definately will not get employment in the UK with this you need RN with min training of 3 years

http://www.nmc-uk.org/aFrameDisplay.aspx?DocumentID=2448 page 10/11 on this link gives specific requirements

suzanne4, RN · Jul 26, 2007

Exactly. Love it when officials there come up with these statements and they know nothing about them. I do not know of one country that will accept the one year LPN certification for immigration/ visa purposes anywhere in the world.

But the funnier thing even sillier about it all is tha the Philippine goverment does not even accept it for licensure in their own country. So other countries are supposed to take them? And they are talking about them being able to use that title because they did not pass their NLE exam in the first place. That alone will keep other countries from wanting to accept them. They should focus on retaking that exam until they pass it. Otherwise, they are not getting out of PI legally.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 26, 2007

And after thinking about this over night, have more to add to this:

Foreign countries do not accept the practical nurse certification for immigration purposes. Because someone gets that title, it does not mean that they can get a job out of the country. Especially not in a country that would be their choice to go to; US, Canada, Europe. And many countries do not even have that classification any longer in the first place.

Licensure and immigration are two very different things, Mr. Brion is completely unaware of this. He should be focusing on the sheer number of students that are graduating nurses that have no skills and should not even be using the title of nurse, instead of trying to find places to send the ones to that do not pass your RN exam. With the large number, currently over 632,000 that are in school in PI, the nurse is most definitely going to need to be at the top of their class to even get considered for a job overseas anywhere. Having a degree does not guarantee you an automatic green card to the US, it is a privilege to get it, not an automatic right. Your country does not even offer a licensing exam for the Practical Nurse, so how is he sure that they can even pass that exam?

There are no LPNs given legal visas of any type to work in the US, there is actually an abundance of LPNS here, many places are actually phasing them out, and this is even with US grads, so why in the world does he think that someone can get a legal job in another country when your country does not even recognize that license. Perhaps he should do his homwork and know what is really going on.

The only LPNs that can work in the US, are those that have a green card already or are US citizens, otherwise they do not get a visa to work. And to marry an American just to get a green card, is actually considered immigration fraud and grounds for deportation. They are not fooling around here.

Sorry, but shame on him for putting out more myths and false information about actual jobs that are available for nurses. He will not see one country recruiting LPNs from overseas. Not sure where his information is coming from, but definitely not accurate.

suzanne4, RN · Jul 26, 2007

And instead of writing letters to the US government telling them that they must open their doors for foreign nurses, perhaps some of you can do letter writing campaigns to your own people there so that mis-information does not continue to perpetuate.

And have them go after the bad programs that they approved. They need to clean up things there first, before trying to export as many people as they can. They are treating nurses there like they do commodities like sugar or cement and are concerned with how much money that you will send home. Not that you will be working as a slave in many cases.

cobber2007 · Jul 26, 2007

Taking practical nursing as a way to obtain a job in the U.S. gives us false hope. It may be true that it can help you if you are a green card holder or a citizen who opted to study here, but not so the case if you are from the philippines who take PN to get a job abroad. I fell to that trap back in 2002. I took practical nursing but ended up taking the four year BSN course. The agency gave us a bundle of reasons how we were going to get a work permit. I did some research and found out that that wasn't the case.

Taking PN was not such a bad thing even if I was misled about future job opportunities. It made me realize that taking PN was not enough for me to get the theoretical knowledge and hands-on training I needed for this profession. So, if you do decide to enter nursing, it would be better to sweat it out for the BSN instead.

RNHawaii34 · Jul 26, 2007

an article taken from news.balita.com...
nursing exam flunkers may still be licensed as practical
tuesday, july 24 2007 @ 04:07 pm bst
national
the department of labor and employment on friday said nursing licensure examinees who would not pass the june 2007 exam may still have the opportunity to practice their course through a scheme the dole has been trying to work out.
labor secretary arturo brion said only half of the 78,000 examinees, including the 12,000 retakers, were projected to pass the board licensure test.
dole is contemplating on a fall back position of issuing licenses as practical nurse to those who would fail the test.
"[we are anticipating] that many of them will do re-take so we think that one fall back position is to have them licensed as practical nurse. this is assuming that there are some that would not do the re-take," brion said.
the labor chief said he already proposed this measure to senator edgardo angara and to the commission on higher education and to the professional regulatory commission and they all agreed to its viability.
"licensing the nursing examinees who failed the board exam as practical nurse is a way of helping them achieve their dreams of finding employment opportunities abroad," he said.
"these will be a sunrise opportunity for them because they could still practice their course even though they failed the test," he added.
brion noted that demands for practical nursing are similarly increasing especially in hospitals abroad.
results of the june nursing board exam would be out "by the middle of august."
the next licensure exam for nurses is scheduled in december.
the 12,000 retakers in june were those who wanted to seek employment in the united states following the decision of the commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools to deny work visas to the june 2006 examinees because of allegations of cheating that marked the testing process.
the philippines failed to convince cgfns to reconsider its position. (pna)

this is an insult to those who honestly studied really hard to pass their nle exam, better yet, passing the nclex-rn. i don't have to explain anything, because many posters before me already explained their views clearly...if you can't pass nle while you're in the philippines, i am very afraid to have you take care of my family. it is very scary, and my suggestion for those who didn't pass the nle? study hard, again and again, it doesn't matter how many times you fail, but you will eventually pass. you studied 4 years, so don't sell yourself short. would you really want to be an lpn after studying for 4 years? heck, i'd rather be working as a nurse aide then! this is an outrage!:angryfire

margauxfd · Jul 27, 2007

And after thinking about this over night, have more to add to this:
Foreign countries do not accept the practical nurse certification for immigration purposes. Because someone gets that title, it does not mean that they can get a job out of the country. Especially not in a country that would be their choice to go to; US, Canada, Europe. And many countries do not even have that classification any longer in the first place.
Licensure and immigration are two very different things, Mr. Brion is completely unaware of this. He should be focusing on the sheer number of students that are graduating nurses that have no skills and should not even be using the title of nurse, instead of trying to find places to send the ones to that do not pass your RN exam. With the large number, currently over 632,000 that are in school in PI, the nurse is most definitely going to need to be at the top of their class to even get considered for a job overseas anywhere. Having a degree does not guarantee you an automatic green card to the US, it is a privilege to get it, not an automatic right. Your country does not even offer a licensing exam for the Practical Nurse, so how is he sure that they can even pass that exam?
There are no LPNs given legal visas of any type to work in the US, there is actually an abundance of LPNS here, many places are actually phasing them out, and this is even with US grads, so why in the world does he think that someone can get a legal job in another country when your country does not even recognize that license. Perhaps he should do his homwork and know what is really going on.
The only LPNs that can work in the US, are those that have a green card already or are US citizens, otherwise they do not get a visa to work. And to marry an American just to get a green card, is actually considered immigration fraud and grounds for deportation. They are not fooling around here.
Sorry, but shame on him for putting out more myths and false information about actual jobs that are available for nurses. He will not see one country recruiting LPNs from overseas. Not sure where his information is coming from, but definitely not accurate.

Hi Ms Suzanne4! Thank you for this post. You're correct. Not everybody here in the Philippines is aware of the TRUE setting in the US, Canada, Europe or anytwhere else. I know some people who are now taking pratical nursing courses thinking that completing the course can help them land a job abroad. It has been quite sometime since a lot of institutions here opened a practial nursing program. I can't believe at first when I learned that it'll only take 1 1/2 yrs to complete the course. And these instiutions even claim that they are recognized by so and so. Thanks again for this very informative post. I will relay this to my friends. :-)

Rep · Jul 27, 2007

i read this news last night on the website of philippine star. i felt ashamed for this person , mr. brion, of speaking things he does not know about. sad that he is a top government official.

an article taken from news.balita.com...
nursing exam flunkers may still be licensed as practical
tuesday, july 24 2007 @ 04:07 pm bst
national
the department of labor and employment on friday said nursing licensure examinees who would not pass the june 2007 exam may still have the opportunity to practice their course through a scheme the dole has been trying to work out.
labor secretary arturo brion said only half of the 78,000 examinees, including the 12,000 retakers, were projected to pass the board licensure test.
dole is contemplating on a fall back position of issuing licenses as practical nurse to those who would fail the test.
"[we are anticipating] that many of them will do re-take so we think that one fall back position is to have them licensed as practical nurse. this is assuming that there are some that would not do the re-take," brion said.
the labor chief said he already proposed this measure to senator edgardo angara and to the commission on higher education and to the professional regulatory commission and they all agreed to its viability.
"licensing the nursing examinees who failed the board exam as practical nurse is a way of helping them achieve their dreams of finding employment opportunities abroad," he said.
"these will be a sunrise opportunity for them because they could still practice their course even though they failed the test," he added.
brion noted that demands for practical nursing are similarly increasing especially in hospitals abroad.
results of the june nursing board exam would be out "by the middle of august."
the next licensure exam for nurses is scheduled in december.
the 12,000 retakers in june were those who wanted to seek employment in the united states following the decision of the commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools to deny work visas to the june 2006 examinees because of allegations of cheating that marked the testing process.
the philippines failed to convince cgfns to reconsider its position. (pna)

stephensonwater · Jul 27, 2007

suzanne can i quote/highlight your statements so that i may share them with my co-reviewees on our review center's forum? if you may permit me doing so...

by the way, i would be including your name and designation on the post that i will make if you will agree on my request. i just want others to be informed about this stuff for i am certain that only a handful is aware of this case.