As of April 2009 the United States opened its enrollment on H-1B visas. One month later the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that they have received a total of 45,800 H-1B petitions, a number way below the congressionally mandated 65,000 cap. Until this figure has been reached admission of H-1B visa applications will remain open.

Immigration debate continues in the United States

The U.S. Congress has circulated numerous bills to address various immigration issues. However, they still failed to create a new immigration legislation which would allow nurses and health care workers to enter the United Stated on occupational visa. The proposed Nursing Relief Act of 2009 cites that the United States is currently in need of more than 126,000 nurses. It aims to address this shortage by recruiting and employing qualified nurses regardless of their citizenship or country of origin.

A posting in the Global Immigration Counsel Web site mentioned another legislation which stated that a new non-immigrant visa category for professional nurses called the “W” visa will be established. The proposed legislation reflects the view that the current immigration laws do not clearly address the need for qualified nurses in the country and do not have sufficient visa category to ease up this need.

Passports required for trips to Mexico and Canada

Beginning June 1, 2009, people traveling by air, road or ship to Mexico and Canada are required to bring their passport or similar document to get back to the United States. Most cruise lines, however, are planning on enforcing this new rule at the time of departure. This new rule is part of the post-9/11 plan requiring everyone to bring identification whenever they would travel to Mexico, Canada and portions of the Caribbean. This law has a few exemptions; organized youth school groups ranging from ages 16 to 18 traveling to compete against teams from Canada or Mexico who are only required to show their birth certificates. Furthermore, those who frequentlytravel by land across borders are urged to get a Passport Card.

CGFNS phone lines are busy

CGFNS International aims to ensure that all applicants will have a thorough understanding on the application process for them to make a well-informed decision. Due to the high volume of calls they receive everyday, the CGFNS Call Center is now open every Mondays to Fridays, from 8am to noon EST.

Upon calling you have to tell the operator which service you are inquiring about. He will either direct you to the Credentials Evaluation Service, the Credentials Verification Service for New York State, VisaScreen or the Certification Program.

Download the PDF File:
http://www.americandreamreview.com/docs/CGFNS-June-2009-Updates-SNA.pdf

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The “Sentosa 10” were given “a clean bill of health” and found new employment in nursing homes and in a hospital after their criminal charges of conspiracy and patient endangerment were dropped, according to their lawyer James Druker.

The 10 nurses, hired while still in the Philippines to work in U.S. nursing homes managed by Sentosa Care, LLC, found working and living conditions different from what they’d been promised, according to the January 13 decision by the New York State Supreme Court’s appellate division. Their attorney at the time, Felix Vinluan, advised them that, under
the circumstances, they could legally resign. After the 10 nurses’ joint resignation, they and Vinluan were prosecuted (see “An American Dream Gone Wrong,” In the News, August 2007).

In January, the court determined that, contrary to Sentosa Care’s accusations, the nurses didn’t leave their posts in midshift or abandon their patients, who included children as well as adults.

“They’re so happy this cloud has been lifted off them,” said Druker, adding that some of the nurses had lost “terrific” job opportunities while the indictment stood open. Leonila Navarro-Mariazeta, president of the Philippine Nurses Association of New York, wrote in an e-mail to AJN that the charges may have discouraged other Filipino nurses from seeking U.S. positions. “However, the dismissal of the criminal case will revive their interest,” she said, “knowing that they can get justice here.”

Sentosa Care still has a civil case for breach of contract against the 10 nurses, says its attorney Howard Fensterman, who confirmed that the company isn’t facing charges for its treatment of the nurses. But Druker says the nurses plan to file counterclaims against Sentosa in civil court.

NLN reviews nursing data

The National league for Nursing’s annual Nursing Data Review, Academic Year casts a wide lens on all types of U.S. nursing programs (including the 1,000-plus programs offering diploma and associate nursing degrees) to determine rates of application, enrollment and graduation. Administered from March to September 2008 to obtain 2006 and 2007 data, the review also provides a comprehensive demographic profile of the current student population, documenting ethnic-racial identity, gender and age. Key findings include:

* 84 percent of U.S. nursing schools attempted to hire new faculty from 2007 to 2008. Of those, 79 percent found recruitment “difficult” and almost 1 in 3 schools found it “very difficult.” The two main difficulties cited were “not enough qualified candidates” (cited by 46 percent of schools), followed by inability to offer competitive salaries (cited by 38 percent).

* Despite increased capacity, an estimated 99,000 qualified applications — or almost 40 percent of qualified applications submitted to registered nurse programs — were rejected in 2006 and 2007. Selectivity rates (also known as “acceptance rates”) were extremely low, with 53 percent of registered nurse programs falling into the “highly selective” category — a designation earned by programs offering admission to fewer than half of their applicants.

VisaScreen® renewal
VisaScreen® certificate holders who have not changed their status or obtained a permanent U.S. visa are required to renew their certificates within five years of the issue date. VisaScreen® renewal certificate applicants should begin the process six months before their current certificate expires. The renewal fee is $250 USD. The renewal application is available for download at http://www.cgfns.org/files/pdf/apps/VisaScreenReApp.pdf or applicants may apply online through CGFNS Connect.

Visa Bulletin
The U.S. State Department April Visa Bulletin was released. It retrogresses the Philippines and all other countries” back to March 2003 and states that any further progression should not be expected in 2009. This means that the wait for visa processing is further delayed as cases filed in 2003 are just being processed. However, it does give hope for forward progress in October. See www.travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4438.html

Managing your pool of applicants
If you as a health care recruiter, employer, or immigration attorney are currently sponsoring or tracking applicants who are undergoing the various services provided by CGFNS International for licensure or immigration purposes, remember that as long as the applicant has authorized release of their information to you using the Authorization to Release Information form www.cgfns.org/sections/apply/forms.shtml, you can enroll in the Online Multiple Report System through the form at www.cgfns.org/sections/apply/forms.shtml
and use it to track all of your candidates at once with only one username and password.

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