Adjustment of Status Process for a Green Card for Nurses
Hi everybody and welcome. My name is Tanya Freedman and I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Connetics USA today, we help healthcare organizations, hospitals, nursing homes, facilities, surgery centers all over the US with the nursing shortage of bringing in internationally educated nurses, and every live show onwards and upwards. And today, we're going to be talking to my colleagues about the green card process adjustment.
Maybe nurses will love the world wonder how it gets started. So confusing. It's so overwhelming. So on the screen, you will see the Connetics success path, you can look at this on the Connetics USA international nursing agency website and on our social media. And here are all the steps of how to get started. If you are dreaming of coming to America, we have the NCLEX Fast Pass, we have preparation for the interview we have 1000s of employers are hiring all over the US, we have the visa framework. And that's what our show is for today, we're going to be talking about the adjustment of status green card. And then we have licensing, get ready game plan, arrival sequence, enjoy and prosper. So every week, we will bring you a show onwards and upwards and talk about different topics on the success path. So today's topic is on is the adjustment of status we can't and call Chris.
And Jennifer, before we get started, you maybe want to just I know you know don't need any introduction. But maybe you can just give us a little bit of background for those viewers who haven't seen you before.
Let's start with ladies first Jennifer should know. So I am a certified immigration law specialists I've been practicing for over 11 years. I actually worked with Carl Schusterman for many years. And we've done plenty of nurse cases before. So I'm happy to be here. Thank you, Jennifer. So Jennifer is one of our experts who will be talking about the adjustment of status we can comment if anybody has just joined us. And Chris. Yeah, I'm Chris Musillo Um, I've been practicing in immigration since the mid 1990s. And happy to talk with us today. Thank you, Chris. And I think between this team, they probably bought three more green cards for nurses than any other lawyers in the country. And last but not least conscious demand. Thanks, Tanya. I worked for the immigration service in the late 70s and early 80s and started my own firm. We represent several 100 hospitals across the United States and my wife's Filipino and I think that's probably how I got started. We've been immigrated maybe about 10,000 nurses to the US. I don't know what we do without those nurses.
That is for sure. The US needs nurses. This is not a recruitment issue. This is a supply and demand issue. There simply aren't enough nurses. So if you are an international nurse that is sitting in your own your home country, and has been dreaming of come to coming to America, now is the time. And Chris Cole, Jennifer and I have been doing this for many, many years. And we have never seen such an explosion of demand for international nurses in the US right now. So now's the time to get started. And okay, so to the panel, let's go onwards and upwards, right. And so the topic today is the adjustment of status green card. There is also on our website, a booklet that everyone can download, which has free information about the adjustment of status process. And there is also a $200 amazon gift card.
So we will have a raffle and we'll announce the winner on next Friday show. So please download the booklet, and you might be eligible to win your $200 as well as learn all about the adjustment of status process. And so I see we have a lot of questions but I think let's get started with the basics. And Carl maybe we can start with you and what actually is a green card. A green card means that somebody is a lawful permanent resident of the US so they can live their entire life. In the US, they're not a US citizen, but they're not on a temporary visa that they have to keep renewing. They can spend the whole the rest of their life living in the United States.
Okay. And for many nurses, it can feel very confusing because there's the h1, there's the TN visa, how does that differ from citizenship? And, Chris, you want to maybe explain the differences between like, what how is the Green Card different to a TN and H1 and visa and what that would mean for an international nurse? Yeah, so the way I like to think about it, Tanya is in the United States, we essentially, ultimately, you can break most people who are fit into four categories. You have US citizens, and in order to become a US citizen, you either need to be born in United States, or you need to migrate through the immigration process. At the bottom of the stack, you have folks who are undocumented or illegally in the United States, either because they entered illegally or they've violated or overran their status. But it's the two middle categories that I think are key to what you're talking about today, Tanya. So we've got the third category is the non immigrant visas or temporary visas.
And the second category are US permanent residents, what we sometimes call immigrants, and what Carl was talking about as well, what's your green cards. A non immigrant is a temporary visa holder. And it's usually defined or it's usually characterized by a letter number. Set. So for instance, we have a TN dash one visa, which is a trade NAFTA visa. There are two countries Mexico and Canada who have a NAFTA treaty with the United States. So it's a temporary visa, we have other ones you may have heard of an f1 for students, and h1 B is pretty common for some medical professionals. And there's a whole range of these Tanya from a one all the way down to you. And they all have subcategories of the alphabet, just about Yeah, they're just they're just missing a few. And, and then again, I'm going to add the subcategory. So it's not just age, but it's h1, B, and then there used to be an h1, C, and then all of these things, in any event. So those non immigrants Tanya are there in the United States, they're signified by the letter number characteristics. And in their, activities that they can do in the United States are limited. So if you have an f1 student visa, for the University of California, Los Angeles, you're only lawfully in status as long as you are attending classes at UCLA.
And it's important on you to let you know I'm generalizing. There's always exceptions to everything, but in very broad sense, you have to be attending UCLA, in order to maintain your f1 status. If you wanted to transfer to Stanford, then you actually have to file paperwork with the US government in order to have your f1 transferred its sponsorship from UCLA to Stanford. So with the TN if you're on a TN in the United States, and you're with a hospital, let's call the University of Cincinnati Hospital, which isn't too far from where I am, and you want to then go to another hospital, maybe Johns Hopkins, let's say, again, same thing you would need to have your TN transferred from one to the other. That's different than the permanent residency, the green card with the green card, you essentially are free to engage in almost any activity, you want the United States, it's not US citizenship, there's a few things that make it different, you know, a lot to vote, for instance, if you commit a slew of criminal acts, potentially could be deported still, or as US citizens can't be deported. But it's almost like citizenship other than a few of these different characteristics. But that's the basic difference between the non immigrant temporary visas like TN and the immigrant visas, green cards.
Okay, that's a great explanation, because it's very confusing for many nurses to know what's permanent, what's an immigrant or non immigrant visa, and how their particular status fits into that. And Jennifer, if those gets a green card, how does that make the family so if they married the spouse, well, they can make their family members derivatives to that green card application. So their family members will qualify as well, to obtain their lawful permanent residence. Okay, so they so when they get sponsored, then if they married, their spouse can also live and work in the US and obviously, the kids can come with. Correct, exactly. Okay, good. All right. So that's the good news. And I can tell you, I was an immigrant. I came here 21 years ago, and from South Africa and getting that green card is just there. It's just one of the best days of your life as an immigrant, and only second getting your citizenship, which is really, you know, one of the one of the best, and so that's what we want for everybody who's watching today. You And so we've now established what the green card is. Let's talk a little bit about the two different kinds of green cards. So you've got your consular greeting card and your adjustment of status process. And, Carl, can you talk a little bit about the consular process?
Sure. So most nurses go through the counselor processing. That means that they're located in a foreign country. And they have an employer in the United States, who files a petition on their behalf, we call it a form i 141. To two petition gets approved. And if their date is current, which means they're at the beginning, they're at the front of the line for green cards, because in some categories, there's a long wait. Fortunately, right now, for Filipino nurses, it is current. So that means there, there is no official waiting time that mean, there might be considerable waits just because there's a pandemic and the US Embassy. The US Embassy is not only in Manila, but all over the world are only partially open right now. But when they get to the front of the line, there, I 140 has been approved, it goes to a place called the National Visa Center, where the nurse has to show different types of paperwork. And then they scheduled the nurse for an interview at the US Embassy. That that's the counselor processing the US Embassy and counseling. Back in the 80s. I remember, I don't know if they have it anymore. But there was a my wife's from Cebu.
And they had a council live in Cebu. And since at that time, I was working for the immigration service, they invited me in and I got to sit around and chat with them. But what they call a counselor processing, whether you're going to a US Council it or whether you're going to the embassy in the country, and they give you an interview, and they make sure that you're admissible, which means you're not a criminal, you're not a terrorist, you haven't committed immigration fraud. And then, of course, that you have this job that sponsored you didn't come into the United States, they approved the green card application. And you have 180 days to get on a plane and fly to the United States. And only when you actually arrive in the US and are admitted in the airport, are you considered a green card holder?
Okay, so that, that gives us a really good clarification on the consulate green card process. And as Carl said, most international nurses will come through that route. But there is another route that we're going to be talking about. And that is the adjustment of status process. And if anyone didn't miss the show, onward and upward, I think it was about three four, was probably about a month ago to go on a three day marathon on the consular green card process. There's also a download on the Connetics USA website that you can get for free. It's free information about the consular down. So download the consular green card process. And that is available for all nurses who are coming on to consider green card. So let's go back to that graphic about the adjustment of status in the consular process. And so, Jennifer, if you want to maybe talk about like the adjustment of status process, and what how that is different? Sure, some of you, and then we're gonna go through the steps.
Sure. So Adjustment of Status is basically when you apply for your lawful permanent residence or green card while you're in the United States. So perhaps you're here on an h1 B visa, and your employer is filing a petition on your behalf, you could file your adjustment application. What? Well, right now, since the visas are current, you could file that all together while you're inside the US. And then once you filed application, you know, obviously, I assume we're gonna go through what documents and things you would need to have with that you're eventually either attend, they'll request you to come to an interview through your green. They could approve it without an interview in the US. Okay, so we're gonna go through the process. And, Chris, can you talk a little bit about all the different kinds of uses that you might be on that would qualify for an adjustment of status report? So Jennifer spoke about if you want an h1 visa, and a non immigrant work visa, what are the kinds of visas that are candidates that a nurse might be On that would qualify for the adjustment of status.
Yeah, so if you remember Tanya was talking about, there's all these visas from a one down to almost the end of the alphabet, almost every one of them can qualify for an adjustment of status, there's a tiny handful of them that are pretty rare that don't qualify for the adjustment of status. In the broadest sense. However, in the specific sense and Adjustment of Status process is legally one of the more complex processes that we undertake at the law firm for the most, you know, in employment base work anyway. And it's because in Jennifer hinted at this, we have to make sure that you are legally present and you haven't been violating your status. And so that's why it's important to bring in an attorney who's experienced with the adjustment of status process to make sure, but you know, in the broadest sense, most non immigrant statuses will qualify for the adjustment of status, and the employment based green cards, which is the ones that the nurses are almost always going to go through, unless maybe they're marrying a US citizen, even have a little more liberal outlet, they're a little more liberal, you can actually even have some small times that you have not been maintaining your status or out of status, get it's a little bit of a complicated matter. I don't think this is probably a good forum for it. But I do think the adjustment of status is definitely not something that most nurses are going to undertake on their own.
Okay, good. So you got to get experts like the panel here to help with anytime case. So for a nurse who might be here as a student might be here, on the TN visa, you know, as Chris said, a number of different visas might qualify for that adjustment of status process. Okay, I'm going to go through the actual steps of the process. And then we're going to start taking questions I see we've got a lot of questions.
And from viewers that are posting from, oh, lots of questions from viewers all over the world. So keep the questions coming. We love your questions, also put in there, and where you are based, we'd love to see where you are based in the world. And I'm gonna go through the process of what are the scores of the adjustment of status process? And then we're going to be taking some questions. So type your questions into the chat, and we'll get through as many of them as possible. Okay, so the process the steps that we need to go through, and know that we have the basically five steps as everybody knows. So we've got the pre planning steps, we've got the I 140 Step, we've got the adjustment of status, five, the issuance of the EAD, and the Advance Parole and all the things. So let's go through each of these step by step to the panel. And, Chris, you want to maybe talk a little bit about the pre funding stage, and also how long they takes?
Yeah, so no, absolutely happy to do it. So the first step, or it's sort of two, two related mini steps, is the prevailing wage determination. And the notice posting, this stage is not tied to any particular nurse, or applicant. It's really just tied to the employer. And so if an employer is new to this process, they have to undergo that that prevailing wage determination and that notice, if there are an employer who is regularly filing for green cards on behalf of nurses, there's a decent chance that some or all of that first step has been completed. But for a new for a new process, what has to happen, and indeed, it happens behind the scenes, even for regular companies who regularly engage in green courts. We file a form online at the US Department of Labor's worksite 9141. And it's called the prevailing wage determination. And what that is, is the employer, usually through the attorneys, like Jennifer and Carla, are filing a 9141, the Department of Labor and we're saying, this hospital, this healthcare facility, this nursing home group, is seeking to hire nurse and we list the job description, we explain how much experience is required, what kind of educational levels for something that had nurses, we would indicate that NCLEX passes a requirement, few other things like this. And we look the US Department of Labor know all of those criteria for the job. And then the US Department of Labor comes back to us and they say, okay, for that job in that city in the United States, you must you as the US employer cannot pay less than x dollars $25 an hour, let's say just to pick a number. And then it's up to the employer, whether they want to pay the $25 or if they want, they can pay a little higher, usually they're paying around it, maybe a little higher, depending on the employer and depending on the time of year and these sorts of things. Now, that process historically had only taken about 60 days this process came into being I think, in 2004 and for about, Gosh 12 or 15 years, it was pretty good to get approved in 60 days or so. In the last maybe two years or so that 60 days is up to about five or six, which is a real shame, because the process hasn't changed, it's really the exact same process, it changed the form.
Now it's a little more electronic. But it's basically the same process. And, and so it's a shame, but it does take five or six months. Also, during that process, or immediately after that process, and it can depend on the time of the year, we also have to have the employer hanging notice posting, it's a paper posting, and we hang it up at the employers worksite. And if the employer has multiple work sites, then we have to hit up in all of the, maybe the hospitals the employer has, and it notifies us workers and other workers who are on site at that facility that this hospital is seeking to, to again, hire nurses, and that we the employer will pay the nurses not less than, again, maybe $25 an hour. And so that process, the notice posting has to go up for 10 business days, and then it actually has to come down for 30 days. So we say it's right, in 40 days, really, it's a little closer to 50 days, or 45 days because of weekends and holidays. And again, sometimes we can do that at the same time that the prevailing wage determination is going on. Sometimes we can that's going to come down to the employer, and it's really gonna come down to the time of year, because on July 1, the wages trip up again. And so we're not able to maybe jump the gun a little bit there. Anyway, that's the first step is actually filing part time.
Okay, so thank you for that, Chris, because many people don't know what that pre filing is. And just, you know, to let everybody know, and as Chris says, we are seeing that timings getting longer and longer. In fact, at Connetics, you're saying when we do recruitment events, now, we want to wait until that income period for when the prevailing wages and certified postings are complete, even before we do the recruitment event. Because otherwise, it's just so frustrating. But it's been kind of like a shifting picture. Because the timing just continually gets longer and longer. And so that is the first thing. And as Chris said, you don't have to worry about what other than to ask the question is a grant from the Department of Labor? So that's a question that that is kind of like an insider. Okay, jelica, can you talk us through that second? And so I want for the immigrant visa petition state?
Sure. So that's, again, that's your employer petition. So your employer is basically petitioning the US government for you to come in to the US as a lawful permanent resident to work for their facility. So the employer owns that petition. So the employer completes his petition, and submits it to the USCIS, asking that they basically approve it, so you can come in and work for that, for this prospective job. The Iowan 40 petitions are subjected to something called the visa bulletin, which is released every single month from the Department of State. So once the employer filed that petition, depending on what the visa bulletin dictates, you may be eligible to apply for your green card right away. For example, right now, it's current, meaning that there's no wait time. But you know, in the past, perhaps there was a wait time, once the employer files that you'd have to wait to move on to step three. But basically, that's what the employer owns that petition and files it for a prospective job, which in this case would be for you to be a registered nurse.
Okay. Thank you, Jennifer. And I see we have a question from the reader. He's asking about premium processing. Oh, correct. So the employer can, where are you asking me, it doesn't matter. The employer can ask for premium processing, which would basically make the processing time down to like two weeks. So it could be a very fast process to get that I 140. Petition approved. Okay, so one of the words if anybody's watched our show before on the green card, are pretty much the same rate, Chris and Jennifer. So the print filing the prevailing wage, the posting, I 140. It's the same process and constant process and Adjustment of Status is correct. Correct. I mean, it's all done domestically in the US and once that's all approved, whether you go through the consular processing route abroad, or apply for Adjustment of Status in the US, it would those two steps remain the same. Okay, so listen up everybody, because here's where there's a change. This is where the process changes. So if we go back to our graphic, and we look at 400 step, and this is the iPhone five, the adjustment of status process, so called Walk us through that step.
Okay, so if the nurse is In the United States, and is in, as Chris said, non immigrant status. So that usually means she has some type of temporary visa. So she might be here on a TN, which is for Canadian and Mexican nurses and other professionals, you might be here on an h1, B, which is for professionals for various countries, you might be a student in the US and after you graduate, you get something called OET, optional practical training, which is a work permit. And so if you were on any of those statuses, any legal status, non immigrant status in the US, then you can apply for Adjustment of Status when your number comes out in the face of Belinda. And as Jennifer said, and right now, and I know we've said this on previous shows, but I'd like to repeat it there. Instead of the usual 140,000, green cards given out to people in the employment categories, it's pretty much double that it's about 280,000, we have set to 90, but yesterday, Charlie, Charlie opened hi from the State Department revised a little and they said not 290, but 280,000. So we expect the category that's the EB3, the employment based third category for Filipino nurses to stay current for most or maybe all of this fiscal year, which goes from October the first 2021 to September 30 2022. So it's doubled the amount of green cards that are usually available. So this is the perfect time to be able to apply.
So if you're in the United States, and you're eligible for Adjustment of Status, now's the time. Yes. So then the person who asked the question about premium processing can say to the employer, don't spend $1,440 on premium processing, because you can file the I 140 petition and my application for Adjustment of Status, the I 485. Together, it would make no sense, since you have to wait about a year for an interview and make no sense to try to get the I 140 approved in a couple of weeks, you know, give me a bonus on my salary and spend the money giving it to the immigration. So what happens? Yeah, sorry, that'd be long winded on important stuff, because it's very confusing. So we want to be have clarity for everyone. Okay, so what once this is submitted a few weeks later, you get a receipt in the mail that the money's been eight for the filing fees. In about six months, you get an employment authorization document, we call it an EAD work permit. And then you also with the work permit, as long as you're maintaining legal status, you ask for an Advance Parole. So with the Advance Parole, you can easily travel in and out of the US. So you can fly to Manila, see your family, you know, you can take a vacation to another country if you want. And you will eventually in about a year, although it varies from city to city across the country, you don't have your interview for a green card.
Okay, thank you Carl. So that takes us through the rest of the process. So if we put that graphic up again about the five stages, and you can see there, this has told us about the pre filing, Jennifer spoken about the I 140. And Carl has taken us through the I 45. The issuance of the EAD card, the Advance Parole, which is that travel document and also to the interview stage. So I'd like to just leave this graphic up for a minute and just talk a little bit about timing. Because for maybe versus the timing is obviously very important, especially for example, if they're here on a student visa, or you know, even if they're on a TN and the TN is going to expire, just understanding the timing is just so important. So Chris, you spoke about the wage taking about five to six months, correct? That's right. And Jennifer, you spoke about the I 140. And if you do premier at that, that that shorter timeframe. And can you talk a little bit about an agency And everyone on the panel, how long typically do when you when you get an I 140? Approved? Would you get the EAD card? Or would you go to the interview? So, I mean, right now, I think Carl was mentioning with i 140, it makes more sense, you'd have to file that concurrent meaning at the same time as the 485 application. So you would file those two together, assuming you're on valid non immigrant status. So right now to get once those are filed, you know, which would include your EAD, or your work permit and your manual application. Once those are filed, right now, it is taking quite some time five, six months, I'm seeing longer in some cases. I've actually had some people getting the green card before the EAD. Right now, it's a bit different than historically, but that's what I've seen in practice.
Okay, thank you for that. And just a question to the panel. And, you know, we have had some instances recently, where once the cases that I want for these files and the Android file, currently, and we're at about a month or so afterwards, we've had some nurses and I think Chris, we may have actually had someone with you and with those nurses have their congressman, and are getting their EAD commands much quicker because as a nurse, nurses short supply and we seeing that that is coming through is that something that you've seen at all? Getting the EAD through Congressman Tanya, so notifying the Congressman that they are a nurse, and that asking like a local congressman, to expedite their that you can't? Yeah, I mean, we've done that, candidly, I think it's less successful than it's more successful. To be honest with you, it can work sometimes it just really depends on the congressman's office that you're dealing with and just how engaged they are. And it also comes down to the hospital themselves really are going to have to put pressure on the congressman's office currently has offices and they're less likely to help out an individual case. Whereas if we can get a hospital, some executive of the hospital to lean on the congressman's office, we might be able to get that my experience is really a lot like Jennifer's, which is we see the ad coming around the same time as the green card interview itself. And normally, when the green card interview is complete, that green card is if the interview is complete, the green card comes just a few weeks later. So that's good news.
So that's the timing. Okay, sounds good. So David has a question. And I see the question, and is about the prevailing wage and expectation. So David, we have already answered your question. And thank you for posting that. And Lynn is asking, hello does a youth educated RN BSN, who also has other undergrad and graduate degrees from the US Stony Brook visa screen for the adjustment of status? Yeah, I'd like to answer that one. So yes, I mean, the whole purpose of the visa screen, allegedly, is to show that a nurse who's educated in another country has the same education and skills as yours from the US. So you wouldn't think a nurse that's educated in the US would need to show that because it's repetitive, right. But I, you know, I remember when the visa team requirement was proposed in the Senate, it was by Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania, and CGFNS, which for 20 years, until recently was the only organization that could issue visas greens for nurses is in Pennsylvania. They would have me, I don't know how they put up with me, but they would have me out CGFNS do dozens of seminars with them. And I said, you know, guys, it's totally ridiculous, that nurses have to pay you a few $100 to say that their education in the US is equivalent to a nurse who got their education in the US. I mean, doesn't make any sense. And, you know, I can't even remember what kind of answers they gave. But, you know, it was good for their bottom line at CTF. And that's just the way it is. And now we're in 2021, over 30 years after they impose that requirement, and they still have to do that.
Yeah. So and then There you go, yes, you will need the visa screen, even if you were educated in the US as call center. And I think in fairness to the cGMPs call, sometimes it's because we have nurses and we see this often, where maybe they were educated in their home country, and then that maybe that better they Bachelor's in their home country, and then they come to us and do a master's. So, you know, there's kind of like that background that they might need some verification. And okay, so David, and also has an additional question who's he's asking about the travel. So he's asking for a friend, can you sprint travel outside the US or Canada or visit Canada while the prevailing wages pending? The prevailing wage, so we're in the first step? Sure. I mean, at that point, there's not a petition even filed on their behalf. Yeah. Okay. So only once the I 140 is approved, is that where they would need to make sure that they are in the country? Generally, I don't recommend it depending on what type of visa you're on. So if she's on a TN I wouldn't recommend because that doesn't have what's called non immigrant intent or that has non immigrant intent. So I wouldn't recommend traveling without Advance Parole if you're on a TN and that the I 140 petition has been filed.
Okay. All right. Thank you, Jennifer. And so Zelle Hi, Sal is asking Hi, I'm an RN under the TN visa apply for Adjustment of Status, had my fingerprinting done late to the September this year? How long? How long does the adjustment of status usually take? So Chriselle? We've heard that question. Is there a chance I can do it my travel documents combo card this November or December? I was told I cannot travel outside of the US while waiting to be approved and just looking forward to go home Philippines for Christmas please advise can go hunt for the Philippines Chris? If she gets the travel document she can. If she doesn't, she should not travel. And I'm sure it's difficult and frustrating. It takes so long to get that EAD and travel document. But no, I would not advise her traveling unless she gets the travel document and then then she should have no problem strap.
Okay, so first of all, we praying for you that you get your travel documents soon and you can go home to the Philippines for Christmas. Hopefully that will be a great Christmas gift. And like Lucky is watching from the mowdy Welcome lucky and Marilla is asking and my question would be I am adjustment of status with you guys. I did request expedited process for my EAD. And thankfully, I really got my expedite process. I would like to know if I can request expedite process also for the green card, similar process that we did for EAD card as being an RA. And we're gonna take that question for Marilla. Yeah, I think I think she's out of luck. I, I haven't seen any expedite request, go through for the adjustment of status interview, I think she just asked for wait. Okay. All right. And Miranda was one of the nurses that was in touch with the congressman. So that was, you know, sometimes that can be with the time. And so anyway, Eloise, tagging her friend, thank you, Eliza, for tagging your friend, please tag your friends to watch the show onwards and upwards. And this is our way of paying it forward for you and the experts to you know, giving their time to share information and tips with you. So please move forward for your friends as well. And faith is asking any updates from the embassies? I know everybody is so frustrated about the lack of movement at the consulates around the world. Any updates on that? Chris, I know you're very involved with HR as a Connetics.
Yes. So I spoke I was on a conference call with the Department of State in Washington DC, the woman who has actually established the tearing policy. I've got another call with her actually this afternoon and about four or five hours. I know they're working on it, they're aware of it. They do keep saying that they are it's a focus and it's important to them. But we also know that the Manila Embassy post consular district is just not it's not stopped for a while right now, unfortunately. And so part of the suggestion that we're giving them we've given them about five suggestions and one of them is actually to just send a special staff team there to work on nursing cases. I don't want to over promise anybody anything other than I can't tell you we are in regular dialogue with them. And so they are at the at the headquarters in Washington DC aware of the issue and they're getting more and more pressure from kids. situations. And so hopefully what will get this unfrozen in the near future?
Okay, thank you, Chris, for sharing that update. We know there are a lot of nurses that are frustrated all over the world with the backlogs at the consulates. And please, everybody know that there's a lot of efforts here in the US to try and alleviate that backlog in Manila, as well as all other continents all over the world. And so faith, keep the faith. And hopefully, we'll have some good news soon, we actually are starting to see patients coming through. So hopefully, there's some light at the end of the tunnel. And Mercy's asking about Indian citizens call. Okay, that I mean, this was like a worst news I, you know, I can give, but if you're, if you're okay, every good lead, let me let me back up a little before I discuss India, but every country in the world has a per country cap. They, when they wrote the immigration law in 1965, they didn't, they didn't want any particular country to dominate, you know, get 50% of all the green cards. So. So they said, Okay, if you're born in a particular country, with a with a few exceptions, by the way, you can't get more than 7% of the green cards at any particular category. In the year, okay. So, on the other hand, they didn't have the same thing for the temporary visa.
And most people, I know, nurses are the big exception. But most people who are getting green cards through employment, have temporary visas, and they're in the United States, a huge group of them are in the computer industry these days. And if you're Indian, I think you know that I mean, you're the big joke is that, you know, they call it ITT in Bangalore, and a lot of other cities, where they turn out these fantastic computer programmers and systems analyst and the joke in India, my daughter in law's Indian. The joke is, if you can't get admitted to ITT, well, then you're gonna have to go to Caltech or MIT. I mean, what can I say? Over half of the h1 B's, you know, the professional temporary thesis are Indians. These days, there's no quota on h1 B's, but when those same h1 B's try to get green cards, they're under that 7% quota. And if you're from India, it's going to take 20 or 30 years to get a green card, if you're applying now, through the EB2 which is advanced degree, or the EB3, which is usually a bachelor's degree. And since nurses really can't get temporary visas, except a few of advanced practice, nurses could get an h1 B's for if you want to immigrate to Canada, you can stay there for three years become a citizen and get into the US on the TN.
So that would be the alternative. But, you know, applying for a green card if you're an Indian nurse. You know, it's gonna take you 20 or 30 years, I guess the only, I mean, obviously, if you, you know, if Congress changes the law, and they've been lobbied for the last couple of years to change the law, but they haven't done it yet. Or you decide to go to Canada or Mexico and then come in as a TN or, and I always kid around, you know, with my with my daughter in law about this because she is a nurse, but she's Indian background, but she's born in the United States. You marry somebody from the Philippines or some other country, and then that's called cross chargeability. You don't have to be under the Indian quota. You're under the quota of your spouse, that there are tons of Indian nurses who want to come to the US. There's a wall that's blocking them, right.
Unfortunate these are mercy. That's unfortunately the update for Indian citizens. And as Colin says the options are limited, but if you have a previous priority date, so if you have a previous petition, and prior to the last retrogression we have bought through many Indian nurses with that we actually welcomed to Indian nurses yesterday, and that arrived in the US one started the journey for the US in 2004 and one 2000s Five, that's when they started the US journey. So we were so excited to bring them to the US. And okay, so we're gonna take we are actually out of time, but we are going to just take one more question. And that is my Tina, and Latino is asking, I'm currently in the process of an application for an f1 visa. My wife is the primary applicant, and I'm the f2. We applied last April until now we don't perceive it. We'd like to know if there's a chance for me to apply for E for EAD, even if we're waiting for the f1. Chris, did they say if they were in the United States or not? And Martina hasn't said that. But it's saying that they waiting for the f1 haven't got the f1 yet?
Yeah, so I don't know what that means. I assume if they're waiting for the f1 they're overseas and they're waiting for the consulate maybe to issue the f1. The EAD is only available to people who are in the United States. A piece of this as they said they're waiting for their h1 V since April. We're seeing most of the April H ones have been approved. So I would say the first call should be to the attorney who's filed the h1 just to make sure that that that case is moving along. Okay, so there you go, Martina. I'm just gonna take this one question from Hazel is asking, and a question. What is the usual sign on bonus in California. So Hazel, we have many clients all over California, and the signup bonus will be different depending on the facility. So that's how it works with direct hire. Connetics. I'm not a staffing company. We're not a and we don't sponsor ourselves. We serve as a consultant, the hospitals and nursing homes, and it's the nursing homes or hospitals, rehab facilities. That will, we'll be giving the sign on bonus. So we I see we have more questions. And I'm very grateful to be to the panel for the climb and for sharing the expertise and all of the pearls of wisdom. I know sometimes it's not really good news, like for example for the Indian nurses, but there is good news. And as Carl said, 280,000 green card visas available.
Nurses can come in on either the consular or the adjustment of status round. And right now in the US, we are seeing 1000s of positions, lots and lots of facilities looking for nurses. So I'd like to finish off and thank our panel, Jennifer, Cole and Chris, and thank you so much for your time. I'm just going to share I know everybody always asks about the committee's initiatives, what are the things that are ongoing at the moment. So right now from Connetics, we have a free aisle scholarship. And that is for alternatives, nurses, we pay for you to do a review course and they're having phenomenal results. I always refer to Bert. He's one of our nurses who is he failed the IELTS seven times. And then came to Connetics. He took the course and he passed with an 18 speaking. So phenomenal results. We also have an index voucher, which is a free review course for selected nurses. We offer our $1,000 referral fee, which is going to be expiring in two days. And we actually took the decision today because we have so many nurses so excited about this, and that we extending it until the end of November at 5pm. Pacific time. We have one of our nurses, jackal who, who's referred 110 nurses to Connetics, you will be getting with NCLEX and you will be getting $1,000. And then to go back to the Connetics initiatives, we are direct tie we also have a nurse aid program.
We have our show, please watch every Friday and for information about licensing immigration, coming to live in the US and we also help allied workers. So again, thank you to the to the panel. It was a really fun discussion. It was really interesting to learn about the adjustment of status process. If you have not already done so please download the booklet from our website. And you might be eligible for the $200 raffle we will announce the winner on our show next Friday. And with that we'll finish off next I was on the athletes and thank you everybody onwards and upwards. Thank you bye bye