Will a local license make me more "employable" in the US??

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Hello all. I'm a new graduate currently preparing for my local boards here in the PI. But after reading some of the posts here, I'm leaning towards skipping the local board exams and going straight to NCLEX. I just want to ask the experts here:

1) will the lack of a local license affect my employability? Will it be harder for me to find a hospital that would be willing to petition me?

2) Will a local license give me a bigger starting salary?

3) Since the CGFNS exam is now considered "optional," will taking the said exam improve my chances of getting hired?

4) Anything else I can do that can make me a potentially better candidate ? (CPR training card, Red Cross certification, etc.)

Thanks.

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A local license at the moment is not needed to work in the US. One thing that you are up against is that if you take it and do not pass it, then you will need to wait until you pass that exam before you will be issued a Visa Screen Certificate and that is needed for immigration purposes.

A local license means nothing in the US, whether or not you have one will not change your salary. Any nurse coming over from your country is considered a new grad when they are hired in most cases.

It is going to be hard work for you to find a hospital right now that will be willing to petition you. There is a retrogression in place that we do not know when it will end, for one thing. And the other is that there are many more graduates that want to work in the US than there are visas available. So a nurse that has ten years of experience in their country, more than likely will get a job over a new grad.

Certifications done in your country also do not bear any weight over here, they will need to be redone in the US.

Until you actually pass the NCLEX exam, you will not even find a facility that can offer you a job legally. I would focus on getting permission to sit for the NCLEX exam. You are going to need to apply to a state Board of Nursing for licensure as an RN. The NCLEX exam is the final step in the process.

Hope that this helps. The one major thing that will make or break you is also your English skills and how well you present yourself in an interview.

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Thanks a bunch Suzanne. I'm glad I found this forum to make this process clearer for people like me. I'm pretty confident about my English skills, as my entire childhood was practically spent watching American TV shows :p A few more questions if you don't mind:

1) A friend of my mom works as a head nurse for a nursing home in CT. She can probably get me hired there, and I really want to come to America in the shortest time possible. Will that speed things up for me?

2) Should I take the NCLEX here in the Phils or in America? I have a tourist visa that doesn't expire until 2011. Will it make the process faster for me if I just come to the US now and do all the requirements there?

Thanks again.

-Jay

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Thanks a bunch Suzanne. I'm glad I found this forum to make this process clearer for people like me. I'm pretty confident about my English skills, as my entire childhood was practically spent watching American TV shows :p A few more questions if you don't mind:

1) A friend of my mom works as a head nurse for a nursing home in CT. She can probably get me hired there, and I really want to come to America in the shortest time possible. Will that speed things up for me?

2) Should I take the NCLEX here in the Phils or in America? I have a tourist visa that doesn't expire until 2011. Will it make the process faster for me if I just come to the US now and do all the requirements there?

Thanks again.

-Jay

With retrogression nothing will speed your process up but a good way to find an employer who can start the process.

Makes no difference where you take the exam but with retrogression you may find it hard entering the US as immigration would scrutinise you more and make sure you have intention on leaving when you should, probably getting wary due to amount who try and adjust status which at the moment can't be done and also illegal but also not fair on the ones going through proper channels. Do not want to indicate that this is what you will do but making a general statement.

I would err of caution and take NCLEX in the Phillipines

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Thanks a bunch Suzanne. I'm glad I found this forum to make this process clearer for people like me. I'm pretty confident about my English skills, as my entire childhood was practically spent watching American TV shows :p A few more questions if you don't mind:

1) A friend of my mom works as a head nurse for a nursing home in CT. She can probably get me hired there, and I really want to come to America in the shortest time possible. Will that speed things up for me?

2) Should I take the NCLEX here in the Phils or in America? I have a tourist visa that doesn't expire until 2011. Will it make the process faster for me if I just come to the US now and do all the requirements there?

Thanks again.

-Jay

It will not make things faster at all, there are no visas available. And to expect to come to the US and go thru AOS process via the tourist visa, is being frowned upon as well. It is like taking cuts in front of someone in line. There are several here on this board that have been waiting for a long time for their interview and have just had them cancelled of lack of visas. AOS process was never meant to be used for those that came here with the tourist visa. It also is making it harder for those from your country to even get a visa to visit the US because of people not returning.

Dual intent is against immigration law. Please do the things the legal way.

Nursing homes are also the worst place to start, you will have 30 ro 60 patients to be legally responsible for. And the easiest area to lose your license in.

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Wise words... I will heed them well. Thanks.

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Thanks for your understanding. We just try to be as honest as possible as we can.

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Specializes in Hospice, Med Surg, Long Term.

The local hospital in the city that I live in frequently assists Philipino nurses to get all of their 'paperwork' in order, and even assists with repayment of student loans, etc. to contract these nurses to work for the hospital for a period of time. If interested, the hospital is in Yuma, AZ. PM me for further info.

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There is currently a retrogression in place, so many are not even starting the process. And the immigtation fees jump up dramatically this week, so things are going to be changing all over. That is where the problems are coming from.

No visas and 80% increase in the fees.

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The local hospital in the city that I live in frequently assists Philipino nurses to get all of their 'paperwork' in order, and even assists with repayment of student loans, etc. to contract these nurses to work for the hospital for a period of time. If interested, the hospital is in Yuma, AZ. PM me for further info.

Please stick to the topic of this thread, one about if the NLE will make them more marketable. It makes it hard when other topics start getting discussed.

Things are very different right now than a year ago. And expect it to get worse before it gets better.

And the issue is not the paperwork at all, but the fact that there have been no visas since Last October. The only ones that just got them, and only a few, were those that had been waiting for sometime. Nothing past the I-140 is being accepted.

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