Nurses Immigration to the US July 2022 Updates

Tanya Freedman, CEO Connetics USA: Hi, everybody, and welcome. It's Friday, so it must be Connetics USA Weekly show. Onwards and upwards. Every Friday, we host a show. Onwards and Upwards is everything that a healthcare worker needs to know about coming to live and work in the United States. I am Tanya Freedman, CEO of Connetics USA. I am your host today, and I'm joined today by our expert legal panel. We have Cadence, who's joining us. Welcome, Cadence. Hi, how are you? Good. Welcome. We also have Denise Gavica Perez. Welcome, Denise. Good day, everyone. Good morning, Tanya. Hi. Welcome. And last but not least, Chris Musillo. Welcome, Chris. Hello.

Okay, the experts are in the house, everybody. So today's topic is the once a month legal experts question answer session. This is for you. If you are a viewer who's just watching from around the world, please put your questions into the chat. I know that coming in the United States can feel very scary, very overwhelming, very confusing. The immigration process is long and confusing. We have all the experts right now who are here to answer any of your legal questions and put your minds at ease. That's what I'm with is all about.

Okay, so we're going to start off with brief introductions. I'm going to start off with Denise. Do you want to go ahead and tell everybody a little bit about yourself? Good. Thank you, Tanya. Good morning and good day, everyone. My name is Denise Gavica Perez, and I'm an attorney at Akerman law firm that has offices nationwide. I've been practicing for the past 20 years, specifically corporate employment based immigration, family based immigration, and I've been working with Connetics for a long time. You're with a great organization, and I focused my practice on all industries, but specifically healthcare, and I look forward to answering any questions you have.

Thank you, Denise. We love working with Denise and everybody on the panel. We've been working with the firm for many years. Cadence, do you want to go ahead and introduce yourself? Absolutely. My name is Cadence Moore. I'm a partner at Hammond Neal Moore. I believe you guys have spoken to Mike Hammond before. I work with him really closely. I've been practicing for quite a number of years, over a decade now, and I practice employment based immigration, and I also represent a wide range of fields, but particularly in the It engineering and healthcare field. So I'm excited to talk with you all today and hear your questions. Thank you, Cadence. And I see a lot of files there behind you. Lots of activity. Yeah, we're always busy. I heard that Mike is climbing a mountain. Mike is in Colorado at the moment with his brother, and I believe their plan is to climb as many of the 140 Ft mountains as they can. And I've at least seen two photos on Facebook that they've accomplished.

So I think he's doing well so far. I know he was really excited about this trip. He and his brother do a lot of hikes together, so it was a good chance for them to have a new challenge. Well, we missed Mike, but we're excited to have you on the show, Cadence. So thank you for joining us, Chris. Ms. No introduction to Onwards and Upwards, but go ahead, Chris, and introduce yourself. I'm Chris Musillo, I'm an immigration attorney, and I've been working in the healthcare space since about 1998 or so when I got out of law school.

Thank you, Chris. So I see the questions are coming fast and furious. If you are a healthcare worker anywhere in the world, I know we have thousands of healthcare workers that watch Onwards and Upwards every Friday. Please feel free to put your question into the chat. I have lots of questions that have been sent to me already for the panel, and we're going to get started. So Arlene is joining us. It's so fun to see all our regular viewers. Welcome, Arlene. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

It's got the first question, and it's asking, what is the visa pathway for Australian citizen? The visa pathway for Australian citizens? If you're referring specifically to non immigrants, it's an EB3 visa that's for Australians. But if you're referring to immigrants, the visa pathway, which applies to all countries, is basically step one, having a company petition for your permanent residence. They file an immigrant visa petition for my report once it's approved by immigration. It's filed I'm sorry, with the United States Citizenship Integration Services once it's approved, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, known by the National Visa Center, which is a branch of the US Department of State that the case has been approved. And the National Visa Center acts as secretary. So they collect documents from you, they contact you, and they submit what's called a fee bill. Pay a fee bill, and they ask for documents in order to build a file for you to schedule your appointment, eventually consulate.

And basically, once you provide all those documents and your document complete or documentarily qualified, the National Center forgot to your appointment with the US consulate or the US Embassy. And then you attend your interview. And if all goes well, it's usually does, then you enter the United States with a packet, and then you're a permanent resident. Thank you, Denise. I believe that we have the five phases of the green card process. It is on our website, so you can have a look at that. Denise has just taken us through those steps. But these are the five steps for the continuous EB3 process that Denise has just taken us through.

Brins is watching from the Philippines. I'm so excited. My bags are packed and I'm ready to leave for the Philippines on Sunday. Connetics will be in Manila and Cebu come and visit us. And we are going with one of our clients. And we also have some open houses, so please join us, friends, and come and visit us and see us in person. Meter is from Dubai. Meter, we're going to be back in Dubai in a few weeks, so stay tuned. Shabbana is asking, does the OET acceptable for immigration purposes?

Chris, you cut out in and out there, Tanya, which I didn't quite hear the question. Is my audio OK? For me it is, but maybe it's my speaker. I don't know if Denise or Cadence, it cut out a little bit for me as well. Sorry about that, Denise. I think it might be a little bit of noise interference coming from your side if you want to put yourself on mute when you're not answering a question. Sure, of course. Sorry about that. No problem. Okay, so the question, Chris, is from Shivana. Is the OET acceptable for the immigration process? The OET? I've got a computer. Yeah, I don't know what that is. I've got to be honest with you.

Okay, well, then I can answer that question. The OET, everybody, is one of the English language proficiency. Oh, the new English language. Sorry, go ahead. And the CGFNS has accepted the OET, Pearson PTE. You can check it out. We did a show on this. I think it was two weeks ago. Please feel free to check it out on our Connetics website and our social media channel, and we can give you information. And yes, on the 1 August, the OET is acceptable. Judges watching from Saudi and Tanya just to refine that just a second. They'll start accepting it August 1. Even if you took the exam prior to August 1, it will still count. Correct. Thank you for clarifying that. Yes, correct. Okay.

Peters from Brazil Brands is asking, any news about the US. Embassy backlog? My son is documentary complete last May 2022. Cadence so the US. Embassy has been working to try to ease the backlog. However, they are continuing to face issues in regards to covid and the fact that some of the operating hours are still reduced and particular country conditions are impacting the consulates as well. The consulates have been informed to prioritize the cases of healthcare workers, so we are starting to see a greater number of cases get through that are for health care workers. I will still tell you that, unfortunately, it is still delayed, but we are starting to see movement, which hopefully gives some sense that it will continue to improve as time goes past.

So I would say continue to watch any updates that are received via email or anything else, but I do think it will continue to get better as we move forward. Thank you, Cadence and Denise and Chris, I'm not sure if you're seeing anything different, but that's what we seem from the Connetics USA side as well. Yeah, same here, for sure. Although I think we're optimistic, though. It seems to have gotten a little bit better. It's cadence good for many healthcare workers. It's a huge frustration, but there is a lot of work that is happening in the United States, both through the Aihr, as well as through government affairs, liaison officials at the various hospitals. I seem to be hearing some noise.

Can anybody hear that? Yeah. I'm also having difficulty. I'm also going to go to Mute when I help you. Yeah, sorry about that, everybody. I'm not sure. We seem to have some little bit of a technical gremlin this morning, so I apologize for that. Okay. Bill Quiz from Pakistan. So Lorenz has a question. Hi, I'm a med tech in the Philippines with an ongoing H1 application. I resigned August last year, and I've been unemployed since then due to personal matters.

I want to ask, will it affect my H1 application or my embassy interview if I have no current work? Will my visa get denied if I have no record of current work when I fill up my DS 260? My H1 petition is already filed and waiting for approval. Denise? Sure. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I muted, so if there's noise, it's not from my end. Tanya, the H1 visa is a nonimmigrant worker visa classification. And if you currently are not working and you have a petition that has been pending or approving, it's very important to know the answer to that question.

So, assuming that you have an HMV position that is approved and you still have a job opportunity with the employer that filed that position, then your appointment will be scheduled, or you will schedule an appointment with a US conflict to obtain that visa. However, specifically with medical technicians. I don't recall where they're from. Are they from the Philippines? The person who posed questions sorry, I'm muting myself as well, just to mitigate the noise. Yes, from the Philippines. Okay.

So, for medical technologies from the Philippines, there's an added requirement. When they're requesting an H1 visa at the US consulate, you have to work through the Filipino government to obtain a clearance before you're able to exit the Philippines. So, basically, the process entails a company sponsoring you, which I'm assuming they have the following a 20 position with the United States Citizenship Services here in the US. The case is approved, they send you the approval notice, and then you schedule your appointment at the US consulate. The US consulate will issue the visa, but you cannot exit the United States until you have approval by the Filipino government to allow you to exit. They have to provide you with a clearance letter, and then the abbreviation is POEA.

But basically, you have to work with another entity through Polo in order to get to obtain that clearance from the POEA in the Philippines before you're admitted to the US. As far as how it impacts the permanent residence case, it doesn't. You don't have to. You don't need the H1 visa in order to file your permanent residence case or go through a permanent residence process with the US compliment, it's an entirely different process altogether. Okay, thank you, Denise.

So, very clear explanation for Lorenz and maybe he's joining us from the Philippines. Maybe if you're just joining us now, Connetics, you say, are going to be in the Philippines next week. So we hope to meet with you and please reach out to our team if you are able to come and say hi. We'd love to see you in person. Naima is from Pakistan. Welcome. Justina saying hi. Lots of people joining us from all over the world. And Mohammed is sharing this with and taking his friends. Thank you for doing that, Mohammed.

There is nowhere on the Internet to find the information that we are sharing today with everybody who's watching around the world. So thank you for paying it forward and for tagging your friends and colleagues. Ajaya has a question. What is the difference of unskilled workers and skilled workers and how will it affect the visa? Cadence? Sorry, also had to hurt myself. A skilled worker is anyone that requires two years of experience to move forward with the case. So in regards to most healthcare workers, particularly with the registered nurses, you are going to likely have a bachelor's degree and that is considered under a set of definitions to be equivalent or more than the two years of experience that's required for the skilled worker category.

Skilled worker category falls in the EB3 category. So a lot of you have probably heard that you're going to potentially be classified in the EB3 category and that category does include those skilled workers. Basically, if you have that bachelor's degree, you will meet the requirement for the skilled worker category. An unskilled worker is anyone below that. And for a large number of you, because of your particular education background, you will likely still fall under skilled worker as far as employer sponsorship. Thank you. Cadence.

Rosanna has a question. This is a common question that we get. Chris? I have completed my DS 260 on the 22 June. My priority date is current. How much time does it take to get documentary qualified? So your DS 260 was filed on June 22, which is, well, I guess one month ago. We normally see the appointments are something like three months from when you fill out and submit that DS2 60, which would of course take you to, let's say, September. The one bright spot, though, is the US fiscal year ends September 30. I know that from talking to the State Department and indirectly talking with the embassy in Manila, they are trying to process as many immigrant visas as they possibly can between now and the end of the US fiscal year and September, for reasons aren't worth getting into, there's a much greater number of immigrant visas that are going to be available between now and September 30.

Then there will be from October 1 forward. So what I would hope and there's no guarantee, and there's not much you can do to influence this, but I hope that you will actually have your immigrant visa scheduled and probably your immigrant visa issued, unless there's something flawed in your particular petition sometime between now and September 30. Okay. There you go. Rosama so that's exciting and a lot of hope, and we've seen lots of cases getting through the process now, so it's really exciting to see glenda from say hi from Abu Dhabi.

Kalia christina from Nigeria. Camellio has a question. Hi, everybody. I'm here in the US with an asylum pending process with all my family for three years. I want to apply to Visa Screen. My NCLEX done, only I need to complete my IELTS. What is it that I have to do? I want to be a permanent resident. Denise so as far as the certification,

Tanya, I defer to your group. You have your political sound case pending, and those cases are taking many years, actually, in order for you to become a permanent resident. And you have to prove, of course, as I'm sure you know, that you cannot return to your home country. As far as an employment based permanent residence case, which is different from political asylum, you would have to, number one, find a sponsor, a petitioner that's willing to sponsor any healthcare facility, and you have to qualify for the position that they're offering you, of course. And eventually, you will have to obtain a Visa screen. It's required in order for the immigrant visa to be issued, ultimately, which means you have to pass your items without the iOS. You will not be issued or need the screen. The only issue, the big issue in this case is that in order for you to process your case, you would have to exit the United States, and you cannot go to your home country in order to obtain your immigrant visa because you fled from that country. So you would have to find a US consulate in another country that would be willing to process.

It's entirely up to them whether or not they accept the third country national. Usually they do. But you would have to process your permanent residence case at another US consulate other than your home country because otherwise your political asylum case will be denied once you go back to your country. Since that's the purpose that's the basis of your political assad case. I recommend that you contact an aboriginal attorney. Anyone with a panel or anyone you prefer. And or the attorney who currently files your political file case in order to discuss how to work through the employment based case and make sure that you don't take any steps that will void or cause your political asylum case to be denied.

Okay, so, Camilo, I think that's very good advice. You need to get specific advice for your case. It sounds very more complicated than a typical case from that perspective, go online and apply. We have many petitioners all over the United States, and we need to make sure that we also, as Denise said, have you speak to a lawyer so that we don't jeopardize the extenuating circumstances in your case.

Dubin has a question that comes up every month for Indian born nurses. Cadence, I'm going to give this question to you, but I think of the Visa bulletin if you can maybe answer Dubai's question and just kind of go through the visa bulletin and explain that for everybody as well. This is the latest one. So everyone that may not be familiar with the visa bulletin, and quite honestly, unless you're in this immigration world, there wouldn't be much reason to pay that much attention to it.

But the visa bulletin is issued by the Department of State every month, and it provides information in regards to what priority dates are considered to be current such that an individual can move to the final stage of their green card process. So, for most of you in a healthcare field and who's been sponsored through an employment based petition in the healthcare area, your priority date can be found on your I-140 approval notice. It's also the date that your I 140 petition was filed.

So, for instance, if you look at the top chart, the final action dates charge for India, that priority date is February 15, 2012. So what that means is that particular person's petition, if they were a healthcare worker, was filed on February 15, 2012. To move to that third and final stage of the green card process, your priority date must be current. In that chart that I was just speaking about, there's an additional layer of complexity in the fact that there's a final action date chart and a date for filing chart. And if that chart can be put back up, I can explain that a little bit further. But the final action date chart, if your priority date is current in that chart, you can immediately move forward with the green card process.

If your date is only current in the date for filing charge, which for this one, for India, is February 22, 2012, you may be able to move to the stage of moving forward with your green card process, but it's going to depend on whether or not USCIS allows that. So you've got two government entities here, the Department of State and USCIS. And for the second chart, USCIS would have to allow that second chart to be used. Unfortunately, for individuals born in India, there continues to be an extensive backlog of cases, which is why you are seeing dates that are so in 2012 is so far behind here. We did see a little bit of forward movement back in 2020 in regards to the priority dates, but they do still remain extremely backlogged and slow at this point. Unfortunately, at this time, I'm not expecting to see huge, drastic movement. We may see some continuing movement forward for individuals born in India, but it will continue to be kind of a slow go for those for those of you in the Philippines, you will see a notation of C. C means that the dates are current so that you can immediately move forward with your green card process, no matter what your priority date might be. Okay, thank you, Caitlin.

That's a great explanation of the Visa bulletin. It can be very confusing. Chris, a related question that keeps coming up every month as well. Well, actually there are two here. One is about retrogression, and one is, is there any update on the Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act? You are mute. So, starting with the second one healthcare Workforce Resilience Act. No, there's no movement. The unfortunate route is nothing's really moving much in Congress. We do have 70 House members out of 400 and something House members, which is a good number, 60 Democrats and ten Republicans, which isn't as bipartisan as we would have hoped.

The Senate story is a little better. We have 30 Senators, maybe 32, and it's essentially almost identical, 50 50 between Democrats and Republicans. At this point, we're not going to see the movement that will or will not happen with if movement happens maybe I'll put it this way. If movement happens with the Hwra, it will be at the last minute. So it won't be one of these drip, drip trips where every day we get a few more Senators or House members. The way that it would pass would be sometime in the next six months until the end of the year, that some group of Senators and House members decide that something like the Healthcare Workforce was in fact, is a good piece of legislation and then they will attach it to a much larger piece of legislation and or voice voted.

So the reality is we're not going to have any updates. And I don't candidly really expect it to get approved, but the strategy all along has been to put it there so that we have enough support at this point. And now it just becomes a question if it's a priority for Congress or not. So that's the HWR. And I spoke so long about that, Tanya, I absent mindedly forgot the first part of it progression. Oh, yeah, how can you forget retrogression? Well, I didn't forget retrogression.

I forgot that you had asked it. And that's a product of getting old, unfortunately, the retrogression. So we expect that the Philippine EB3 and for that matter, the worldwide EB3 will not change. In other words, it will remain current, as Cadence was just explaining, through September 30. At this point, I do not expect it to retrogress at all. Now, any of you who have been in this for a while will know that in past years, it's very common for it to retrograde sometime in the July, August, September period, and then it resets in October.

That's not going to happen this year. As I mentioned a little bit earlier on one of the earlier questions, Tanya, that you asked me, there is an artificial increase in the employment based visas this year. That will not happen next year. But because of that artificial increase this year, we will not utilize all of the visas. We as a country, the United States, will not utilize all of the visas that they are allowed to utilize this year, which is both good and bad news.

The good news is it won't retrograde, which means, really, up until September 30, if you have an appointment, you will be able to get a visa. The bad news is that it may retrogress in October. Although I just yesterday saw a report that says that there actually aren't that many visas in the Philippine EB three or worldwide EB3, as many

as I thought there might be. So if the Philippines and otherwise work exceptionally hard over the next three months, two months, excuse me, then I do not believe we will have any retrogression in October for either worldwide or Philippines. If they are unable to work quickly, then I believe that then there's a chance that some of the cases that are at the last stage of processing at NVC may get retrograde in October. Although I don't expect it to be very long, if long at all.

We'll really know the answer to these questions. In about six to eight weeks, in mid to late September, the State Department will put out the October Visa bulletin. And so, Tanya, whenever we do the first onwards and upwards after the September visa bulletin, we definitely want to dedicate some time to forensically looking at that. And I'm probably able to take some educated guesses as to where the Visa Bolton is going in the remainder of 2022 and into 2023. Okay, thank you, Chris. That gives everybody a lot of food for thought. I think the hard thing for many health care workers is they hear the word retrogression and start shaking, which is understandable, but really we don't have control over that, as Chris said. So at this stage, I would suggest folks, having all of us having lived through the retrogression years many years ago, and I think my best advice is really just to keep going.

If you haven't yet passed your NCLEX, take your NCLEX exam. If you haven't yet passed your IELTS, or from August 1, the OET or Pearson PTE, keep going. Just keep pushing forward because the US. Is in direct need of health care workers and of nurses. Connetics USA Nursing Agency have positions all over the United States, and there's a massive demand now. So go ahead and apply and we'd be happy to help you.

Okay, so we have a question here from Christiano, who said, my petition was sent to State on the 6 July. Will I expect my fee bill. Denise, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. So we're seeing different dates with regard to when the NVC issued a fee bill after the I-140 has been approved, anywhere between three and a half weeks to even four months. It all depends on where the original I went forward petition was filed. Whether it was filed in the Texas Service Center or the California Service Center, it will make a big difference from what I'm seeing. I'm seeing more delays from the Texas Service Center. Sometimes we'll receive a fee bill with, again, three and a half weeks from the I 140 being approved, and other times we have seen that the fee bill will be issued even at six months. I mean, that's more of a unique situation, but typically between three and a half weeks to four months, anywhere in between. Also, the last analysis that I did of all the cases that we have pending, I've seen that a lot of the cases that were approved in March have already received the fee bill. So I'm assuming that the cases that were filed that were approved late March, early April will probably start receiving fee bills right around the next few weeks. Okay, thank you for that, Denise.

And I see we have a similar question from Blessing. There was a similar question from Adita, so I'm not going to call out if we got a similar question. So thank you, everybody who sent us the questions or put them previous to the show in the chat. I think Denise covered that really well, but we are seeing forward movement on that, which is good. Christian, I had a follow up question, Denise. She said, Is it possible to pay for the fee bill for my dependence when the fee bill is not out? No, you have to wait for the fee bill to be issued.

So what will happen is, I'm sorry, the petitioner, your employer and myself will receive an email from the National Visa Center with what's called a welcome notice. And that welcome notice will include the fee bill for yourself and your dependents. Once we receive that email, we forward it to you. And that's when you'll find the fee bills and you'll pay for them or you'll request assistance to pay for them, and within three days of paying it'll appear as

paid online and you can proceed in completing your DS2 60 for yourself and each applicant, each immediate relative, spouse and children under the age of 21. Thank you, Denise.

So there you are, Diana, answer to all your questions. Thousands of nurses all over the world tuning in these days to onwards and upwards. And to hear from the legal experts. I just have to give a shout out, by the way, to our marketing team. We did a show two weeks ago on the change with the CGFNS now accepting OET, IELTS and PTE, and we had over 800. People watch the show Onwards and Upwards is really reaching so many thousands of people over the world. So we hope this is helpful. Free information for everybody who has questions about the immigration process. Saying hi. From Qatar. From Connetics. Nurse Jensen. Connetics Nurse Jansen, we hope to see you in the US. Soon.

Akasura has a question. Hi dear, please, I'm living in the UK, but please, I want to relocate to study nursing in the US. Please. How can I get access to the course or live in care work banks, cadence? If somebody is a nurse overseas and wants to come and study here in the United States, what is the process for the student visa? A student visa in the US. Is called an F1 Visa. The first step that you would need to take is to find a university that you want to attend. And there's obviously a variety of schools throughout the US. I will tell you that it's important to make sure that the university that you are attending is accredited, and that's something that you can look up online. Universities that are accredited are given a little bit more weight from the US. Government in regards to future petition.

So when you find that university, you would work with the International Students Office there in regards to moving forward with being able to attend their university. They would help you complete a variety of paperwork, but ultimately, you would be issued a document called an I 140. That I 140 is proof of your status as a student in the US. You would then attend an appointment at a US.

Consulate, and it could be in your home country, or it could be in the country that you are living in currently, and you would apply for that F1 student visa. The application for a visa stamping appointment for an F One will primarily focus on what you intend to do as far as the university, but also your home ties to your country of current residents or your home country. And that's because the US. Government wants to establish that you do not have the intention to remain here in the US. Permanently. So it'll be important to continue to have ties to the country that you are living in, such as maybe family living there, bank accounts being held there, any property that you hold there, similar things like that.

When you actually receive that F1 visa stamp, you will be permitted to enter the US. And you would receive an I 140, which is also proof of your status in the US. Showing your F1 student status, and then you would be able to attend classes. Thank you. Okay. And Akashua, please also note that Connetics USA have many positions for foreign US. Students. Many facilities will sponsor you for a green card. So if you are starting here, please let us know, and we'd be happy to help you. When you hear Jefferson has a question. Once we are documentary qualified, is it safe to send an expedite letter to the NVC to hasten the application, or should the employer do this?

Chris, we get a lot of questions about the expedite process. It's very confusing. Do you suggest that the nurse does this, that the employer does this, that the Direct Hire Equipment Company does this, the lawyer does this? What do you suggest? Yeah, so I think the main issue here is no matter who sends it, it's not a guarantee that it's going to get expedited. The reality is a lot of cases seek to get expedited and some get accepted, some don't. The one rule is don't do it on your own. Please loop in your attorney. Please loop in your recruiter. Please loop in your employer. Each employer probably has a slightly different process. I think when the nurse does it, two things go wrong.

Number one, they're not really asking for the right thing, perhaps, which could be problematic. And if there's one thing I've learned in almost 25 years of immigration, is when a case looks unusual to any immigration official, whether it's the USCIS I 140 process or the embassy, those cases actually get delayed. Because what the US officials like is they like cases that look normal, cases they've seen in the past. Those are the safest cases. Those are the cases they can run through. And if there's some dangling letter that comes in late, that's something else they have to do, which is they have to review that letter. They have to check for its veracity, these kinds of things. And so under no circumstances do I ever suggest the nurse to do it herself.

Even if she thinks the lawyer is dragging his or her feet. Connetics is dragging their feet, the hospital is dragging her feet. That may all be the case under your time frame, but they may know the Connetics. Ms. Hammond, whoever it might be, or the employee themselves may know something that you don't know. So the worst thing anyone can do is to act on their own without looping in these other three parts of the process. So that's really the key thing, which is don't act on your own. And a B, don't expect for a miracle.

The fact is, because you send a letter does not mean you're going to get an appointment. As we've talked a little bit about today, Tanya, the appointments are actually happening very quickly right now through the online system. My experience is that's the better process my experience is also that, and I know this first hand, that the embassy wants to approve as many cases as they can between now and September. So, again, the takeaways are, use the online process. Don't request an expedite without looping in the employer and the rest of the team. There may still be a reason to do an expedite process, but don't do it on your own. Okay? So there you go.

Jefferson and everybody else who has questions about the expedite process, I think, and that gives a lot of insight. Francis is asking about the OET, so I think I'll take that question. Can the OET be used for license endorsement to any states? So, Francis, the OET is accepted only through specific states. So I would encourage you, please, to watch the Connetics USA show and that we did two weeks ago, onwards and upwards with Gary Neil from the OET, as well as from Meredith from Pearson PTE.

And there's a lot of information there that will tell you the CGFNS going to be accepting the OET and Pearson PTE from August the first. But it will also tell you in that show which states will accept the OET at this time, and that is also subject to change. So it looks like some states are now moving through the process of accepting both of those English proficiency exams.

Melanes has a question. I have a Medtech who was successful in this year's H1 Visa lottery. Yesterday, my agency received an I 797 C notice confirming the petition was received. Once my petition is approved, can a Connetics USA client take over this position before I come to the US. Or can I start over? The new H1 application through kinetics.

Denise not trying to understand a question. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. So I think that goes back to what we have previously discussed about the Polo. Basically, once the H1 visa petition is approved by the USCIS here in US and they receive the approval, they schedule an appointment. I'm sorry, the candidate scheduled an appointment with the US consulate.

They will obtain an H1 visa, their passport, but they cannot be admitted to the US until they have official clearance by the POEA. So I think that question, I think what they're asking is whether Connetics can assist with that POEA part of the process, and I'm assuming that's what they're asking. Okay. Thank you, Denise. Okay. Thank you, Denise.

Okay, we have a question here from Domin. I am planning to get married in August. Congratulations, Domin. I am still waiting for the NVC. Is there still a chance to be going with my part at the same time? It will maybe take two months for the NVC, so I'm still in my first month since it got approved using premium processing. Cadence, what is your advice in that situation for Domin? First of all, congratulations on the marriage. That's very exciting.

You can add a spouse once the actual marriage occurs, as long as there's not been a finding that the case is documentally qualified yet. So you should work with Connetics or your attorney, and they will be able to place a request to the NVC to add your spouse. Again, though, that can't occur until the marriage actually happens. And so you will need to have things such as the marriage certificate to prove the validity of the marriage and then also the passport biographic page of your spouse.

So it is possible it is somewhat dependent upon the stage of the case, but it sounds like you are early enough in the process where that would still be that would still work. Okay, thank you, Cadence. And I see Mark had a similar question about getting married. So hopefully, Mark, that answered your question as well. And Chris, we have a question here from Aditha.

Aditha is asking, I've heard that the prevailing wage stage of the green card takes about six months to come back from the Department of labor. Are there any plans with the Aihr to lobby to get the shortened? That's an interesting question. Yeah. So the answer is we have been lobbying. The bad news is I don't think we're going to be successful in the near term, at least. I was at the American Immigration Lawyers Association conference maybe right about a month ago. It was in mid June. The Department of labor acknowledged that the prevailing wages are taking six months. I don't know if Denise and Cadence, we're Actually sometimes even seeing a little longer right now, we are getting our prevailing determinations from the first week or two in January.

So it's almost six and a half months. I don't think that's going to change that's all the bad news, the good news, or not necessarily good news, but the non bad news, let's call it that, is that if you're if you're going with an employer who regularly recruits and hires US. Nurses, this is sort of something that you don't need to worry about because they have the prevailing wages ongoing already.

And so a lot of this prevailing wage weight has already been done. The prevailing wages, without getting too boringly technical here, are not tied to a specific nurse. They're tied to an employer and a job. And so if you're going to be filed by a hospital that is already actively recruiting nurses, you're not even going to see that six month time frame at this point of the year in the summer. Even if you're going with an employer who regularly engages nurses, there probably is still going to be a little bit of a delay. And this doesn't mean to not go with the right employer. I mean, one thing that I have learned, Tanya, in being in this area for a long, long time, is I know everybody wants their green card immediately, and I can completely appreciate that.

My mother was born and raised overseas and immigrated to the US. So I know the urgency for the immigrants. But one of the things that I sometimes see that's a problem that I would just ask our listeners and viewers to consider is that moving to the United States, moving halfway around the world, getting hired by an employer who you're going to work for a minimum of two or three years, and maybe for even longer than that.

While a few months here and there can seem enormous, it's really not that long a period of time, given the commitment that someone is making to you and that you're making to a future employer and a future process and for your family and these kinds of things. And so I think it's more important to choose the right match for you, the right recruiter. I can tell you I've worked with Connetics for many years, and they do an unbelievable job, and so they're only going to put you with valid employers and good employers. And so in my mind, if there was another employer who's saying, we can get you to the US.

A few months faster, but they don't have a track record, you're a little skeptical about their business model. Maybe they're making you pay more fees than some of the more reputable companies like Connetics do. My advice is don't make speed your only priority. It should be a priority. You want someone, an organization and an employer and a team that's going to work you through the process. But I think you're making a mistake if you're making your decision based on who can get me to the US. A few months sooner than some other employer. I think that's very good advice, Chris, because I was an immigrant myself. I came to the United States 22 years ago from South Africa. I can tell you talk funny. I talk funny even after all these years, Chris.

But I think that's very valid advice because for many immigrants, you really have that sense of urgency. And I get it because I've lived that. But you want to make sure that you're in the right hands. And I'm not saying that Connetics are perfect. We really try. But at the same time, you want to make sure that you look at putting your immigration process in the hands of experts who have been doing this for a long time.

Okay, we have a question from NJ Limb. NJ is asking. Hi, Tanya. As you may know, the process here in the Philippines for interview is self scheduling through CGI already. I've read a lot of feedback in our group that we need to have already status on the NVC before proceeding to self scheduling because there were instances that those who secured a slot for interview were not able to ask the process on the day of the interview because the status case is still at the NVC.I would like to ask, can we expedite the transfer of the case to the embassy so that we can be able to do the scheduling for the interviews?

Denise so this is a recurring question that we've been receiving for the past couple of months because self scheduling is specific to the US consulate in Manila, and I believe that they implemented this process in order to deal with the backlog, and it's not available out of the US. Conflict. So, because it's such a new process, we are encouraging all of you to proceed with scheduling the appointment. And even if it appears that the case is still pending with the cease and it's still with the SEC, go forward with the process. And I understand that it may be inconvenient for many that have to travel from a distance or have to complete their medicals and they can't go to that expense, but it's so hard to get the appointments to begin with that you might as well just secure the appointment.

And again, even if it appears that the case has not been moved, finalized at this and you have the appointment, go forward with it and not cancel, we're going to continue doing research to find out exactly why. The other candidates that you mentioned, because I haven't had that experience yet. The candidates that I have had experience with have not had an issue where they appear as not it doesn't show as ready under CAC, and they've been fine with their interviews.

But we're going to do some research and try to determine whether that is truly an issue because it may not be. But bottom line, go forward with the interview if you can, and if you cannot, then reschedule. But as Chris mentioned before, even though it seems like maybe this is how I understood it, maybe as of October 1 or the retrograde may not impact you don't know that. We don't know if retrograde will impact the immigrant people that are not available or available. So you might as well just make an effort and we will assist you if by any chance you can't go forward because it says that the case is not ready under the NVC or CEO. Okay, thank you, Jenny.

So NJ, hopefully that answers your question and we hope to see you in the Philippines. If you're only joining now, kinetics are going to be in the Philippines and our on Sunday, and we will be there for, I think it's about ten days. So we are excited to be in the Philippines again. Obviously, we have a team in the Philippines, but for some of our team members to be in the Philippines to meet with all of you.

So we look forward to that. Doris has a question who is asking about the tourist visa? Cadence, how does the immigration process differ for those nurses with a tourist visa and those without it? Cadence so the important thing to remember about a tourist visa is you are not permitted to work in the US. On a tourist visa. And so an individual with a tourist visa is permitted to enter the US. For reasons of tourism, to take a trip, take a vacation, things like that. In some situations, an individual with a tourist visa may use that visa to take particular tests in the US. That are required eventually for their licenses.

However, a tourist visa should not be used to remain here in the US on a more permanent basis or to work or to live. So when an individual goes for that visa stamping, appointment for a tourist visa, one of the things that the consulate is looking at is they actually intend to remain in the US. Because that's not permissible. If you are hoping to immigrate to the US on a permanent basis and be employed by an organization, that tourist visa is not going to help you with that particular process because, again, you cannot work or live here on a permanent basis on that tourist visa.

Okay, thank you. Caydens Hail so he has a question, and it's similar to some of the other people in the chat who's asking, what is the total time for immigration right now? Chris? So the total time for immigration? Well, it depends on a number of things, Tanya. So I'm going to just do the total time for immigration for a Filipino nurse who's applying for a sort of a standard nursing position like med, sage, emergency room nurse. And I'm going to assume that there's no retrograde in September. I'm going to assume that their employer has the PWD completed.

Those are probably not altering your particular facts. Not yours, Tanya, but you're already here, as we established. But to the person who wrote in the question, if those facts are true, they should be able to come to the United States in probably by the first or second quarter of next year. The first half of next year.

Okay, if those facts are different, they weren't born in the Philippines. They're not with a US employer who happens to have the PWD done and the postings finished. They have all of their license set up in the United States, ie. They passed and collects. They have their visa screen done and including all the sub components, such as the English fluency exams. If any of those things are not true, then that timeline does not matter. And so, really, the better question you should be asking, or the person should be asking, is they should be asking to their US. Employer, what's the processing map? For my case, this sort of open ended general question probably isn't terribly helpful. Okay, thank you, Chris.

And I know that you mentioned Philippines specifically, but for all the viewers I know we have, I'm just looking in the Chat, we've got people from Nigeria, we've got people from Indonesia, we've got people from Pakistan, from all over the world. Correct me if I'm wrong, Chris, but all countries are current now, except India, if you want, in India or China, correct? Yeah, that's exactly right.

So the time frames right now are great. I mean, they really are. And it's because retrograde is a non issue for every country in the world of birth, by the way. It's birth, not nationality. With the exception of the tutan you mentioned, which are Chinese nationals and Indian nationals. And that's terribly unfortunate and frankly, probably not probably not fair at all, but it is the rule.

But for the rest of the countries, including the Philippines, the processing times have frankly never been much better, with the one caveat being that Covid has sort of delayed cases that ordinarily would have been much faster. So, for instance, that process time that I just laid out, that probably wasn't true six months ago or twelve months ago because of just slowdowns at the embassy because staff were not able to be in the Embassies because of Copenhagen. Okay, thank you, Chris. So if you are joining now and you're not sure how this process works, please go to the Connetics USA website, check out our success path. It will give you all the steps and the requirements as Chris just alluded to, and it gives you all the steps that you need to be able to come to step number seven, which is enjoy and prosper in the United States. I see Marcus is saying, Come on in, guys, and you know, that's what it is. Please apply and we'd be happy to help you.

Lorenz has a follow up question, Denise, on the Med tech question, and Lorenz said, thank you for asking the question. I'm aware of the POEA process. However, I'm asking is because I'm not working for you now with that effect on each one petition and the embassy interview at the consulate. So I think from an immigration perspective, is what Lorraine is asking. Denise, I'm sorry, Haya, can you repeat the question, because I'm not here. Okay, so this was a question from Lorenz that we covered previously, and Lorentz is a Med tech who's not currently working.

So I think the question was not so much about the POEA process, it was more about if you're not working as a Med tech and coming in on an H1 visa petition, will that have an effect from an immigration perspective when you go to the consulate? So not working as a Med tech overseas does not impact an H1 visa petition that has been approve for you to work for a US employer, even if it's a requirement, because basically, when the HOV position is filed, you must have met all of the requirements of the position, otherwise the HOV physician would not have been approved here in the US. Or it may have been challenged and you would have had to address that issue.

So, assuming that the HMP patient has been approved, the fact that you have not worked as a med tech overseas does not impact the H1 visa process. Okay, thank you. So, Lorenz, hopefully that clarifies things for you. We are coming to the end of the hour and we have so many questions, so I apologize everybody, if I was not able to get you a question. I really try and get through as many questions as possible in this hour that the experts give us. We know how busy everybody is, so we really appreciate our experts time in answering your questions.

Nisha has a question, and I know this is similar to one that Kate sent through. So I'm going to ask Cadence, can you say how late can an independent be added during the immigration process? And I think Nisha, he is referring to the EB3 consular process. Cayden. So my general statement on that is that they need to be added before the case is found to be documentarily qualified. So as long as you have not hit that point yet, they can still be added. Obviously, you want to add as early in the process as you can because it will likely make things easier. But up until that step of finding that the case is documentary qualified, you should still be able to add.

Okay, thank you so much, Cadence. We are at the end of the hour. I'm just going to take one more, which is for Connetics, which is asking about where we have positions. I think the question is about Maine. It's from RIA. We have positions all over the United States. So if you are looking for a specific location, Connetics USA are direct high, which means that you are not sponsored or employed directly by Connetics.

You are sponsored and employed directly by the facility, the acute care hospital, long term care rehab facility or surgery center. And the big advantage here is you get paid the same as an American nurse and Connetics don't charge you anything. You get paid by the facility to help you through the process. So please go ahead RIA and apply online, and our team will be happy to speak to you about the different opportunities we have available for you.

So I want to finish off by thanking our expert legal panel, Denise, Cadence and Chris. they will be back next month to answer your immigration questions. And before you finish off, I just wanted to update everybody about the shows that are coming up. So we have onwards and upwards. On the 29th, we have a show on transportation in the United States. Very important topic how to buy a car driver's license, how to get a car loan.

All of your answers, all of your questions answered on transportation on the 29th. The 5 August is our client showcase. 12 August is how to build credits in the United States. On the 19th, the expert legal panel will be back to answer your legal questions. And on the 26th, we're talking about the cost of living in the United States and how that differs in the different states. so lots of interesting topics coming up.

And the Lefora talk show. On the 16 August, we did a poll and asked nurses which specialty they wanted to do a deep dive on the clinical differences between working as a nurse outside of the United States and in the United States. And the first one that we're doing on the clinical is the ICU Intensive Care Unit on the Connetics College every Monday. We have free information for classes for nurses every Monday. So please check this out. This is for you. We're doing this for you.

And on the 25th, we have niners is hosting a class on Ails on the spot writing task. And we're very excited about the Connetics College every Monday. Last but not least, the Connetics Initiatives, which is our free IELTS scholarship. All Connetics nurses get a free IELTS course. And from the 1 August this will be free OET and Pearson PTE as well.

And we have a free NCLEX scholarship for those selected nurses. $1,000 NCLEX Application Bonus if you have passed the NCLEX and apply now, this is a promotion for July only. There's $1000 bonus. Check out our website for details. Listen to our podcast. Nursing in America. We have a direct higher nursing aid program. Onwards and upwards. Every Friday. Our Connetics College. Every Monday, free shows. And if you are Med tech or any allied needs, please apply to Connetics.

We are here to help you. So that brings us to the end of the show. I want to thank the expert panel for joining us, and we will see you next Friday. Friday. Onwards and upwards, everybody. And come and see us in the Philippines. If you are in the Philippines, we are leaving on Sunday. Safe travel, Tanya. Bye.