Visitor's
Visa
To sit for the
NCLEX-RN exam, you have to go to US. For that purpose,
you must apply for a visitor’s visa. To apply for a
visitor’s visa, you have to pay a non refundable
application fee of $ 45. You must submit form no:
OF-156. Filling up and submitting this form is quite
simple. You must have a valid passport and must also
submit passport size photographs, showing your full
face. Your head must not be covered and the color of the
background must be light. You must also show sufficient
evidence that you have sufficient funds to take care of
the costs of traveling and staying in US. CARE ORIGIN
will provide you with a sponsorship letter. You are not
permitted to work during that period. You must also be
aware that once you get a visa in India, it does not
guarantee you an entry into the US. The U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS) has the authority to
deny admission. The INS will also decide the period of
your stay. To work in the US you must have a US RN (Registered Nurse)
license. CARE ORIGIN will help you prepare for
the US RN Licensing Exam (NCLEX-RN) - we offer
study programs, review seminars, and ongoing personal support.
There is one
important aspect that you have to observe. The US
Immigration and Nationality Act presumes that every
person who applies
for a visitor’s visa has an intention of
being an immigrant. Hence, you have to show the
consular officer that you intend to come back.
Types of
visas to foreign health professionals
CARE ORIGIN will sponsor your
U.S. temporary or permanent residency visa (Green Card).
1. I-140 -
Employment-based Permanent Residency (Green
Card)
The immigration method with the fewest
requirements on the nurse and employer is to apply for
an employment-based green card. This allows a nurse
to work in the U.S. indefinitely, as long as
the green card is renewed every ten years.
Nursing is one of
the few professions that does
not require a labor certification to be filed
before applying for an I-140 (unlike physicians), so I-140`s
can be approved in three to six months.
The immigration
process begins when an employer submits an immigrant
visa petition (Form I-140) to the office of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) having
jurisdiction over the nurse’s place of intended
employment. The petition must be accompanied by Labor
Department forms ETA-750A and B and
proof of the employer’s ability to pay the
prevailing wage offered to the employee. When submitting the
I-140 the RN must be in possession of:
a) A diploma from
a nursing school in his/her country;
b) An RN license in
his/her country; and
c) A full and unrestricted license
to practice professional nursing in the State of
intended employment or a certification that she has
passed the examination given by the Commission on
Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) which includes a
credential review, a nursing examination, and the TOEFL.
The regulations
governing this process state that the nurse must have
the CGFNS certificate or be fully licensed in the state
of intended employment in order to file an immigrant
petition. The INS, however, has indicated a willingness
to accept the NCLEX in place of the CGFNS certificate.
It is most common for nurses to obtain the CGFNS
certificate prior to taking the NCLEX for several reasons.
The first and foremost reason is that many
states require that foreign nurses pass the CGFNS examination
before taking the state RN licensing (NCLEX) examination.
Under new INS
regulations, the Adjustment of
Status application can be filed concurrently with the
I-140 for those aliens who are eligible to file
such an application. The process is described below.
Consular
Processing (For Nurses located outside of the United
States)
The INS first sends the approved visa
petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If there is no backlog for
immigrant visas from the RN’s native country (her
“priority date” is “current”), the NVC forwards a packet
to the nurse or his/her attorney containing biographical
information forms to be completed by his/her and his/her
family members, and a list of documents which must be
presented at his/her interview for permanent residence.
Generally, the forms are submitted directly to the U.S.
consulate. For individuals from certain countries, forms
are submitted to the National Visa Center for
preliminary processing. The NVC completes preliminary
processing for cases for persons from, among
others, the Philippines, Canada and China. Upon completion
of preliminary processing, the NVC will forward the case
to the appropriate U.S. Consulate for final processing.
The U.S. consulate
where the nurse
will have his/her interview for permanent residence will
review specific forms and documentation. At this interview, the
nurse must present various documents including the following:
- Application for Immigrant Visa
- Police Clearance
- Birth Certificate
- Marriage Certificate, if any
- Divorce or Death Certificate
of Spouse, if any
- Valid Passport
- Medical Examination
- Photographs. Recent job offer
letter (or employment contract)
- Financial information
regarding employer
- Government filing fee
- Visa Screen Certificate
Adjustment
of Status to Legal Permanent Resident (for those health
care professionals in valid visa status present in the
U.S.)
Currently, all
employment based visa categories are current. Nurses can
apply for adjustment of status concurrently with the
I-140 filing or immediately upon its approval. The
adjustment of status for a nurse will not be granted
unless and until Visa Screen is submitted. The
adjustment of status package needs to include:
- Form I-485, Application to
Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (with
two immigration-style photos)
- Form I-765, Application for
Employment Authorization (with two immigration-style
photos)
- Form G-325A, Biographic
Information
- Form I-131, Application for
Advance Parole (if travel permission is being
requested)(with two immigration-style photos)
- Medical Examination sealed
original
- Birth Certificate with
certified English translation
- Marriage Certificate with
certified English translation, if any
- Divorce or Death Certificate
of Spouse with certified English translation, if any
- Verification offer of
employment or employment contract
- Necessary filing fees and
fingerprinting fee
- Copies of valid passport
- Valid I-94 card
- I-140 approval notice, receipt
notice or concurrent filing.
Dependents will need to
submit separate packages which can be filed concurrently
with the principle’s application.
2. H-1B - For Positions Requiring
at Least a Bachelor`s Degree
The H-1B visa can
be used to hire skilled professionals that have at least
a bachelor`s degree and are filling a position that
requires the same level of education.
Most registered nurses and nursing jobs do not meet
this requirement, but if the US employer is hiring
foreign nurses for supervisory or management positions,
or for subspecialty areas that require a bachelor`s
degree, an H-1B might be an option.
Employers must follow a two step process to
obtain an H-1B for a professional employee:
a. Department of Labor - Labor Condition Application.
The employer must determine the prevailing wage for the
occupation and the actual wage being paid by employer to
other professionals in the same field. They must pay
whichever is higher. The safest way to establish the
prevailing wage is to obtain an opinion from the State
Workforce Agency (SWA). We can also obtain prevailing
wages on-line from OES. Once the employer has
established the prevailing age it needs to submit a
Labor Condition Application (LCA) to the Department of
Labor (DOL). There are many attestations that the
employer needs to make to the DOL when signing the
LCA.
b. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The
employer then submits the petition (Form I-129) to the
INS Service Center having jurisdiction over the place of
employment. The INS will review the individual
credentials to fill the specialty occupation. If the
application is approved and the applicant is outside the
U.S. the INS will notify the Consulate abroad of the
visa approval and the applicant will need to appear for
an interview to review admissibility issues. At this
point in time the Department of State’s Visa Screen is
being waived for individuals applying for non-immigrant
visas.
To obtain an H-1B for a nurse, the petitioner must
present evidence that the nurse holds a license in the
state of intended employment or that the license that
the nurse holds is recognized by the state of intended
employment, e.g. a compact state. Some states will issue
temporary or interim licenses where the nurse completes
all of the necessary prerequisites to register for the
NCLEX.
More specifically, the H-1b petitioner will
need the following: - Petition for Nonimmigrant
Worker (Form I-129) and H Supplement with filing fees of
$1,130.00
- An approved Labor Condition Application from the
Department of Labor that confirms that the employer will
pay a salary that meets or exceeds the prevailing wage
for the position offered in the area of intended
employment. Often the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract
Act ("SCA") determines the prevailing wages for nurses.
The SCA provides protection for the employees to receive
the prevailing wage and standard fringe benefits,
including vacation, holiday, health and welfare.
- A letter from the petitioner describing the duties
and responsibilities to demonstrate that a Bachelor's
Degree in the field of nursing from a U.S. university or
its foreign equivalent is required. A supervisory
position will meet the requirement of needing a
Bachelor's Degree.
- The beneficiary's degree and a foreign credentials
evaluation, if the degree is from a non-US university or
college, to prove that he/she has the equivalent of a
U.S. degree.
- A state license in the area of intended employment
or evidence that the nursing candidate has a Commission
of Foreign Graduate Nursing Schools ("CGFNS")
Certificate indicating that he/she has passed the CGFNS
qualifying exam and the Test of English as a foreign
language ("TOEFL") and possesses a temporary state
license.
H-1B visa holders may also bring their family members
with them on H-4 visas. The spouse and children under 21
years of age are not permitted to work, but may attend
school.
Additionally, if your facility hires nurses with
bachelor’s degrees almost exclusively, it is possible to
make a case for using the H-1B to bring in international
nursing talent.
Depending on where your facility is located, approval
of an H-1B visa can take anywhere from two to six
months.
H-1B`s last for three years, and can be renewed for
another three.
3. TN - For Canadian or Mexican
Nurses
Canadian citizens who are licensed RNs
in a province or state or who have an interim permit to
practice in the state of intended employment can enter
the United States with a TN visa under the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A TN visa is only
valid for one year and, while there are no limits on the
number of years a TN can be renewed, each renewal is
valid only for one year. The nurses need not be born in
Canada only possess Canadian citizenship, however, the
TN visa requires that a Canadian nurse receive his/her
nursing education in Canada or the United States.
Mexican citizens also may enter the United States with a
TN visa as a RN. However, Mexican citizens are required
to obtain advance approval of a TN visa prior to
entering the US. Canadian citizens are not required to
obtain advance approval and may apply for a TN visa at a
land border or airport.
4. H-1C - For Facilities in
Underserved Areas
The H-1C visa was
created in 1999 specifically for hospitals in areas with
low primary care physicians-to-patient ratios, typically
in rural or inner-city locations. Facilities must meet
additional stringent standards, so stringent, in fact,
that the U.S. Department of Labor identified only 14
hospitals that qualified to hire nurses on H-1C visas.
These 14 hospitals face additional restrictions: only
500 H-1C visas will be issued each year by the INS, and
the program limits the number of H-1C`s issued in each
state to either 25 or 50, depending on the state
population.
H-1C visas are valid for three years, and usually
take two to six months to approve.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will
determine who receives an H-1C visa based on the
following requirements. A nurse must:
- have a full and unrestricted
license to practice professional nursing in the
country where they obtained their nursing education or
have received nursing education in the United States;
- have passed an appropriate
examination (determined by the Department of Health
and Human Services), or have a full and unrestricted
license to practice as a registered nurse in the state
of intended employment; and
- be fully qualified and eligible under the state
laws and regulations of the state of intended employment
to practice as a registered nurse immediately upon
admission to the United States.
Screening requirements for the H-1C
Visa
CGFNS will be certifying that the nurse:
1. already
possesses a valid and unencumbered licenses as a nurse
in a state where the alien intends to be employed and
such state verifies that the foreign license of alien
nurses are authentic and unencumbered;
2. has already
passed the National Council Licensure Examination for
registered nurses (NCLEX-RN®); and is a graduate of a
nursing program
(a) in which the language of instruction
was English,
(b) located in a country designated by
CGFNS within 30 days of the date of enactment of P.L.
106-95 , based on CGFNS’ assessment that the quality of
nursing education in that country, and the English
language proficiency of those who completed
English-language-medium programs in that country justify
the country’s designation, and
(c) if that nursing
program was in operation before November 12, 1999, or is
subsequently designated by CGFNS and any equivalent
credentialing organizations approved for the
credentialing of nurses under subsection 212(a)(5)(C).
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