What happened during mid-1990's?

suzanne4, RN · Jan 20, 2008

At that time, green cards were not even an option for nurses, they were being brought over with the H1-B visa as a temporary worker, and then they could apply for the green card later on.

And yes, at that time, there were no H1-B visas for nurses, there was not the shortage then. It was not called a retrogression back then, even you did not hear much about it in the US at that time. For one thing, not as many were interested in working in the US from other countries and the salaries were much less, so not as many wished for the US.

There are people that will post that this is the first time there has been a retrogression, or even the one fairly recently as being the first time that nurses were slowed down in going to the US; but the fact is that it has happened many times in the past and for five year periods.

Rene3 · Feb 22, 2009

What happened during mid-1990's?

You are right, nurses had a difficult time finding jobs. Sorry for your sister, when she graduated in 1995 and probably passed the NLE in Aug of 95, only to find out that in Sept of that year, The H1A visa, the working visa specific for nurses ended. At that time, Filipino nurses wants to work only. When they like it, they apply for an immigrant visa. All you need at that time was to pass the CGFNS exam, and you are set. You can even apply for a temporary permit and get your license. CGFNS has an english component at that time. Since the H1A lapsed, the US gov enacted "The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996". They however failed to have its implementing rules and regulation thus only very few were able to immigrate to the US from 95-2000. Once the implementing RR were in place, it paved the way for nurses to apply to the US. Those who graduated from 95-98 were eager to go, thus the Phil gov screaming BRAIN DRAIN!!! Every year more and more nurses applied that a huge backlog ensued until the present. Suzanne is right that there is a boom bust cycle every 5 years. It is happening again. 95 closed, 2000-2005 open, 2006-2010 closed. I think, the current nursing boom in the Phil will taper down as what happened in mid 1990s. in 94-95 40,000-45000 nurses took the NLE with more than a half became RNs, in 98 onlt 8,000 took the NLE with about 4000 eventually becoming RN. A very sharp drop. It will happen again, schools will close again, I do hope that it will weed out the poor NLE perfomers.

To the Filipino nurses, the retrogression will eventually be lifted sooner or later, just be prepared, enhance your skills. The US nurses are aging (45 in 2010) The oldest baby boomer will be 65 next year and there are 70+ million of them. The shortage is compounded by the inability to hire new teachers . Immigration is a touchy issue now in the US especially due to the Recession. Importing international nurses is the LAST resort for them if ever it is one solution. It is a cycle, when will the wheel turn ? its anybodys guess.

judeamaria, RN · Feb 28, 2009

Wow, interesting to know this period in Phil nursing. I'm curious what will happen now? Will we really see schools of nursing closing?:)

gambutrol · Mar 14, 2009

rene and suzanne, very informative

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Mar 15, 2009

What happened during mid-1990's?
You are right, nurses had a difficult time finding jobs. Sorry for your sister, when she graduated in 1995 and probably passed the NLE in Aug of 95, only to find out that in Sept of that year, The H1A visa, the working visa specific for nurses ended. At that time, Filipino nurses wants to work only. When they like it, they apply for an immigrant visa. All you need at that time was to pass the CGFNS exam, and you are set. You can even apply for a temporary permit and get your license. CGFNS has an english component at that time. Since the H1A lapsed, the US gov enacted "The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996". They however failed to have its implementing rules and regulation thus only very few were able to immigrate to the US from 95-2000. Once the implementing RR were in place, it paved the way for nurses to apply to the US. Those who graduated from 95-98 were eager to go, thus the Phil gov screaming BRAIN DRAIN!!! Every year more and more nurses applied that a huge backlog ensued until the present. Suzanne is right that there is a boom bust cycle every 5 years. It is happening again. 95 closed, 2000-2005 open, 2006-2010 closed. I think, the current nursing boom in the Phil will taper down as what happened in mid 1990s. in 94-95 40,000-45000 nurses took the NLE with more than a half became RNs, in 98 onlt 8,000 took the NLE with about 4000 eventually becoming RN. A very sharp drop. It will happen again, schools will close again, I do hope that it will weed out the poor NLE perfomers.
To the Filipino nurses, the retrogression will eventually be lifted sooner or later, just be prepared, enhance your skills. The US nurses are aging (45 in 2010) The oldest baby boomer will be 65 next year and there are 70+ million of them. The shortage is compounded by the inability to hire new teachers . Immigration is a touchy issue now in the US especially due to the Recession. Importing international nurses is the LAST resort for them if ever it is one solution. It is a cycle, when will the wheel turn ? its anybodys guess.

I agree. When I arrived in 1995, we were among the last few batches to receive the H1A Visa. The same visa we were given that year was being discontinued the very same year with no provisions for renewal for those who had the visa. Many of us were scared of our prospects of being able to stay in the US. Quite a few actually went back to the Philippines when their visas expired. The facilities we were working for were just as scared that staffing would suffer if all of a sudden the nurses from the Philippines would have to leave collectively. Fortunately, we were allowed to adjust our status and was issued an EAD while we waited for the implementing rules and reg's for the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 that would allow us to adjust to an Immigrant Visa status. Once the rules were finalized and released, we received our Green Cards and so did many other nurses who arrived from the Philippines in droves from 2000 to 2005.

However, our batch who arrived on the H1A visa had been patiently waiting for this moment to come. We had been in limbo since we arrived in the mid-90's. My sponsoring facility at the time was a nursing home where I worked from 1995 to 1999, the year when I finally got the Green Card. My goal from the start was to work in a hospital but obviously that was stifled by the fact that I was under an EAD sponsored by the nursing facility for a long time. I didn't hate where I was working in, in fact, I was very much appreciated in that setting and eventually was promoted to management positions there. It's just that the nursing home setting did not interest me as much as acute care. I eventually left the nursing home and started working in a telemetry unit and later transitioned into critical areas.

The moral of my story is that many times, the path to working in the US is never smooth and easy. You don't always get what you want. It was definitely rocky for me with many periods of uncertainty not to mention the expenses that I had put out in lawyer's fees and immigration fees which were quite high after the whole process was over with. I loved America as soon as I arrived and I knew I could never live anywhere else. I proudly pledged allegiance as an citizen of the US in 2004, exactly five years after I got the Green Card. Immigration for many foreign nurses may not be an option given the economy in the US right now but the wheels will turn and someday Retrogression will just be a memory to those who have been waiting so long.