Overview of the EB3 Green Card Process for Nurses

Hi everybody, and welcome. My name is

Hi everybody, and welcome. My name is Tanya Freedman. And I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Connetics USA Nursing Job Agency. We help hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers, rehab facilities, all the ways with a nursing shortage by bringing in internationally educated nurses. And we've been doing this for many years and brought through 1000s of nurses from 60 countries all over the world. I have with me today my colleague, Denise Gabba Perry's Hi, Denise. Hi, good morning. How are you? Welcome, everybody. Apologies for starting two minutes late, but we had a little technical hitch but we are here now. And we are so excited. Today I want to welcome all nurses from all around the world who are watching today. This is our new live show for global nurses called onwards and upwards. And we are really excited to get started. The purpose of the show is to help nurses all over the world who are looking to come to the US with information, tips, pointers about it about immigration, about licensing about credentialing, lots of lots and lots of information that's going to be coming your way. And for the next three days we've got a marathon. We're gonna be talking about immigration. This is all back to basics. So we are today we as you can see, we are here today, August 25 at 730 pacific time and please check the time zone converter for the time in your location. Tomorrow, same time. We will have Denise back with another immigration lawyer who is an expert in nurse recruitment and nurse immigration and then on Friday the same and we're going to be breaking down

On the green card process, this, this show is really a really important one for anybody who is even thinking of coming to the US. Because I know as many international nurses think about it, they, you know, the first thing they think of is, well, you know, I'd love to go, but I don't really know how it works. How do I start? What is a green card? How is that different from an h1 visa? What are the steps of the green card? So today, we're going to break all of that down. And any nurse who's watching does not have to feel overwhelmed or stressed out, this is going to be hassle free, and we're going to get straight to it now. So onwards and upwards, everyone. Okay, so Denise, let's get started. First of all, tell us a little bit about your background and about yourself. Sure, absolutely. Tanya. So I have been practicing employment based immigration for the past 20 years, including family based actually in citizenship. And I have been working with fortune 500 companies and entities from all over the all over the United States, a lot of health care facilities, a lot of hospitals. And I currently am a partner at a Kremen.

It's a law firm a nationwide law firm. It's a global, I'm sorry, it's a it has a global practice as well. But I'm primarily part of the Labor and Employment group managing immigration matters for foreign nationals and companies in throughout the US. Thank you, Denise. So you can hear Denise is an expert, I think she is one of the lawyers who's probably done more green cards for nurses than almost anybody else in the country. And she really knows this process. So we are really honored and so grateful to Denise for giving us this time we know how busy you are. Right now we see an explosion of cases. And a case it's an explosion of, of demand for international nurses in the US. So Denise is is really, really busy. So we're really grateful for her time. And thank you for joining us today. My pleasure. My pleasure, Tanya. Okay. And by the way, has worked together for many, many years and brought 1000s of nurses. Yeah.

This, this process well, okay, Denise. So let's get started. What is a green card? And more specifically, what is an EB3 green card? Okay, perfect. So a green card is us permanent residents. Basically, the reason why it's called a green card is because many, many years ago, the permanent resident card was green in color. But green card, immigrant visa, US permanent residents are all the same. It's when someone wants to reside in the United States and work in the United States permanently, they want to remain in the US permanently rather than short term. So whenever you hear the term green card, think of it as US permanent residents, people who are residing here permanently working here permanently, as opposed to temporary, which are the temporary visas which we can discuss in a minute. But that's basically it. Okay, so the word I'm hearing coming out all the time is permanently, yes. Okay. So if you're a nurse who is sitting anywhere in the world right now and thinking of coming to America, this it should be really interesting to you, because this means that you don't have to go home to your home country if you don't want to, because you will you will permanently be able to stay in in the US, correct? Yeah. There's different ways of obtaining of obtaining permanent residence, either based on family, or political asylum, or special laws or employment.

So when it comes to nurses, they fall under employment. They are basically sponsored by a US employer, a hospital, a health care facility, and the hospital health care health care facility behaves as a US citizen spouse, for example. So they basically the company is willing to sponsor a nurse to come to the US to work permanently and on a full time basis, and they complete paperwork in order to achieve that goal. And the nurse has to have the intent of joining the employer in the US to work permanently. So whenever we talk about permanent residents, it's not always based on family or special laws. In the cases of nurses and medical professionals and other professionals. It's based on employment. So you had asked about EB three What does EB three mean? EB stands for employment based EB. So whenever someone is applying for permanent residence based on employments, you will hear the term EB and then EB3is a specific preference category for nurses and other professionals that fall under a third preference category. Nurses are classified as what are called Schedule A workers. Because there's a shortage, the government makes an exception as far as the steps that are necessary in order for a nurse to come.

Denise, we seem to have lost your audio. Okay, can you hear me? So, the nurses fall under the EB3 employment based third preference category, for purposes of obtaining us permanent residents with a an employer sponsor here a hospital that's willing to sponsor them. Okay, that was a great explanation of the EB3 and the green card because I think it can be very confusing for many people. How does that differ to other visas like an h1 or an EB2visa? And why aren't nurses eligible? Why wouldn't they come through on the h1 or the EB2? Okay, great question. So, if someone's physically in the US, someone from overseas, when they're physically in the US, they're going to fall under one of three categories. They're either going to be non immigrants, which are temporary, people who come to visit, for tourism, for example, or to study. They're here for a short period of time. So they're non immigrants, they're temporary. They're not immigrants, they're not permanent. So those are the typical.

That's a typical category, when people first come to the US to visit for a short period of time. If they're remaining in the US, once they obtain permanent residence, then they fall under the second category, which is permanent resident, which means they're no longer here temper, the h1, B, and the TN and those types of non immigrant temporary visas, again, are for a short period of time. So the h1 B is good for three years and you can extend it for another three years is for a specialty occupation. The reason why the h1 B is not the ideal visa classification for nurses is because for an h1 B, the position must require a bachelor's degree. And not all nursing positions require a bachelor's degree. So that's one of the reasons why nurses are no longer they used to there are so many times in the past, they would fall, the companies would process h1 B's because they did require a bachelor's degree. But that's not a requirement anymore. And associate's degree is sufficient. And therefore, the h1 B is not an option. But for Canadian Nurses, for example, they can come in under the TN which is a temporary visa as well. It's a worker visa. Again, it's not permanent.

But usually a nurse will come in on the TN temporarily and then eventually apply for us permanent residence while they're here physically working under the TN. Okay, so for everybody watching, that's a great and explanation of all the different kinds of visas and why nurses are actually very fortunate because there is a shortage of their schedule A so they will come in on the EB three green card. I see we have a lot of people that are watching us from all over the world. So if you're just joining us now, welcome. We are so excited to be here with our first live show for global nurses called onwards and upwards. And I see we have Islington visit interested portion who said really interested? Well, we excited that you're really interested. And we've got a question here from Ashraf, who is asking, are there options for Indian nurses? Denise, do you want to maybe touch on how it might be a little different for Indian nurses depending on their circumstances?

Absolutely. So it's very well known that a lot of foreign nationals from India bring talent to the US. There are a lot of engineers and physicians and all types of professionals that are from India. There's a very, very high demand historically there has always been a very high demand for Immigrant Visas by Indian nationals. And so as a result of that, a lot of immigrant visas are, are demanded by the people from Indian countries from India, excuse me. So, when it comes time to apply for permanent residence, it's a little bit it takes a little bit more time in order to get immigrant visas for nurses from India, again because they're clumped together with other professionals. However, from our experience, there are a lot of nurses from India that have permanent residence cases that have been filed for them in the past, and they're able to preserve what's called their priority dates the date when a case was filed for them years ago, and they can use that year currently in order to move up ahead on the number of immigrant visas, so that it's called a party date, the party date is when a company files an immigrant visa petition on behalf of a nurse, and for those nurses from India that have been waiting for many years because they have a party date already set it kind of even out the playing field as far as whether their immigrant visa is available to them right now.

Okay. Okay. So that will give. I know, we've got a lot of Indian nurses, I'm just looking at the chat that are asking questions about the priority date. So per diem section, and I think there was another one that I just missed, but there are a lot of people asking about that. So hopefully, that will give answers to those questions. And for any, and nurses who do not who are born in India and don't have a priority date. Please keep watching tomorrow. Because tomorrow we're going to talk a little bit more about priority dates, recapturing a priority dates. We'll also talk about cross chargeability. So there's a lot more stuff to come. And you you're welcome to join us for the second day tomorrow. We'll talk more about that. And so we have a question from Colleen, Colleen is asking, I'm a Canadian citizen planning to go to the US to work. Can you talk a little bit? Denise, I know you've touched on the TN visa. But can you answer maybe Collins question of is it better for her to go on a tear? Can she go on the TN visa?

Absolutely, if there was a company that's willing to sponsor her, it's, um, it's a pretty straightforward process. Because she's Canadian, she's visa exempt, she doesn't need a visa in her passport. So basically, the first thing she needs the first thing any of the nurses need, is a company that's willing to sponsor them. So the company can provide Colleen with a letter confirming that they wish to hire her as a registered nurse, she would take that letter, along with her academic credentials, her met her nursing license and her degrees, etc. And she would cross the border with the documentation. And as soon as she enters the US, she would be in TN status, which will allow her to work immediately upon arriving to the US with the TN visa classification. So I think we need to backtrack a little bit here just to give an idea. Give the group an idea of exactly how the process s works. Yes. And we were gonna come to that Denise. Okay.

We still got so many questions for you. I just see the feed going crazy. We have a lot of people with a lot of interest. And there's a lot of questions. And that's why we're so grateful to Denise for doing the show and giving other time, because it's so confusing. It's so technical. There's so many questions. And hopefully, we're gonna give everybody who's watching a lot of clarity today. And we have a question that was sent in. Denise, we were just talking generally about the Green Card. What is the difference between the green card and US citizenship? Okay, well, the green card is permanent residence. But it is not US citizenship in order to become a US citizen. If you obtained residents, first you have to obtain permanent residents. And then after you obtain permanent residents, you can apply for US citizenship. If your case is based on employment, then you would have to wait five years in order to apply for US citizenship. And the difference the main difference between a permanent resident and US citizens that a US citizen has a right to vote, the US citizen can work for certain government agencies that a permanent resident can't. But basically, the main rights that a person has with citizenship is that they have the right to vote.

Okay. And so when Maria asked the question, Can I sponsor my mom, I'm a green card holder? The answer is no. Correct, she's gonna have to wait until she's a citizen. Right in order to in order to sponsor a family member. For permanent residents. It has to be it has to be an immediate relative, it has to be either a spouse, or a child under the age of 21. Okay, so in order to sponsor your mother, you would have to wait until you become a US citizen. And then you're given preferential treatment because of that status. And just to share with everybody, I came from South Africa 21 years ago, so I'm an immigrant as well. And I think that's why we have such a passion for helping people who want to come to the US. I actually lived South Africa on the 21 years ago, and on the fourth of July, which I always thought was very significant. It was Independence Day, and it truly was my independence. And it really was the greatest thing I've ever done, but also not easy and it had its challenges. But today, I'm a proud citizen, I can say and I am X she's sponsoring my mom. And Denise is the lawyer who's helping me with that. So Maria, you have to get to have to wait a little bit, but hopefully I'll be able to sponsor your mom as well.

And Patricia asked, When I get the green card, what happens with my family? Well, when you receive the green card, your spouse, if you're married, assuming you're married, your spouse will obtain permanent residents, the green card as well. And your children are under the age of 21. Okay, so the family can come with. So that's great news for Patricia and any other nurses coming through on the EB3 green card. And Paul has asked us this is a question we get a lot. How long does it take Denise? If we were to start the process today, for an EB3 green card? What is the timing right now. And obviously, we know it's an estimate. Well, there's a lot that goes into the process behind the scenes. As far as putting the case together with the employer, part of it is called and we will talk about it in a little bit, a prevailing wage determination that we have to request from the Department of Labor. And typically, that takes about five months. And then after we have the prevailing wage determination, we submit the case to immigration. And that takes about 15 days. So calculate about six months there. And then immigration notifies the National Visa Center, an organization that puts together the appointment at the US Consulate and that could take another two months, I would say all together. For those of you that have a party date current, it will take a little bit less than a year.

Okay, so there you heard it. On the expert, Denise. Paris has spoken. Yeah. And so I see Jamal is saying I wish I can be in the USA, Jamal, you can you're just gonna have to follow the steps that we're gonna go through in the next few minutes. We've got a lot of great questions coming through catchy saying very informative. And ran is asking you about Indian nurses please tune in tomorrow we're going to talk a little bit more about what this means for Indian nurses in terms of priority dates, recapturing all of those questions. And shamshir is asking about the Isles. So shamshir We're gonna get to that question now. We have so many questions. I don't know where to go next. Okay, so last question, just generally about the Green Card. We have a question from Grace and was sent to me earlier. And she's asking, Are you allowed to get separate EB3 sponsorships from different hospitals at the same time? This is a bit of a tricky question, or your answer be on that one, Denise? Well, you can be sponsored by multiple employers. But ultimately, you have to have the intents of joining one, you have to have the intent of working with them full time and permanently. And they have to have the intent of hiring you permanently. So if you are at the point of the process where you have multiple petitions approved, you have to select one because of the fact that intense is a key issue.

When it comes to permanent residents, you have to be once you attend your interview, at the time of the interview, you're telling a US government official that you intend to join Hospital, a specifically not multiple hospitals, but bottom line, you could have multiple sponsors, and then select from the sponsors as to which one you would like to join permanently. Okay, and, you know, grace, and the one thing that I would just add, having been in recruitment for many, many years and done author, international nurses for many years, I think it's also important, you know, there's obviously the technical piece of it, as Denise has just explained to you. But I think they also is the ethical part of it, because it's very costly for an employer to spend money on your EB three green card. And as Denise said, it's about intention. So I would just, you know, encourage you to only go with your make your decision, ask questions, we're going to talk a little bit about that further in the show, but really intend to, to go into it in the same way as you would to any, any relationship or it's like a marriage. You know, if if the employer is paying for your green card, you want to show them that you are just as committed and dedicated and that you are solely going to be interested in them. So I think that's what I would just add from a recruitment perspective. Okay, Denise, we're going to move on now to the different processes because it two different green cards. And can you explain to us the difference between the consular process and the adjustment of status? Sure. So there are two different paths to obtain permanent residents, and the path that will be selected depends on where the nurse is physically located.

At the nurses physically in the United States, the path is called an adjustment of status application, where the nurse asked that the government adjust their non immigrant status to immigrant status. For example, The TN the TN will be here temporarily in TN status. And if they are physically in the US, and they are applying for permanent residency would ask the government to adjust them from a temporary tn non immigrant status to an immigrant status. The second part of the process or the second way of processing the permanent residents case is consular processing conflict notification consular processing, so for those who are overseas, instead of adjusting their status, because there's no status to adjust, if they're not physically here, they attend an appointment at the US Consulate overseas. In both cases, the nurse will ultimately get permanent residents. It's just that in one case, they're handling the case physically here in the US. And then the other one, they're handling the case physically at the consulate.

Okay, all right. So if you are an international nurse, and you are in the US, as Denise said the adjustment of status process is going to be the pathway. But for today's show, we're going to be speaking more specifically about the consular process. And for the marathon for tomorrow show and on Friday, we are going to be talking again, in more detail about the different steps of the consular process, we will have future shows coming up where we're going to talk specifically about the adjustment of status. And so for those of you watching to now we're going to speak about the consular process. And we're going to be taking a deep dive into that process and talk about all the different steps.

Okay, so we've created a roadmap with the steps. This is a really important slide everybody pay attention. Denise is going to take us through the different stages of the green of the console green card process, and she is going to just give us a very high level overview. To today we're going to talk about pre filing, what happens if pre filing because not Well, now we know how nurses come in on the EB three green card, and what's needed from a pre filing stage. Tomorrow we're going to talk about finding the immigrant petition National Visa Center. And on Friday, the consulate and what happens when you come to the US. So Denise, do you want to maybe take us through just each of those steps and just give a very high level summary of what they entail. And then we're going to talk a bit more about pre filing. Absolutely. So pre filing it starts off with, again, a hospital or healthcare facility that's willing to sponsor the nurse. And typically, the hospitals that have already been working with, especially the Connetics team.

They've already started on the pre filing steps. The first step requires that the employer request what's called the prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor sets the wage for the specific location where the nurse will work. So for example, the nurse will be working at a hospital in New York, then the Department of Labor will state will specify the exact salary, the minimum salary that's supposed to be paid to a nurse who's working specifically in this within this the county where the Hospital is located. So it starts off with a prevailing wage request from the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor takes about five to six months to send that prevailing wage determination. And in the meantime, while the hospital waits for that determination from the Department of Labor, the hospital starts preparing the petition on behalf of the nurse the petition entails it's a petition that's filed with the immigration of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services here in the US. The petition includes the nurses credentials, it includes evidence that the hospital is financially viable that it has the ability to pay the salary that's being offered to the nurse includes documentation to prove that the company is actually real that has a business location.

So all of the paperwork is prepared while we wait for the prevailing wage determination. And once we have the prevailing wage determination which we only need one, once we have the prevailing wage determination, it can be used on multiple cases. We include them the prevailing wage determination with the petition, the nurses supporting documentation, license, etc. credentials, and we file the case with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. 99% of the time the hospitals will request that immigration render decision in 15 days so they pay an additional costs in order to receive a decision and 15 days rather than eight months, it could take a month out expedited requests. So assuming we already have the prevailing wage determination, the petition is prepared letter support all the supporting documentation from the nurse, the case is filed. Once we get that prevailing wage determination. And in 15 days or less, immigration will render a decision on the petition, and 99% of the time, it's an approval. So once the case is approved, immigration will notify the National Visa Center.

The National Visa Center, again, is the branch of the government that schedules the appointment at the US Consulate. So immigration will notify the National Visa Center that the petition has been approved. And within one to two months of that notification, the National Visa Center will contact the nurse in order for the nurse to start gathering their biographic documents and prepping paying a fee bill and prepping for their interview. So those are behind the scenes. Those are the steps that occur. That's even though it's called pre filing, I'm trying to take you a little bit more ahead. So that you see how it gets from the prevailing wage determination to the point that the National Visa Center context the nurses schedule them for an interview at the US Consulate. Okay? And then you have Welcome to America where everybody's doing the happy dance.

Okay, I actually remember the day that I got my green card, it really truly was one of the happiest days of my life. So that's what we want for all of you who are watching. Yes. And Denise. So if we go back to the slide with the you know, with the different stages of the green card, and I think you've gone through a great overall summary of the different stages, and the pre filing stage on the nurses side. Let's talk a little bit about an IC, we've gotten a lot of questions coming in about nurses asking about the NCLEX, the CGFNS exam the aisle. So there's a lot of questions coming in about that. So we're going to share with you now, what are the requirements from the nursing side that are important for the people that are vital for the pre filing stage? Absolutely. So we definitely need the nurse to have completed their nursing degree. So they have to have a nursing degree, they have to at some point in time, complete the NCLEX. They don't have to complete it for purposes of filing the petition. But at some point in time, they have to finish they have to complete NCLEX. And they have to have a visa screen by the time they go to their interview. But in the meantime, the documentation that we basically need in order to be able to file the petition is their academic credentials, their diploma, their biographic information, their passport information, they should all make sure that their passports are current, not wait until the very end to be updating their passports, they should all make sure that they're one of the main issues that we have to address sometimes is that their birth certificates or their documents have the wrong names or needs to be corrected, they should make sure to take care of all that before they initiate a case just to get the ball rolling. So that when it comes time to go to their interview, or when it comes time to file their case, they already have everything in order.

But bottom line and for purposes of filing the petition, we need them to have their nursing degree, we need them to be working towards their NCLEX. Again, you don't need the NCLEX to file but we need you to work toward it. And we need them to be working towards your visa screen. Okay, so let's do that. And gives everybody I think a very clear idea of what is required from the nursing side. And I want to just go through a few questions that I can see in the chat. And that I've received before, I think, to the Connetics team, let's put that slide back up on the requirements, so that everyone can just see that and, and we can go through that in a little bit more detail. Because here's where a lot of nurses get very confused. So as Denise said, of course, you need to be an RN, you need to be a registered nurse, you need to have your qualification from your home country, and you need to pass got your license in your home country. Now in terms of the NCLEX or the CGFNS exam. Denise, can you talk a little bit about that? Why do we have either or?

And what is the nurse has to show that they're proficient in English, that they're able to communicate? So I mean, not the English that the NCLEX or the CJ? Yeah. Well, basically, I mean, by the time that the case comes to the Connetics is the one that I defer to when it comes to licensing and the credentialing. But, but the nurse needs the credentials at some point in time right before they are issued an immigrant visa at the very tail end of the process, they're going to need the visa screen, the CGFNS visa screen. So I'm not sure if I'm addressing your questions on yet. But basically, it's a requirement that they have that they need the licensing. Correct? Yeah, 100%. So, for anybody watching, listen up, this is really important. This is really, if you're a registered nurse, and you've and you have your license abroad, your first step is going to be to take the NCLEX exam, the NCLEX is the nursing board exam that all nurses that live and work in the US have to pass. And it's not an easy exam. And in fact, I want to let everybody know that Connetics have a scholarship right now, where we are selecting nurses. This is only for selected nurses that are eligible for our scholarship. And there'll be more details to come. So please check out our website. And we'll have more details in the next few days about the NCLEX scholarship. But the first step for any nurse wanting to come here is to pass the NCLEX exam. If you have already passed the NCLEX exam, please apply to Conneticsusa.com/application.

And we'd be very happy to speak to you about the literally almost 1000s of jobs that we have right now throughout the US. And there might be some nurses who have taken the CGFNS exam. And just to explain to everybody the CGFNS exam is an exam, let's put it this way. Many years ago, you could only write the NCLEX exam in the US. So many international nurses would take the CGFNS exam, which is kind of like a precursor to the NCLEX. And they would take that in their home country just to see if they think they're going to be able to pass the NCLEX if they pass fly to the US, and we'll take the NCLEX here. So technically, you can apply for an EB three green card with either the NCLEX, or the CGFNS exam these days, because they are NCLEX centers all over the US, one of the world in different locations. And most people will not write the CGFNS exam, and will go straight to the NCLEX. So the NCLEX is really your first step. As Denise said, You need to pass if you were not trained in English, you need to pass the English proficiency exam. And there are two different options. There's the TOEFL and the IELTS. And I see we have some questions about that. I see. There was a question I saw somebody asked about the OET.

And there are some states that will take the OET but for the Green Card purpose, you only have the choice of the TOEFL and the IELTS. And, and as Denise mentioned, most nurses these days, take the isles, and most nurses I think seem to feel that the IELTS is a little easier to pass. And although both take a lot of work. And also just to add from the Connetics side, we have the n aisles course that every nurse will get if you are placed through a Connetics employer, and more information to come on that. And then the visa screen is the document that comes from the CGFNS, as Denise said, and this is a document that is required in order to get the EB three green card. So we're going to be providing more information on those steps. But that just kind of gives you an overview. Okay. And Denise, for a nurse that is at the pre the pre filing stage, what do they need to know? And at that pre filing stage, what would you say are the insider tips, we actually have a few insider tips, I think they'd share that slide can go through that, or I mean the main tip, the main tip is if you are in the process of selecting a sponsor, check with them and see if they've already submitted the prevailing wage request because that's truly what takes the longest in the process.

So if the hospital has already initiated that part of the process, and you should ask them and they can share that information with you, then you will know how much time it will take before the petition is filed. So if you are working with a hospital that has a prevailing wage request that has been pending for three months, then you know that the maximum it will take us another three months before a petition can be filed on your behalf. So the tip is make sure that you ask you have the right to ask and they will answer your questions. A lot of the hospitals are so helpful and they want you to be they want to be as transparent as possible with you and support you. So definitely ask if they have a prevailing wage determination request pending with the Department of Labor. Okay, a very, very, very important tip, many nurses get very frustrated with the timing. And if you ask that question, what does the hospital have the prevailing wage and posting done? That will tell you if they can file immediately or there's going to be a long wait before they can file.

And as Denise said, you have the right to ask that question. And we're going to share with you some insider tips about how to choose an employer or recruitment agency. And really the first thing that I would say is, ask the employer or the recruitment agency questions. Don't be shy to ask, many international nurses feel very nervous about asking and feel maybe it comes across as rude or it's, you know, they don't have the right to ask questions. This is not so it's very important for you to ask questions. And the first question to ask the employer as the as the new set is, have you already completed the prevailing wage and posting stage, which is the stages that come at that pre filing stage for that from the employer perspective. Another thing that I think is is an important insider tip is to check the reviews and ask for recommendations before working with a recruitment agency. So for anybody who's thinking about coming to the US, please check out the Connetics USA reviews, I always say don't take what I say about how we operate. But check out the reviews of what our nurses say, of how we take care of them throughout the process, and really browse the social media of that company, whether it's a hospital or recruitment agency, and you'll find a lot of information from people who've gone through the process. You also need to make sure if you are living and working in the Philippines, that you that the company that you're working with, is registered or credited with the POA. And another insider tip, which is really important is you need to confirm if the recruitment agency that you working with is a member of the HR as well as the CGFNS. Alliance for ethical recruitment. These are important organizations that vet employment recruitment agencies, and you want to make sure that you're working with somebody who has been accredited by either the HAHR, or the CGFNS. Alliance and Connetics as well. So if you have the NCLEX, please apply to us now.

And okay, so final, final information about the pre filing stage, Denise. And so we spoke about the prevailing wage and the posting, and what are the insider tips? And you went through detail about the prevailing wage and what the posting is? And what does the nurse need to do? What are the insider tips from the nurses perspective in terms of prevailing wage and the posting? Yes, we didn't exactly cover the posting. So I'm going to touch upon. Oh, yes, yes. Yes. Thank you, Denise. Thank you. So while the prevailing wage is being processed by the Department of Labor, the hospital has to, even though there's a shortage, they have to still put on notice, employees that there's a position available for a nursing position available. So the posting notice is just a simple document that's posted at a public area within the hospital, informing the staff employees, that there's a registered nurse position available. It's a mandatory, it's mandated by regulations.

It has to it's a posting notice that simply is letting the employees know that there's a position available and has to be posted for 10 business days, and then it has to be up for another 30 days. So those are behind the scenes documents that you really don't have to do anything about that that's not your responsibility. It's part of what's included in the petition that's filed with the service center. But the posting notice, it's just pretty much a document, serving as evidence that the company has made an effort to try to find a US worker. Again, because there's a shortage of the scheduling worker, it really doesn't impact one way or another, but it's mandatory. And that's part of what's prepared in order to make sure that when the prevailing wage arrives, that we don't waste any time and we have everything in order. So um, so while you're waiting, while you're waiting for the prevailing wage determination if it hasn't been issued, and for the posting to be completed, just pretty much your responsibility is to provide your credentials, your documents, you focus on your documents. The company will focus on everything else that we've been discussing. It's not your responsibility to post a notice that's not the nurses It's not within your reach, actually. But those are documents that are already present. And by the time the prevailing wage comes in the case is ready to go.

Okay. And, Denise, we got a question from Anne who asked, Can a nurse look up the prevailing wage themselves? Well, online, you will find there's a source that has poor level wages, for every single occupation you can think of, ranging from CEOs, CFOs, doctors, all types of occupations. There's a website that has four level wages. That source is what the Department of Labor relies on in order to select the appropriate wage level. So the more senior the responsibilities, let's say that if the nurse will have some supervisory responsibilities, it all depends on the job description that the employer provides to the Department of Labor, when we request the prevailing wage.

The government will select the level wage either level one, level two, level three or level four, level fours for very advanced senior level managerial nurses, typically, the Department of Labor will come back with a level one or Level Two wage, which anyone can find online. But it's not official until the department of labor issues, its official prevailing wage determination. So we could look at it we could say, oh, we believe that this is the appropriate wage. But the our conclusions have no validity nor Wait. What matters is the determination made by the Department of Labor. And so bottom line, yes, someone can go online, look at the wages, but ultimately, the wage will be selected by the Department of Labor, not by the nurse and not by the hospital. Okay, so and you can look at it but as Denise said, it really needs to come from the Department of Labor. And CJ has a question CJ is asking, and can you explain how different locations or counties have different prevailing wages?

Well, it's all based on the standard of living, it's all based on the city if it's in a rural area versus a more commercial area, it's, it's, it's based on just the location. And that's why you have those four level wages. And the Department of Labor looks at that specific county, where the where the job site is located. And they select the appropriate wage. But that's, there's so many wages, there's no way that we could know off the top of our head because there's so many different cities and counties, etc. And that's something that's really interesting, and can be an many nurses don't realize is that they are just so that the US is so big, that it's not like every nurse gets the same wage, you find two hospitals that are not that far from each other, where nurses get different wages, the Department of Labor's responsibility to make sure that the appropriate wage is being offered. That's the whole purpose of the prevailing wage determination to begin with. So they take five months in order to select the appropriate wage so that foreign nationals are not underpaid. So that they're paid at least the appropriate wage for those who are working within a specific location. So for example, I live in Miami.

And if I was going to work as a registered nurse at Baptist Hospital here in Miami, the government would go through the minimum requirements that Baptist Hospital would submit to them, they would look up a specific county, they being the Department of Labor, and the Department of Labor would say, Well, based on where she's working or where she intends to work, this is the appropriate salary level to Okay, and then they come back and they send that the employer and official determination that stamped endorsed by the Department of Labor, it cannot be manipulated, it cannot be prepared by anyone else. It's an official determination that has a code attached to it. And then that way, at least the nurse knows that they're getting the correct salary, that they're being offered the right wage. An employer cannot offer wage below the prevailing wage. So if in Miami, the Department of Labor comes back with a prevailing wage of let's say, I don't know $30 an hour, and they offer me $35 an hour then they being the employer, then it's perfectly aligned with the prevailing wage determination issued by the Department of Labor. However, they offered me $22 An hour and the prevailing wage comes back at 30. Then they're not in compliance, they the hospital will not be able to file a petition on my behalf.

Okay, so really important for any international nurse to understand it, but as Denise said, that piece of it, the prevailing wage and posting is just for you to know what it is understand how it works. But really, it's more just from the timing perspective, because the question that an international nurse might ask is have you already done that because that means that we can move to the next stage, which is the filing. So to sum up some insider tips, and on the prevailing wage and posting side, and as Denise had gone through, and we have a slide that we're going to be pulling up now, and which is about, you know, just in terms of the prevailing wage and posting. So just in summary, as Tanya said, You are perfectly entitled to ask if the US employer has completed the prevailing wage and posting requirements. And if they have, that means that we can immediately move on to the second stage, which is the filing of the immigrant petition. And the other thing that an international nurse can do at the stage of the pre filing is to start to prepare your documents for the next stage when we're going to file the immigrant petition. And tomorrow, we're going to talk more about the documents that are needed.

And so this is a time to start doing that and collecting and collating documents. And one thing to mention, neither the employer or the agency should ever ask you to pay any recruitment fees at the prevailing or posting stage or anywhere throughout the process. And you want to make sure at this pre filing stage that you've obtained a written contract before it before your case is filed. And the last thing as Denise said is employers are required to pay the RNs either the prevailing wage, which comes from the Department of Labor, or the actual wage, whichever is higher. So that really is a summary of everything that a nurse needs to know all the insider tips on this pre filing stage, which is the prevailing wage and posting. Okay, so that brings us to the end of the pre filing stage. Tomorrow, we're going to be talking about the second step, which is the finding of the immigrant petition and the NVC stage. And on Friday, at the same time, we're going to be talking about the consulate interview in the visa bulletin. So there is a lot more to come in the last few minutes. And I'm just going to take we've got so many questions. I'm like, I want to try and get through everybody's question.

And give everybody a chance. So I'm just gonna get through as many as we can in the last eight minutes. And of the other session. So agent has asked, is the birth certificate mandatory for a green card? Yes. Mandatory is honestly, is that an agent, please watch tomorrow because we're going to talk a bit more about the second stage, which is the filing of the petition and the birth certificate will come up then. Will carry and I hope I've got your name right is asked Can non NCLEX passes apply? So as we've learned today, no, for the EB3 green card they cannot apply. But Denise, do you want to maybe touch on the nurse aid program because it Canadians we also have a nurse aid program. And if you're an RN, you might be eligible for that. And Denise maybe you can talk just very briefly about how that green card process is a little different. Okay, well, the nurse aide position is not a registered nurse position is not a schedule a worker position. So it requires an additional step in the process. I don't know if you recall, at the beginning of this this discussion, we I explained how there's a shortage of nurses scheduled the workers.

So because of that the Department of Labor does not impose a requirement of having to go through a rigorous labor certification process where you have to take a few more steps than just posting, you have to advertise a position into Sunday ads are lots of recruitment efforts that have to be completed for nurse aides. They're different from scheduling workers where there's no need to go through a rigorous recruitment process. So for Nurse Aide, we would have to take an additional step and prepare what's called the labor certification, which has to be filed with the Department of Labor. And prior to filing that labor certification, the company would have to take certain steps advertising the position to try to find a US worker. Okay, so Oh Carrie and more to follow on the nurse aid program. But I think Denise has given you a very nice summary of how that green card process is a little different if you have not yet passed the NCLEX and you are an RN in your home country. And Colleen Oh, we covered that question about the Canadian citizens who will come in on the TN visa and Colleen please feel free to apply to our website. And we saw I saw a question

About the aisles, so Shamsher is asking what else is required general or academic? And the answer is academic. And as I mentioned, Connetics have a scholarship. So we have every Connetics nurse that is placed with a Connetics employer will have a free IELTS course, to prepare you for the academic course. And we also have on Facebook, a free group, which you're welcome to join, just start practicing your IELTS. We have free classes there every Friday. We have study groups, we have lots of activities. So feel free to join that in the meantime, as well. I know many international nurses worry more about the isles than the NCLEX. And we have a question from Sasha. Sasha is asking, Okay, this is a question for the end. I'm a UK nurse currently waiting for CGFNS to see if I'm eligible to sit the NCLEX. Do you sponsor nurses? Or do we need a hospital employer? If you have had to have a hospital employer, then are we obligated to work with them for the duration of the green card? So Sasha, in answer to your question, I'm glad that you are going to be taking the NCLEX soon. And you're welcome to also follow up about our NCLEX scholarship. And but we are Connetics offer direct hire employment. So we are not a staffing company, we don't sponsor you, and, and you will work directly for Connetics. And what we do is direct hire, which is where the employer the hospital, the nursing home surgery center rehab facility will be your employer and your sponsor. And Connetics is the consultant that hope helps both you and the employer with the process.

And when you talk about the duration of the green card, as Denise said, the duration of the green card is permanent. And so it is permanent residency. And can you may interject, sometimes, a lot of times, there is confusion, because the card itself is issued for 10 years. So I've had a lot of clients asked me, does that mean that I'm a permanent resident only for 10 years? And the answer's no. It's just the form of evidence of your permanent resident status. So you have a passport, for example, that expires, that doesn't mean that you're no longer a citizen of your country because a passport expires. The same thing applies to the Permanent Resident Card, it has an expiration date. But that doesn't mean that the person who stops that they lose their permanent residence after 10 years they don't. It's just a form of evidence of their permanent resident status. Okay, so that's great, great clarification. Thank you, Denise.

Sabina has asked how to obtain a priority date. So Sabina, you're going to have to tune in tomorrow, because we're going to talk more tomorrow about the priority dates. And we have a question here. From the acid, a lot of questions from Indian nurses, please make sure to tune in tomorrow, we're going to talk more about Indian nurses priority dates, pre recapturing of previous priority dates, if you're just joining now. And this is a topic that I know comes up for many Indian bonuses, and because of the visa bulletin and the backlog, so please tune in tomorrow. And we're going to be covering that in more detail. And Simon is asking an interesting question. Can we apply? And I assume, therefore, the green card without the isles are planning to take it in six months? Denise, do you want to maybe talk a little bit about that? Can we apply for the I 140. And without the aisles? And at what stage? Does the nurse definitely have to have the aisles? Yes, absolutely. We can apply for the I 140 without the aisles and without the visa screen. And then toward the end of the process.

When you're already at the National Visa Center Stage, you want to make sure that you have all of that in order. Correct. So it's, I would definitely say Sam, it's really important to you know, if you're planning to take it in the next six months, I know and this is just human nature. We kind of like today's another day, you know, everybody's busy. And there's a lot going on for nurses, especially with the pandemic right now. But I really would suggest you have a sense of urgency with the IELTS, even though we technically can file for the I 140. Without it, you have to have the IELTS if you are not trained in English, so, you know, please get on that Isles process. And yes, Zan is asking, Can I change from an f1 visa? And for those of you watching the f1 is a student visa? Yes, yes. An f1 is a student visa. And yes, you could change that when you request that the government adjust your status from non immigrant f1 temporary status to immigrant status. So you'll be here

On your f1, probably working under the optional practical training. And while you're working on under Optional Practical Training, a permanent residents process case will be pending the petition will be filed, ultimately approved. And you will simultaneously concurrently file an adjustment of status application, asking that your status be adjusted from non immigrant to immigrants. So adjustment I want to be clear is different from change changes, if you're asking to switch your f1 to an H, or your f1 to a TN or your f1 to another visa classification. That's what the word is change. If you're asking for permanent residents, you're asking to be adjusted from a non immigrant to an immigrants. Okay, thank you for that Denise. And that that process we're going to have a whole show about so keep watching out for that. And we're going to be talking in a lot more detail about the adjustment of status green card process. The last question is from Irene, and Irene is asking, in your one, one data? I'm not sure what that is. But are there still a lot of employers hiring nurses? Denise, what are you seeing? And then I can share what we see. Yes, absolutely. Many employers are hiring nurses. And Connetics is the right team to work with. They have many they work with so many hospitals and healthcare facilities. And I want to add, they're amazing to work with, they're very professional, I would never work with a team that's not professional, ethical, perfect.

They're perfect. They work really, really well. And they've brought so many nurses that have secure jobs with reputable hospitals nationwide. So I definitely want to make sure that everyone on this in this group understands that the quality of the hospitals and healthcare facilities that Connetics works with is top of the line. Well, thank you for those kind words, Denise and I would say ditto to you, because anyone who's lucky enough to have the nice as the lawyer is, and very fortunate. She does a phenomenal job and is also really very professional, extremely hands on very courteous, very detailed, orientated and has enormous success. So really, you know, thank you for your partnership. I just want to say we are not perfect. We fly. We try. This is a complicated process. But I think if anybody is watching today and is wondering if this is going to be an opportunity that could really work for them. In answer to Iran's question, the answer, as Denise said is yes, there are more positions right now for international nurses than we have ever seen. Candidates have been doing this Canadian us been doing this for many, many years. We have never seen such a demand for international nurses. There are hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers, rehab facilities all over the US that are now hiring for international nurses.

So there's a lot of choice. And as I said, if you're just joining and Connetics are not a staffing company, we don't employ and hire nurses ourselves. We are direct hire, which means you are employed by the hospital, or the nursing home directly and sponsored by them and advance. The huge advantage to you of that is that you will get paid the same as an American nurse. So there are a lot of advantages. But that's the biggest advantage to you. And you also have choice if you have family in California. You know we can find you an employee in California. If you have always wanted to be in New York City, we can help you with an opportunity in New York City. So wherever you want to be, we have opportunities. So we have gone slightly over time, Denise Oh, my goodness. It was so many questions. That was such a great discussion. I want to thank everybody who's joining us. I know there are a lot more questions in the chat and we're going to our team will be going into the chat after this session and we'll be answering as many questions as possible.

Please join us for tomorrow's show. And this is a three day marathon. Please join us for tomorrow's show you can check your local time on the time zone converter, it will be same time tomorrow 7:30am pacific time we will be breaking down the next parts of the green card process. So this is back to basics for global nurses on the immigration process. And you can also apply on our website and even if you have not yet passed your NCLEX feel free to apply and our team will be happy to contact you and tell you about our scholarship and tomorrow. We make sure to say this tomorrow. Please join our show because will you will be able to receive a free guide book. This is a a guidebook that has all the details that we've been talking about today and we'll be talking about on the marathon tomorrow and on Friday, and it will give you insider tips. Full information, please tag your friends who are interested to come to the US. Let's pay it forward for others. And we thanked Denise for her time. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. And we will see you tomorrow. Bye. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

And I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Connetics USA. We help hospitals, nursing homes, surgery centers, rehab facilities, all the ways with a nursing shortage by bringing in internationally educated nurses. And we've been doing this for many years and brought through 1000s of nurses from 60 countries all over the world. I have with me today my colleague, Denise Gabba Perry's Hi, Denise. Hi, good morning. How are you? Welcome, everybody. Apologies for starting two minutes late, but we had a little technical hitch but we are here now. And we are so excited. Today I want to welcome all nurses from all around the world who are watching today. This is our new live show for global nurses called onwards and upwards. And we are really excited to get started. The purpose of the show is to help nurses all over the world who are looking to come to the US with information, tips, pointers about it about immigration, about licensing about credentialing, lots of lots and lots of information that's going to be coming your way. And for the next three days we've got a marathon. We're gonna be talking about immigration. This is all back to basics. So we are today we as you can see, we are here today, August 25 at 730 pacific time and please check the time zone converter for the time in your location. Tomorrow, same time. We will have Denise back with another immigration lawyer who is an expert in nurse recruitment and nurse immigration and then on Friday the same and we're going to be breaking down

Please join us for tomorrow's show. And this is a three day marathon. Please join us for tomorrow's show you can check your local time on the time zone converter, it will be same time tomorrow 7:30am pacific time we will be breaking down the next parts of the green card process. So this is back to basics for global nurses on the immigration process. And you can also apply on our website and even if you have not yet passed your NCLEX feel free to apply and our team will be happy to contact you and tell you about our scholarship and tomorrow. We make sure to say this tomorrow. Please join our show because will you will be able to receive a free guide book. This is a guidebook that has all the details that we've been talking about today and we'll be talking about on the marathon tomorrow and on Friday, and it will give you insider tips. Full information, please tag your friends who are interested to come to the US. Let's pay it forward for others. And we thanked Denise for her time. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. And we will see you tomorrow. Bye. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

Overview of the EB3 Green Card Process for Nurses

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Overview of the EB3 Green Card Process for Nurses

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