26. May 2007 by dmo.

It is always our priority here at the Filipino Nurses 2 US to provide relevant and helpful information to our fellow Filipino nurses both in the Philippines and abroad. We try to protect our readers from the personal interests of many agencies whose motives are for their own benefit only. We stand to be proud Filipino nurses in the dignity and courage we carry in ourselves. In this regard, we extend our support to the 26 Filipino Registered Nurses and 1 Physical Therapist in their fight against the Sentosa Recruitment Agency (Read about recruitment scams here). The Justice for Sentosa 27 is an online campaign in support of the Sentosa 27. You can sign the online petition to show your support as well.

Posted in Recruitment | 1 Comment »

24. May 2007 by dmo.

Since the Labor Certification (LC) substitution will end on
July 16, 2007, it is anticipated that the USCIS will receive a huge volume of filings
for LC substitutions. As a result of the
Department of Labor (DOL) regulating the LC substitution, the USCIS will no
longer accept requests for premium processing of LC substitution cases starting
May 18, 2007 to fairly accommodate the processing of all I-140 requesting for
substitution of beneficiaries.

Posted in Immigration | No Comments »

23. May 2007 by dmo.

In January of this year, the US Department of Labor (DOL)
forwarded the final ruling for the elimination of the Labor Certification (LC)
substitution to the Department of Budget (DOB) to regulate the application
process. This regulation will take
effect on July 16, 2007, which includes the elimination of the LC substitution,
180-Day Rule on expiration of LC, and prohibition on improper payment for LC
filing.

After July 16^th, the practice of substituting the
beneficiaries in LC cases will be no longer be allowed. This does not apply to LC substitutions
approved and in progress as of July 16, 2007. This applies to all other LCs being processed or approved as of July 16,
2007.

The 180-Day rule will be applied to all new LCs affected by
the regulation. This means that the LC
under new regulation will expire in 180 days if no I-140 is filed to proceed
with the case. Most importantly, the improper selling to the highest bidder
of the LC will now be banned. Employers
are no longer allowed to seek or receive payment of any kind for transactions
related to the LC. The LC is to be paid
for by the employer, however the beneficiary may opt to seek legal assistance
at their own expense.

Posted in Immigration | No Comments »

22. May 2007 by dmo.

The Nursing Licensure Exam for June 2007 will be held on the
10^th and 11^th of June. The
exam will be conducted to accommodate both the new takers and the re-takers. The re-takers of the exam are either one of
the 1,687 examinees ordered by the Court of Appeals to re-take the exam; those
who are voluntarily re-taking the test parts 3 and 5 for the purpose of meeting
the requirement for VisaScreen Certificate set by the CGFNS; those who are
opting to voluntarily re-take the entire exam by surrendering their current
license; or those who previously failed the exam.

The government will be subsidizing the cost of the exam for
those ordered by the Court of Appeals to re-take and those who are re-taking
for the purpose of VisaScreen eligibility.

As per the CGFNS ruling on the June 2006 re-takers, they can
only re-take the test parts 3 and 5 once during either the June or December 2007
examinations. If they fail upon their
re-take and still want to obtain VisaScreen eligibility, they have an option to
re-take the entire exam on the following examination schedule by surrendering
their current license.

The re-takers of the controversial June 2006 exam will be
allowed to sit in the exam for test parts 3 and 5 on the second day.

Posted in Nursing | No Comments »

18. May 2007 by dmo.

While much of the focus lately has been on H-1B visa applicants, some movement has taken place for those who are working towards an immigrant visa to the US. To all who have their priority dates for EB-3 (Schedule A) visa on or before June 1, 2005,  you may expect that your application is now at the National Visa Center (NVC).  Once the NVC receives notification from the US Embassy in Manila that they may take new applicants for interview, then the NVC will forward your petition for interview.  The embassy will schedule an interview date for you according to the order your petition is received.  It  usually takes two to four months before you can get an actual interview due to the volume of applications received at the embassy.  For now, a significant movement in processing the pending employment-based immigrant visa petitions for nurses is showing.  As regular readers might know we have called for a special visa for Filipino nurses to be created to fill the great demand for our skills in the US. There is also some hope that the Nursing Relief Act of 2007 might be passed, in the meantime though this movement gives hope that the retrogression issue might end in the near future. You can check the Visa Bulletin link on the left side column of this website to check the current status of the priority dates from the US Department of State as they are released.

Posted in Retrogression, Immigration | No Comments »

17. May 2007 by dmo.

Upon the announcement of reaching the visa caps for both regular and advanced degree H1-B applications within the first month of filing, the USCIS is experiencing a delay in receipting the petitions. So far, only Nebraska and Texas Service Centers are sending out receipt notices in a timely manner.   The USCIS expects to catch up with the delay in receipting at the other service centers: California and Vermont, by June.  To ensure accurate information or status on your application is provided by the USCIS, they ask for thirty days upon your expected receipt notice date before inquiring with them.  This does not apply to you if you have applied for a premium processing of your application.

You can refer to the USCIS website to check the Processing Dates .

Posted in Immigration, H1-B/EB-3 | No Comments »

16. May 2007 by dmo.

The H1-B visa cap for the entire year of 2008 was filled within only one month of filing.  If the regular H1-B visa cap of 65,000 was reached on the first day of filing, which fell on April 2nd, the visa cap of 20,000 for the advanced degree H1-B was reached on the 30th of April.  The same procedure with the regular H1-B will be conducted in all the applications on the first day when the cap was reached for advanced degree H1-B.  All the applications accepted on April 30th will be subject to random lottery as part of the standard procedure of the USCIS. Applications which are not randomly selected will be returned with the corresponding filing fees.  The successful applicants for both regular and advanced degree H1-B applications will be processed according to the receipt date.  Visa issuance for the successful applicants for the fiscal year 2008 will start on October 1, 2007.  You may check with the USCIS website for the status of your application or Processing Dates .

Congratulations to all who made it for the fiscal year 2008!

Posted in Immigration, H1-B/EB-3 | No Comments »

4. May 2007 by dmo.

As of April 25th, 2007, the number of petitions received for Advanced Degree
H1-Bs is 19,172. This means that the visa cap of 20,000 is almost reached and
only a few more advanced degree holder have the chance to file for the fiscal
year 2008. 7,982 petitions have been approved so far, and 10,717 have been
receipted, while 473 more are yet to be receipted for processing. Good luck to
all those who have filed advanced degree H1B application for 2008.

Posted in Immigration, H1-B/EB-3 | No Comments »

4. May 2007 by dmo.

Pursuant to the CGFNS decision of denying the VisaScreen Certification to the June 2006 Nursing Licensure Board Examination, President Arroyo signed the Executive Order No. 609 which will allow the affected nurses to re-take the test parts 3 and 5 of the examination.  The special examination will be conducted along with the regular board examination in June and December of this year.  The re-taker may only choose from either of the examination dates, and must pass the exam to qualify for the VisaScreen Certificate.  The government will subsidize the cost of the examination and designate free review classes to the nurses who will take the special examination.  The same procedure will be followed in registering for the exam as before. Re-taking the examination will not affect the status of the nurses in the Philippines and their license will remain valid irregardless of the exam result.  The government also orders that the results of the examination shall be forwarded directly to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and not to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).  The DOLE secretary and the Board of Nursing Chair are the authorized personnels to undertake the public release of the names of those who passed the examination, notify the examinees individually of the result of their exam, and furnish the official results of the examination to the CGFNS.  All these will be closely monitored to satisfy the requirement of the CGFNS, and to address the problem of our fellow nurses with their ineligibility to work in the US. 

Posted in Nursing | No Comments »