How Can I Bring My Children to the USA

Hi everyone and welcome. It is Friday which means it is time for our weekly show Onwards and Upwards. Everything a nurse needs to know to live and work in the United States. My name is Luciana Da Silva and I am your host. Today we have a wonderful show, we are going to be talking about immigrating with kids to the United States. So if you're a parent, you definitely want to stay tuned for the entire show, we're going to be talking about the sort of conversation that you need to have with your kids before coming, how you prepare them for their arrival, what to do whenever they do arrive, and for your family to be able to have that transition in a very healthy way. We'll also talk about kids in school, how to enroll them in school, and how that fun they can have the entertainment that they can also really, really take part in and how to make them happy in the United States. If you are watching, please put in the chat your name where you're from, we always love to see people from all over the world watching our show. So please say hello. We have Laine saying hello, everyone from beautiful Jamaica Pavani saying hello, peace. Hello, we got I'm saying TJ from Nigeria. Peace is also saying that from the UK, so people from all over the world are joining us right now. And we also have a few guests joining us. We have let's see. Let's bring in our guests here. Hey, everyone, have Richard and Lisa who are part of the Connetics team. Let's go ahead and introduce both of you ladies first, Lisa, if you want to introduce yourself.

Hi, good morning. Good evening, good afternoon, depending on where you are in the world. My name is Lisa and I am the VP of Operations with Connetics USA. And we're very honored to be here with you today. Welcome Lisa, Richard, please introduce yourself. One of the has told us I am Richard lace, Connetics senior onboarding specialist happy to have you all here today to discuss what it's like to immigrate to the United States with young children or perhaps not even so young. But very important, important information as they are very important to part of the calculation and equation to make you guys very happy and sets you up for success. So thank you again for joining us today.

Thank you so much, Richard is located in California. And Lisa is in Florida. So we have different sides of the United States. And also, Richard and Lisa are part of the Connetics team, as they said. So it's really, really great to get your input and to actually hear about your experiences with our nurses before they arrive and post arrival. So let's get started just to take some more hellos from the chat. Eileen is from Scott, Saskatchewan. Hello, Canada. Charles is watching live from Ghana. And George from the UK. We have some questions already coming in. So make sure that you type your questions into the chat. We have our experts here. And they are here to answer your questions live. So please feel free to do that. Let's get started. So I want to start with you, Lisa. Give us an overview of the process for nurses to come to the United States with Connetics.

You want me to start from the beginning? Start with after day. Why? How does that go? Yeah. So after you apply. The one of our recruitment team will reach out to you and speak to you about various topics, your experience, what you're looking for, where you're looking to go, and what your goals are for coming to the United States. They will match you up with one of our clients here that that kind of match your goals and aspirations. And they will set you up for interviews with multiple clients. And then once you get an offer where you're happy and content and going, my our expert, immigration team will work with attorneys and the clients to get your cases filed. And walk you through the process of that until it is time for you to arrive. And that's when you will meet your onboarding specialist Richard, who wouldn't be able to help you when you come to migrate here.

Enjoy and prosper. That's the last night of our success. Right there. Yeah, yeah, it's a hot spring in the United States with your family. Richard, give us an overview of that onboarding process. So we're going to be getting more into that during the show, but just to have an overview. Okay, well once a nurse has been granted their V had to come to the United States, I'm typically introduced to them at that stage, at which point I haven't quick interview with everybody and assess their situation and determine how best I can assist them in their transition process to the United States. Some of those questions, including involve whether or not you have children, again, because including children in the calculation is a very important part of setting you up for success in the United States, often overlooked by other companies. But if the children aren't happy, you're not going to be happy. So part of that process is determining how old they are, and connecting you as parents, with the local school districts so that you can get properly enrolled. I have seen most children, once they enter the United States, very few find that traumatic, most are very excited to come to the United States. And once you get them enrolled in a local school district, they're you know, children are children, and they make friends. And then next thing, you know, they're very happy. So that's kind of the process, how I approach it, dealing with nurses with children.

They're so resilient, it's amazing how they can learn languages so fast, how they can adopt so quickly whenever they're going through change. Lisa, I want to go back to you, because let's start with that recruitment phase. And they the nurses have been connected with the clients, they're starting to go through the immigration process, but there's that initial conversation that they need to have with their children, to prepare them to go to the United States, in your experiences, what does that conversation look like? And what do you say that it should look like? Perhaps? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, not I have not emigrated myself, but what I would obviously suggest is that you start watching, you know, perhaps videos on YouTube, about schools in America, you know, looking at how sports different, might be different or looking at different, you know, clubs that they can join, there's Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts of America. So there's all different types of things that may be different in your country. So I would personally start watching movies with them, based in America, looking up YouTube videos, as I, as I mentioned, and maybe do some reading with them about the changes that you know, that they can expect, and really just trying to answer questions for them, because I think it's kind of a scary thing. At that time. I remember when I was young, and we moved to another place. That's what I get, I asked my parents, tons of questions. So really just being there, and, you know, showing them what you can and then being available to answer questions for them to put their mind at ease. And of course, your Connetics team is always happy to have a call with you and speak with the kids too. I've definitely done that in the past. And so you know, if that's something that, you know, you feel you want that support, we're happy to help in that regard to when you're on that phone call, what do you say?

What kind of questions you have, you know, I think they, you know, they're so innocent children are just so innocent. You know, they ask, Oh, are kids Nice? Will my will I go to school with a lot of kids? Or will I be in a small, you know, small class? You know, what grade will I go into just really cute stuff. They'll ask me things about where you know, the area, and I give them as much information as I can about what location they're going to. And so I'll do a little bit of research first. But yeah, they're very, they're very innocent. So the questions are really pretty straightforward and sweet, if you will. Some are, you know, more specific to school and, and, you know, I think younger children are  a lot more adaptive. And so they're a little bit easier. It's usually the teenagers that you want to convince, they have a little bit of a hard time. And you have to always remember that, you know, they are, you know, they have their friends that they've probably grown up with. So just trying to make them comfortable in themselves to know that they'll be able to make new friends. And again, show them we talk about like different things they can join, I asked them what their interests are. So we may look up things that pertain to those interests in the location and then just try to get them excited about having the opportunity to join those clubs and groups.

It is a very exciting time, a very scary time, like you said, but it's absolutely fulfilling and absolutely something that can change your life. So if you want to live and work as a nurse in the United States, please go to our website and apply Conneticsusa.com/apply , and one of our work Hooters will be able to speak with you and connect with you and actually set you up with a client's like, like Lisa was just saying it's Friday. So we're trying to get my mouth straight here. So we actually have a comment here piece is saying I did try to talk it out with my son about moving to the United States. And funny enough, his answer is a big no. Because he said there are tornadoes in America. The Wizard of Oz is a terrifying movie. But Dorothy made it home. In California, you just fall to the ground with an earthquake tornado takes you don't ah, so I totally understand peace, where your sounds coming from. But it's funny that you she brought that up.

Kate's always say the darndest things. We have that same here in the United States. And as far as tornadoes are concerned, it depends on where you live. So as Richard was saying, in California, not so well known for the tornadoes, if you live in a place, let's say Tennessee, or in the Midwest, like Kansas, there's that Dorothy in Kansas with the tornado there. And you might get a couple of tornadoes here and there, but it's just very specific areas of the country. And also there are a lot of warnings. So it's really something that your kids shouldn't be so worried about. And sorry, Luciana, but actually, the schools have a lot of protocols for that as well, speaking of schools, and so they and they do a lot of drills with children to prepare them for, you know, just in case of a tornado. As a matter of fact, my family's in Ohio, and I spoke to my sister yesterday, and there was the other day, they had warnings for a tornado, and the kids were doing their drills and, and everybody was fortunate and safe. So, you know, there's a lot of preparation, depending on that location to for, you know, to prevent, and to keep your kids safe, excuse me.

Wonderful, and we just got bombed. Joining us Bong, please introduce yourself to our audience. Hi, everybody. Good morning, I'm here again, I'm born and I'm also a nurse, but my wife was the one that brought us here in the US. So I'm, I'm a big supporter, with my wife and my kids as well. Tell us about your journey to the United States with your kids. That initial conversation we were just talking about, how did you prepare your kids to come? How did that conversation go? Initially? Okay, so our application was a very long process, it was like 12 years. So we only had one child at that time. So we have already since we started the, the process, we have already been talking to our daughter at that time, she was excited because you know, this new line, this new world and everything, you know, like a lot of time here in the US. So we you know, like we, we have already been telling them what we're going to do this plan. And then they got you know, she got bigger, and then our son came as well. So they were very excited at the beginning, you know, like the whole process. So yeah, at the end, it wasn't that hard for them to you know, to encourage them to come in the US and we told them that this has already been our plan ever since you know, moving to the US.

I want to ask you another question Bong. How did it go packing, moving that moment that it's actually like reality? We've got things in there. How did that go? Well, we have lived in the UK for 17 years. Imagine what you can what you can, you know, build like stuff and things with that 17 years. We've got stuff in the attic and everywhere. So we gave away a lot of our stuff as well. We sold some of them as well. But then my wife is very, you know, like, I want to keep this I want to keep that and we don't want to lose those stuff that our kid is grown out in from it. So we wanted to bring everything we hired a you know like forwarder half of the half of the big container we do We paid for that, for all our stuff to come in the US plus, we had like, nine luggage is, you know, check in luggage as you know, we brought with us, you know, on the plane. It's a lot of preparation for that, for that travel. In fact, we, you know, we just gave away a lot of our stuff as well, because we couldn't bring them all with us at that time. Yeah, it was exciting. A lot of our friends help us back, you know. And so it was, you know, like exciting and different kinds of feeling. Everything is there.

We, Richard, in your experiences, when parents are preparing to come to the United States really work on the back end in terms of when they arrive? But that preparation is so important. What advice do you have? Ship Your goods? Quite honestly, just to piggyback on what Barack says, you know, it's hard to downsize your possessions that you've been collecting for your entire life? And yet, how do you? How do you flesh that into bringing everything you own onto a plane with your children? What if you have young ones that you need a car seat with? And I know it's expensive, but I would advise having, you know, a global shipping company, ship your items to your destination, quite frankly, it's gonna save you a lot of time and effort. It'll cost you money. But I would I would go with that, personally, quite frankly, would ship your goods? Nine suitcases Bong? That's fantastic. And that's just clothing. That's not your dinner plate, table and everything else? Yeah, absolutely. Whenever you arrive, there's a long checklist of things that you need to do when you arrive for yourself and your family. And we'll be getting more into that a little bit later. But let's get into that immigration phase. So you've had the conversation with your kids, you're, you know, getting ready to come. And you're also going through this immigration phase at that time and getting all of your paperwork together. Lisa, what can nurses expect during this period?

Again, like you said, we would require a list of documents to file your I-140. And once we've submitted that to your attorney, your case will be filed in with the United States immigration service. And most of them are filed premium processing. So within about 15 days, those cases will be approved. And you will move on to the next step of the immigration process, which is the National Visa Center. And at that time, you know, we'll collect civil documents for yourself and your children and submit those to the NVC. And when that is then completed, you are in line for the embassy interview. And you will then again collect documents, do medical exams for yourself and your children and prepare for your embassy interview. And then you're on your way to the United States. Let's get into a little bit on that embassy interview and also immigrating here. Is there an age range that parents can bring their kids because the parents are getting green cards, because you are getting a permanent job here in the United States you are immigrating here. So you do get a green card. How does that work with kids? Is there an age limit? Tell us about that. Lisa, actually, there actually is your children can all be included in your case up to 21 years of age. So there is there is an age limit. So if they are over 21, unfortunately, you would they would not be able to be on this petition and receive a green card. However, at a later stage. In your life as you lived in America, you would be able to sponsor your children that are over the age of 21.

Or there are the other options if kids are over the age of 21. I know you and I were talking about some options in terms of coming here to go to school. How does that work? Yeah, so you would, depending on what they want to do with in life, they can look at multiple universities in the United States that do sponsor international students, and they would then help them and assist them in applying for perhaps an f1 visa. There are many ways that your family can be in the United States and of course they're nurses is we can sponsor them as well. Or there are other disciplines as well. So we can you can discuss that with the recruiter at the time of your interview. Absolutely. And Bong, just to ask you about that immigration phase, what was that like for you and your family?

The II, it was, you know, like something that, you know, when you're waiting, so it's exciting at the same time, you don't know what's gonna happen as well, that the immigration process. And when we went to the embassy wasn't that hard because all they asked was where our kids actually, because they know they were coming to Florida, they said they just asked, so you want to go and meet, you know, Mickey Mouse and you know, things like that. So it wasn't hard, though. And the whole process is actually exciting. And, you know, it's mixed emotions, really, you know, every day I've been watching, you know, like how the life in the in in Florida, you know, buying properties and stuff like that. So it was It wasn't hard. It wasn't hard on that process. Did you have any challenges during that time? Tell us about that. The only challenge that we have on that part, the immigration process, because prior to the application into Connetics at that time, we had a different agency. And then there wasn't any job at that time. So that we had to have my wife's I 140 to be recaptured. At that time, which we, we were thinking as well that it might take longer than expected. But it didn't. It didn't actually it was it was smooth, it was smooth.

That's always so good to hear that there are wonderful positive moments that come out of this. And we actually have another nurse joining us, Neena, please introduce yourself to our audience. You're on mute. Hi, everyone. Hello. My name is Neena and I have been introduced by connecting to Siena healthcare for my US journey up here. And then I had interview with Siena healthcare, and which is in Michigan, and then I was recruited as RN with them. And a couple of months ago, I emigrated from Canada to us. And you brought your family with you tell us a little bit about your family and what that process was like for you? Well, for me, the journey from Canada to us is not that hard, because we used to cross the border before, you know, the whole process began. So we did a little bit know about the, you know, state the Michigan which we were trying to move on. So we when I got hired with Siena health, I actually explored the city and we couple of times we arrived, and we, you know, get introduced ourselves to our own community, our church and things like that. And then I started exploring in Google about school ratings and all those things. And so I prepared myself before moving to where I would be actually locating a, you know, I found out a placement here with an apartment where the school is nearby and my job is nearby and we have you know, all those community resources nearby. So it wasn't a hard journey for me. But you know, I had lots of help from Mr. Bong, who actually gave me resources in searching for apartments and searching for schools and things like that, and that made the journey so smooth. So, a couple of months ago, myself, my husband and two kids, my eldest son is in grade eight and my daughter is in grade three. We moved here and we settled they got a placement in a good school. And I'm quite happy with you know, I did have some challenges. You know, moving to a new country and new environment is, is of course, difficult situation and Yeah. Well, we came out through it and it was a best experience.

So wonderful to have you in the United States. Welcome to the United. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. What a wonderful journey and a story there. I want to take a look at the chat. Now. We're having some questions coming in. We have some people saying hello, Jen is saying hello from Oman. Nari. Hi, I am watching from Saudi Arabia. Rona said, we have traveled back to the USA with our two small children. 10 luggage plus car seats and double strollers laugh out loud. That's right to you. With all of your faces, Rona. Rona, has been here. Neena, how many suitcases did you come with your family? Well, because it was closer to my, you know, Canadian home, we actually moved in couple of days we drove in our minivan with some you know, emergency stuffs and all and then we rented a U haul. To too far all those furniture and things like that if suitcases I would say three for each one of us. And you know, yeah. Philip is saying hello watching from India. Macbeth is watching from Doha, Qatar. We also have June saying hello, loom Boonmee I'm doing a great job here with these names is watching from Nigeria, so great to have people from all over the world saying hello to our guests. So welcome to the United States again, Neena. Richard, when he first is arrive in the United States. First couple of weeks, what can they expect? Well, go ahead.

And you know, you tell us well, when I came here for the first time for me, I actually didn't know the employer, I you know, there was a couple of strange moments. Like, you know, I am not used to the system here. And I was concerned about how my adjustment to the role here would be going to, and well, I wasn't familiar with any of the policies and Michigan, you know, College of Nursing here, the licensing authority, and the rules and regulations and things like that. And COVID was also a big boom here at that time. And then back in Canada, we do have weekly, you know, policy changes about COVID, COVID, and COVID, management, things like that. But here I was in totally aware of what's been going on how to attend patients and how to interact with others. How does the you know, the whole healthcare system works here. So that was a biggest challenge. For me, it's my first day with Connectix was the corporate orientation, where they gave, you know, orientation on a whole healthcare system, and what changes are being implemented during COVID and how to approach and things like that. It was a general orientation, but still we were kind of nervous on how to approach in the facility actually, uh, but in facility again, there was a good coordination from Siena healthcare and connect X they made sure like we are going in the right path. Bong used to call me a couple of times to make sure you know, do I have any problems? Am I okay with the system here? And they tried to incorporate many things to help us you know, accommodate the situation, you know, get adjusted to things like that. And even though I had so many questions at the beginning, I was able to, you know, get resources for being locating where I could find information and things like that.

On my first day in the facility, I was introduced to the management and administration team and they were having an orientation package, which gave me a list of things that I should be reviewing with the, you know, the preceptor and I should be aware of what all things which is relevant to that Per facility, and I was able to cope well, they gave me a good orientation here, almost like two months, I was pretty familiar with the system, the electronic system that was used in Michigan, because I was using the same system in Canada, Canada. So in couple of weeks, maybe in two to three weeks, I was, you know, quite well versed with the electronic system here. And the preceptors went through each nursing procedures as we learn in the schools, like each procedures, literally, that was amazing. So I coped well, I believe, yeah, initial struggling was there. Because you know, the place I work is, I'm the only Indian there. So that's another, you know, we find between the midst of others, but then eventually they will get it. They always supported me and I tried to, you know, get into the line. And it was great and amazing. Yeah, yeah. And it's so intense for the nurse, when you first arrive in the United States, as you just described, your first two weeks, you're getting orientation, you're getting trained, you're speaking with our wonderful Bong, Richard, back to you a little bit during those first two weeks, let's focus on the kids here, because as we just said, the nurse is very, very busy. What can parents expect from the kids angle? Whenever they arrive in the United States in those first two weeks? What's that like?

Well, you know, obviously, cultural isolation is a major problem. But I think that really affects the adults more than children. Fortunately, children are extremely resilient to us, excuse me, Ichinose, excuse me, if they, if you can set up your children to be excited to come to America, I think that's you know, more than half the battle is one. Again, children are very resilient. So once they get here, I don't think cultural isolation is as big a deal for the little ones as it is for adults. You know, if you can get them out there and playing with kids in the street in the park, or you know, enrolled in school right away, they really adapt very quickly. But that is something to be aware of, and be concerned about. Going into the whole process as it is. I mean, there's nothing I can say there's nothing I can say that's like a magic wand and, and you wave it and everybody's happy. But in the entire family structure, the younger children are definitely more resilient, and they're, they're gonna bounce back and look at it as an adventure, I guess you can just try and convince them that it is a giant adventure, and get them to be enthusiastic about the whole process. wonderful piece of advice, we actually have some questions coming in from the chats. And we're going to ask our panel this so we have made bad you consider nurses without bedside experience, although I work in the hospital, but I'm with occupational health department. So mostly our patients, our staffs. Lisa, do you have an answer for this question?

Yeah, I would say definitely speak with a recruiter, we have hundreds of jobs all over the country with different requirements. So again, because we like to match you up with what you know, what you're looking for, what your qualifications are, what our employers are looking for, we'd be happy to discuss that with you, we definitely have options out there for everyone. And it looks like qui Bana is saying that they're from gonna pass the NCLEX, which is great, you do have to pass the NCLEX before you can get matched with one of our clients. So you're already on the road. They're interested in going to Maryland, which is a wonderful to have actually a client showcase coming up in a couple of months about that. So stay tuned. And if you want to live and prosper like Neena, like, like being like, make sure to go to our website at Conneticsusa.com/apply. Mom, I want to get back to you now. You go ahead. And Richard, just real quick here to answer. As a beautiful name. As I recall, she was a very powerful queen in India back in the day. There are complications with bringing adult children that are 20. I think that children have to be under 21 Jante to accompany new company to the United States under a Green Card visa. I believe Lisa already addressed that. But if you weren't here already. I believe they have to be younger than 21. If that helps. Yeah, sorry.

No, not at all. We actually just had a comment in the chat about that John Z saying, Ma'am, can I accompany my unmarried children aged 29 and 25 to the United States. As Lisa just said, the answer is no, not directly. The cut off is age 21. But as Lisa said earlier, earlier, other options to bring them later or they can apply to the University here in the United States and come in on a, what was the visa? Lisa? F1 visa? Our team of lawyers also work with these nurses, correct? Yes. Wonderful. Bong, getting back to you. You guys in the United States, you have your family here. Now it's time to enroll your kids into school? How did you go about that? Go about that. Okay, so before even coming to the US at that time, we have already been, you know, like locating like, where are we going to be staying so near the hospital, and we were looking at the schools around this. Around this area, so we've learned about the zoning. So then we tried calling schools as well, even when we were in the UK, we told them we are arriving at this day. This is the grade of our child here. And they said that they actually scared scheduled us for a day and see them. So that's what we did. So we went and talked to the school. And then we gave the pastor. It was it was easy. So make sure that you plan ahead when you're coming. That's what we did at that time. It's not just you come by nice to be prepared. That's what we did. So it didn't it wasn't like a, a, a long process. Because we have prepared ourselves. Paul mentioned something about zoning. Richard, can you go into some detail about that? What does that mean? Okay, so schools, the actual school facility that your child states is determined by the actual zone that you live in residentially. So it's very much more like you don't get to choose the school you want to go to or if you want to, you have to live in the neighborhood that is covered by that school district. Or rather, there is a school district, and then there's schools within that district. The children are assigned to the school. Based on where you live within that district. I believe that's what you're asking me? Yes. Now what happens if the kids want to go to a school and you don't live near it? Is that an option?

Typically not. My experience, there are there ones. Yeah, this one is still the magnet school, where outside the zoning, you can go in and roll. Yeah. What kind of school? A magnet, magnet school, a magnet school? That mean, is that a special type of school? Or what does that mean? It means that they accept students outside of the zone. So if the students are willing to enroll into that school, this schools has to be opened into you know, they advertise if they're like a magnet school, that they welcome students outside the zone, they can enroll in that. Neena, how did you go about enrolling your kids into school and finding the right school? Yeah, that was my biggest concern. Because when I was trying to relocate, I heard about those taxes shooting and all those things are school safety and school academics. My was my biggest priority. So I did, you know, as I said, we were able to cross the border even without green card. So before even getting the green card, we had a couple of opportunity to cross the border and see where I would be working and where the, you know, school zoning area and things like that. I did use the Nishi web site and I see a CI to find out the area and zoning and the great schools are getting. So that was helpful. Like I looked into that and we were able to find a school that had a grading that means it's an excellent school in terms of academics and diversity as well. So that my kids can you know, learn in an environment with lots of diverse people.

They And apart from that, I tried applying to that school. But then they said, As Bong mentioned, they said they need an address for, you know, the child to get admission into the school. So I have to actually, once I got the green card, I had to actually book apartment near that school, so that my kids would get enrolled into that school. And we were successful in that. And my kids, I was actually looking for two things, because one of my child is in grade three, and the other one is in grade eight. So we were actually trying to enroll them altogether, because in us, most of the schools are like elementary, from one to four, then middle five, and six, and then high school. High school, that's the three different categories. So when you come as a newcomer in us, it would be hard for you to drive your one of your kids to another elementary school and drive another to the middle school or high school, whatever. So we were trying to find out a school, which incorporates both the kids together. So I googled, that was my major source. And then I found out a charter school, which nearby which was of great rating as they accommodated students from grades one to eight. In that way, both my kids were able to get enrolled in the same school, so we don't have to drive two times. And you know, which is difficult when you come as a newcomer, and you were trying to settle at that time, you want to make things easier. So in that way, you know, I searched it through Google through the Nishi website, and we were able to locate things.

We have a question here for like shot a gun as asking how many children can you relocate with to the United States? Lisa, this one goes to you. I saw that question off. All of your biological children can relocate with you, as long as they're under the age of 21. Yes. Very short and sweet answer. Naveen is asking. Hi, Neena, did you not have to face retrogression? I guess the question has to do with them because you originally came from India. Exactly. Yeah, I didn't have to. Actually my process began in 2007. But then retrogression came, so I had to drop the plan. And then we waited for a couple of years to move on. But it seemed like retrogression never ending so I had a second plant. So I did the aisles and things again, and we tried a different pathway to come to Canada. And in that way, I will I actually came to Canada in 2013. And from 2013 onwards, I was in Canada working as a registered nurse. So that was a different path for me. But yes, I did. Phased retrogression in this opportunity came as the priority date became current. And they sent me a couple of letters actually, they sent me a letter first letter on 2017. But I wasn't ready at that time for a move. And again, when the COVID hit, things change things, change the whole and home environment, change everything, you know, my husband got a work from home order. And then my kids were learning from home so we thought to you know, have a different make you utilize the Green Card opportunity because the I will be the only person who has to go out and work and rest of them can work from home and my husband can work from home and my kids can learn from you know, home. So we thought to go forward. But as soon as I got my green card things again changed. But we were happy to you know, move on.

Bong, what was oh, go ahead, Richard. There's two specific there's a couple of specific questions I like to answer because they're definitely in my belly whack here. Michael has a question for about children with special needs. Michael that always gets my attention and I give it 100% effort. We do have. Most school districts have special classes tailored to the specific needs of your child. So whether it's I've seen a lot of children coming with autism I've seen a lot with death or music for whatever it is, so what happens on those lines is you want to go ahead and tell your onboarding specialist from the moment you talk to them the very first conversation, you want to bring that up. And that allows your onboarding specialist with, which could be me, to help you locate assistance within that school district. And specifically get the child the attention they need, so that they can have the schooling they're there to, that is very important to our entire team here. It's onboarding for Connetics. So again, what you want to do for anybody that's in that kind of a situation, make sure you bring that up to your onboarding specialist, the very first conversation you have, this is a very important issue, I can't emphasize that enough. If you bring that up and bring it to our attention, my team will make sure that your child gets to your child super-duper important. So you know, I just want to assure you that that's something that my team works with 100%. As far as the school year starts, it usually starts in show my age. The fall semester starts in September the spring semester.

It depends where you are. Beginning I think we're getting a little bit of an echo here. So if you're not speaking, please put yourself on mute. So as Lisa was saying that it does depend on where you live, where your children are going to go to school bond, you were mentioning that too. So getting back into grow into school, what is the enrollment process? Like? How was it with your family? Um, it's easy. Like I said earlier, because we have already called the school before we even arrived. So we have the schedule. So we brought everything like the this is very important, the immunization record of your kids, the grades from when they started from, you know, from the beginning. So it wasn't really a a hard thing, because when, when we arrived, it was a good, good timing, because we finish school in England. And then he was like July. So it is the, you know, a good thing for beginning of school really for registration. So we have the schedule to go and see the schools because our kids are going to be high school and elementary at that time. And the very good thing as well as the High School and the elementary school is just, you know, facing each other the school so it wasn't hard, because my daughter finished an hour earlier than by the time I get her to go and pick up our son though that was easy for us. But on the registration, it wasn't that hard, because like I said, we have already been contacting the school we got there. We filled out the forms for the registration and everything like that. It was easy, as long as you've got all the information. And plus, you will need the you're like Anita said you will have to have the address. That's very important for the school to determine that you are covered within the zoning.

What about transcripts? I want to take this one to Lisa here. When parents are coming to United States kids are starting to apply to school, they need to be able to send their records to the state showing their curriculum showing their grades. How does that work? And the parent would want to gather that information from all of the schools that their children have attended until they arrive so they want to bring those documents with them. That'd be transcripts, you know, curriculum, as you said, and their grades, so they'll want to they'll want to collect that from all of the schools that their kids attended before they migrate to America. Richard, I wonder if you have an answer to this question. Some countries do all of their transcripts digitally. And some countries just do paper and a lot of times the schools will say hey, we don't give paper copies, we just do digital and you have to get on our website or whatever to be able to get those grades. How do parents mitigate that? What advice can you give to make sure all that paperwork gets here in time?

Okay, so if it's just paperwork, per se, then I always tell nurses to gather. gather their paper transcripts prior to coming here, put them all in a folder and bring them with them. Let me back up. So first, I always send my nurses a link to the local school district so they can reach out to that organization prior to their arrival and start a conversation with said, district, you know, alerting them that your intentions you're coming, you're coming with these children. And how do I go about the process of enrolling my children, that's where they learn whether or not they're going to be taking paperwork, per se, or actual electronic slash digital records. If it's paperwork, I tell my nurses to go ahead and you know, get a get a paper file, like my taxes here, get a get all your paperwork together, put it in a file, put it in your briefcase or suitcase and bring that with you. So when you have your first introductory conversation with the school district, you'll have all that data available. If it is a matter of electronic data, you're going to want to need to speak with the local school district going to again, obviously, find out how you transfer that data electronically, and then contact the school district that your child is in currently and have them ship that ship that electronically between the two databases.

Neena, how did you go about this process of making sure that all of the paperwork, the curriculum, all of that was ready to go for your kids school? How did that process work? You're on mute. I'm sorry. So this process was not that difficult for me, because I came from Canada, Ontario, and they follow the same system as us. So when I applied to the school in us, they actually seek out to my kids school to get the transcript and the Canadian school act, obviously, they provided the electronic transcript for them. The one thing I wanted to mention is when you're coming you need to make sure your kids have proper immunization which is very strict in us. You got to give the immunization record before getting admission. So for that I did requested the health care in Ontario, Canada. And we can print it out actually from online and it was co signed by my family doctor back in Canada. And then I brought that in paper signed by my family provider, a family physician and I handed it over to the school here in Michigan you're on mute tweeting now I'm doing it is catching on right. Bong. I'm gonna ask you this question from Marcy. When do children start going to school? Can someone elaborate on nursery or childcare options? I know that you didn't come with super young kids but I do know that you have experience with this give our audience some advice now word of the day unmute when we came my kids were like Elementary in high school. But then we came with a family as well who had little kids who brought them to nursery at that time. It was very close to our were we were leaving at that time. I don't think it. It takes her a while to find those places as well.

It was easy as well for them to enroll, you just have to have those like in the nursery as well. I think they will. You have to provide the immunization records as well. But anyway, if the immunization record of your kids as well are not are not up to date, they will provide you Anyway what are the requirements that they needed on top of what they already have? And you could just schedule yourself to get those from the Department of Health or like urgent cares and it's not it's not hard to you know, get an appointment for that and then when once you have the certification you just give it to school as well. Please, uh, do you have immunizations to come to the United States? Do nurses need that and their kids need that in that immigration process? Yes, yes, they will. There are multiple types of medical exenterations and things that they will need done. And our team and along with immigration team will assist you with which ones that you need. Rona is saying here in town Texas school starts in August and Jennifer's saying it's August in Georgia September for the West Coast. Are Elaine is asking about child care for a nine year old, which we just talked about that and needing is saying thanks a lot Neena meet you in the same ship? Is it worth it coming to the United States on an h one B as due to retrogression? My chances are so that's more of a legal question that you might want to ask the lawyer whenever you are coming to the United States, of course, Connetics hooks you up with one of our lawyer partners. So they can definitely help you with that and help you with those options. Of course, make sure to visit our website once again Conneticsusa.com/apply. If you want to start your journey with your family to the United States. We have some other questions people saying hello. Mohammed Reza is saying hi from Iran. Hello. Seeing everyone from all over the world here. It's always so great to see everyone coming in asking their questions and getting ready for their American dream. I want to take the next question to Neena.

What was your kid's first day of school like? Now she's on your first day of school, they were super nervous, they actually didn't like to come to Michigan at all. Because for them, you know, my son is almost 13. And so he's, you know, Noah has those teen group of friends back in Canada, and my daughter, she's young, she's eight. She also missed her friends back in Canada. So they were quite nervous. They were anxious. And they were you know, they don't have any kind of, they don't know one person there. And they were thinking about, you know, how do I get friends? How the teacher would be? How do I go to my daughter was super upset? How do I find the bathroom? How do I find my way back to class? Is there any reason? You know, all those young kids anxiety, anxiety and concerns? And my son was like, oh my god, how am I gonna deal with that? How I would get friends? Is there a basketball team? Is there a sport? You know, so many concerns and questions. So before even they went to first day of school to make them comfortable. I asked, I call the school actually. And I asked her permission for a, you know, school tour with parents so that we can also see the school how it functions and things like that. And they were quite generous to, you know, even the school was working on that day, they were quite generous to give us an opportunity to have a tour of the school, they introduced us to the gym, to the dining area, the school breakfast and lunch options that they introduced us to the library and you know, the university information and all those things. And they also gave my kids get introduced to their class teachers, which gave them a kind of relaxed and more relaxed feel. They were introduced to the their class and things like that. And so the first day was obviously nervous and anxious for both the kid and the parents. But we made it through.

Bong when I asked this question to you, how are your kids doing now? Are they happy? Tell us about that. Yes, yeah. So when we arrived, my daughter was the teen. My son was eight. And now my daughter is driving on her own. She goes to University of South Florida. She got the scholarship there. My son is now on his last year of middle school. He is going now to high school this this year. So they're happy, they're happy, although they still miss their friends as well in England, but you know, they love it here. Florida. Always great to have that opportunity to make new friends. I can't believe the time. We're already wrapping up here. I just want to get some final advice from my advisor. So what is some advice that you can give parents who are immigrating to the United States with their kids Yeah, absolutely just be, everything is gonna work out. And one thing I do want to say, just like wrong is that that the kids may not be very happy. But they will definitely be happy once they get here and get settled in. So stay strong, stay patient and vigilant. And in time, they're going to be very happy. So no need to worry,

Richard, what some final advice tips that you can give all the parents out there who are coming to United States with their kids? I would point out that health care here in the United States is shockingly expensive and hard to find. So be prepared to have to tackle that challenge. A lot of my nurses are rather surprised. It is the nature of the United States. Well, the nature of the game here in the United States that child care and I know this question that was brought up earlier in the comment section, it is more expensive than you probably expect. So keep that in mind in realize that. If you're coming here with little ones, you're going to want to try and find out as soon as possible, what kind of opportunities you have to put your child in childcare. Well, your work. Thank you, Richard. Neena, really quickly, what's your final advice for parents immigrated in the United States with their kids.

Um, I know it's quite nervous for the kids and parents to emigrate to a new place. If you're coming from India, obviously, it's a great change up here because the system is totally different. So the one advice that I would like to give to the parents with kids is, before even arriving here, please look in the website. And Google your, you know, nearby school and community. And reach out to the, if you're a Christian, you can reach out to the religious community churches, or you know, your community organizations here. And there are people who can help you. So Google the area where you're kind of coming and use the website Nishi, where you can find the school ratings and school, the diversity and all those tasks. It was a great resource. That's what I wanted to say, and whoever wants to reach out to me, I'm obviously, I can provide information about Michigan, where I'm living currently, and I can always be available to help in my own base.

Thank you so much, Neena. And if you don't have kids, and you're immigrating the United States, you can always get up. She wanted to come here and join the show and say, Hello, this is my girl show. Now, if you want to come to United States Conneticsusa.com/apply .  Bong one last piece of advice for everyone watching. Okay, yeah, well, I know that we like onboarding, we provide a lot of resources to the nurses. But even though you can always, you know, like, get a lot of information on the website before coming here. It's good to be prepared, you know, and, you know, learn a lot of stuff and know a lot of things where the state that you are going, you know, like childcare and things like that. So make sure that you can prepare this well.

Thank you so much Bong. And of course, if you want to learn about different states, if you want to learn about how to prepare to come to the United States and all tips, as Vaughn said, go to our website, conneticsusa.com, we actually have an entire resources area there. And as all of our shows, as well as more information from you, how to get a car, how to make sure that your kids are enrolled in school, all these wonderful pieces of advice. So we are here to help you. Our team is here to help you come and apply Conneticsusa.com/apply. I want to thank our entire panel of guests, our nurses, our experts from the Connetics international nursing agency, we really enjoy you participating in the show and giving everyone this wonderful piece of advice. Thank you so much. So let's get into our future shows. We have a lot of great things coming up. So next week budgeting for us a rival very important. We're going to be talking about money. April the 21st. We're gonna have a client showcase focusing on UFL, who are one of our clients and the 28th of April immigration Q&A. So for all of these immigration questions that are being asked right now in the chat, make sure that you tune in on the 28th We'll have our law our panel right here live to take your questions. On May the fifth we're going to have a special Connetics Career Day speed dating. To find a career we're gonna have many of our clients on the show presenting to you so you can learn more about them on May the 12th nurses month game Shazam May in the United States is nurses month so we're gonna have a lot of fun on that day. We'll have another immigration Q&A On May the 19th. And then on the 26th. To close out the nurses month, we'll be focusing on direct hire recruitment, versus international staffing, recruitment, also one once a month, the Lefora Talk Show next generation NCLEX and work life balance we're going to be focusing on as well. Thank you so much to everyone who joined us today and like we always say, Onwards and Upwards. Have a great weekend everyone.