Filipinos welcome Swiss Parliament proposal to hire Pinoy nurses

News clip lifted from News.ch

AARGAU, SWITZERLAND — The Filipino community is elated over published news reports that the Swiss Parliament is set to discuss the hiring of Filipino nurses to help address Switzerland’s problem of its aging population.

The Swiss Federal Statistics Office had forecast that by 2050 the number of people over 65 would rise by 90 per cent to 2.2 million, or 27 per cent of the population. The current population of Switzerland is 7.7 million.

Hence the growing demand for nursing care in the country’s Alterheims (homes for the elderly), Pflegeheims (nursing homes) and in hospital geriatric wards.

Up to 30 percent of the current nurses are already Ausländer (foreigners), mostly coming from European Union neighbors Germany and France.

But Frank Wyss, secretary of the health directors’ conference of Switzerland, said the EU itself is already missing a trained workforce in nursing care, according to a news item from the German-language “Sonntag Zeitung” this month.

Wyss said health directors had opened the possibility of recruiting a nursing workforce from even far-away lands such as the Philippines.

“Filipinas are well-trained and educated and they are training more nursing staff than they need themselves,” was how Wyss defended the proposal.

The small community of Filipino nurses here said there is certainly room for more.

“Palagay ko sa aming station kailangan pero hindi ko pa alam, kasi marami ring mag-retire ngayon. Hindi ko alam kung kailan pero talagang kailangan pa ng nurse dito,” said nurse Romy Bocalon, who has worked 17 years in a psychiatric hospital in the canton.

Lilibeth Ladaga, one of the 14 Pinoy nurses and three nursing aides in the same hospital added “natuwa talaga kami nung narinig naming, dahil siyempre may makapasok na bagong Pilipina nurses. Alam mong dito sa amin, gusto nila ang Pilipino nurses dahil magagaling mag-trabaho at masipag.”

News clip lifted from 20 Minuten Online

Advantages
Aside from good training and education, the Pinoy nurses enumerated the advantages of Filipinos over other nationals.

“Sa trabaho maaasahan talaga tayo, masisipag. Kuntento sila (patients) sa atin, mababait daw tayo, matiyaga, magaling mag-pasensiya,” said nurse Lucy Camay who works in Brugg, Aargau.

Concerns were raised by the Swiss over nursing care standards following a recent case of mistreatment and abuse of an elderly psychiatric patient in a hospital in Zürich. Nurses had reportedly ordered the patient to strip and dance naked and had taken photographs of the patient using a mobile phone. The incident raising raised howls of protest over the country.

But Lucy Camay said this would never happen with Filipino nurses “dahil masyadong pasensyoso tayo at iba ang ugali natin.”

Language as a requirement
But the nurses said newcomers would have to learn the local language in Switzerland, which has German, French, and Italian-speaking cantons, and even Swiss Reto-Romanish parts.

“German talaga (ang gamit), ang halo French o kaya Italian. Pero mostly German. At Schweizer-German pa. Hindi lang German, mas malalim pa,” said Camay.

“Karamihan sa mga tao dito hindi marunong mag-Ingles, kaya kailangan talaga ‘yang German sa mga pasyente at sa pagsulat, at saka sa interview ng mga doctors at sa lahat-lahat pa,” Bocalon said

They said however, newcomers can learn the language through intensive six-to-12-month courses or through in-work language trainings offered by employers.

An estimated 15,000 Filipinos live and work in Switzerland, most of them in the main cities of Zürich, Geneva, Basel and Bern. There is a Philippine Embassy in Bern and a consulate in Geneva, although there is also an honorary Consul-General based in Basel.

By BRADY EVIOTA, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau | 04/01/2009 11:52 AM

SOURCE

INS Provides New Guidance On H-1B Visas For Registered Nurses

Immigration and Naturalization Service Associate Executive Commissioner Johnnie Williams has issued a field guidance memorandum that for the first time clarifies when a nurse will be eligible for an H-1B nonimmigrant work visa. The memorandum is critical because if a nurse cannot qualify for an H-1B visa, the nurse must wait for a green card to be processed. This means that instead of being able to come in to the US to work for an employer in two to twelve weeks, a nurse could wait eighteen to twenty-four months to enter the US.

The INS made it clear that normal RN positions will not qualify for H-1B visas unless the state where the nurse seeks a license requires a bachelor’s degree. Currently, only North Dakota requires a bachelor’s degree for RNs. The INS did, however, list a number of positions that might qualify for an H-1B visa and the new guidance will hopefully lead to greater consistency in reviewing H-1B petitions.

The following is a summary of the memorandum. The text of the actual memorandum is attached for your review.

General Requirements

In order to qualify for an H-1B visa, an employer of a nurse must show the following:

1. a bachelor’s or higher degree (or its equivalent) is normally the minimum requirement for entry into the position;

2. the degree requirement is common to the industry for parallel nursing positions (i.e., employers in the same industry require their employees to hold the degree when they are employed in the same or a similar position);

3. the employer normally requires a degree or its equivalent for the position or the nature of the position’s duties is so specialized and complex that the knowledge required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a bachelor’s or higher degree (or its equivalent).

Employers who can meet these requirements can apply for an H-1B visa.

Advance Practice Registered Nurses

The INS also discusses specific nurse positions. First, advance practice registered nurses (APRNs) will generally qualify for H-1B visas because these are advanced level positions requiring more education and training than the typical RN. An employer may require that the prospective employees hold advanced practice certification as one of the following: clinical nurse specialist (CNS), certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), certified nurse-midwife (CNM), or certified nurse practitioner (APRN-certified). If the APRN position also requires that the employee be certified in that practice, then the nurse will be required to possess an RN, at least a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), and some additional graduate level education.

The INS lists the following positions that will normally qualify for an H-1B visa:

• Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS): Acute Care, Adult, Critical Care, Gerontological, Family, Hospice and Palliative Care, Neonatal, Pediatric, Psychiatric and Mental Health-Adult, Psychiatric and Mental Health-Child, and Women’s Health

• Nurse Practitioner (NP): Acute Care, Adult, Family, Gerontological, Pediatric, Psychiatric & Mental Health, Neonatal, and Women’s Health.

• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA); and

• Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM).

Administrative Positions

The INS will also approve H-1B visas for certain administrative nurse positions. According to the INS memorandum, “upper level nurse managers” in hospital administration positions may work for H-1B visas since these positions usually require bachelor’s degrees. Nursing Services Administrators should work since these positions involve supervisory functions and they typically require a graduate degree in nursing or health administration.

States that Require Bachelors Degrees

As noted above, the INS will consider an H-1B visa to be appropriate for any RN if the state where the nurse’s position is requires a bachelor’s degree. Right now only North Dakota has such a requirement. This raises the intriguing possibility of making North Dakota a gateway for employers seeking to bring nurses to the US quickly. Two possible scenarios come to mind:

1. A nurse contractor establishes an office in North Dakota and petitions for the nurse to enter North Dakota for their initial orientation with the contractor employer. The employer then files for an I-140 and concurrently files for an I-485 petition and employment authorization document. After the employment document is approved, the nurse could then move to a different state.

2. North Dakota health care facilities and employers can take advantage of this loophole and have easy access to foreign nurses. They can then take advantage of this unique market position and potentially spin off their own staffing companies or cut deals with existing staffing companies to contract their nurse employees to health care facilities around the country using the I-140/I-485 process noted above.

Specialized Nurse Positions

Aside from the Advanced Practice Registered Nurses noted above, nurses in certain specialized areas may file for H-1Bs. The INS specifically cites critical care and peri-operative (operating room) nurses as two examples of positions requiring a higher degree of knowledge and skill than a typical RN or staff nurse position. The INS indicates that passing a certification examination for a particular type of position is an important indicator. Examples of these types of certification examinations are school health, occupational health, rehabilitation nursing, emergency room nursing, critical care, operating room, oncology and pediatrics.

Such nurses should meet the general requirements noted above. Evidence to show these requirements could include affidavits from independent experts or other means showing that the job duties are so specialized and complex that a bachelor’s or higher degree is appropriate. The INS notes that these cases will be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis so the outcome of such applications is far from certain.

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Nurses Abroad Warned of Overfriendliness

PDOS Advisory no 004

Series of 2009

All prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning OFWs are reminded of cultural peculiarities in dealing with foreign nationals. Our penchant for overly expressing out friendliness/ closeness through physical contact or “touching” (pagkalabit o pagyakap-yakap o paghawak-hawak) may be wrongfully interpreted as sexual harassment, sexual advance or uncalled-for friendliness.

This advisory is being issued to prevent further repetition of such incident, which ended up with a female Filipino nurse in London, England being hailed to court but was fortunately proven innocent of the charge of sexual harassment.

Carmelina F. Velasquez

Director IV, FIMO-PDOS

All prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning OFWs are reminded of cultural peculiarities in dealing with foreign nationals.

Source:

http://www.nursingguide.ph/

The RN Contract Trap

For many foreign nurses (RNs) the chance to immigrate to the U.S. is the opportunity of a life time. For so many, immigrating to the U.S. is the reason they went to nursing school and took up the profession. Many others, such as marketing majors, physicians, computer engineers, etc. have switched professions to become nurses in order to immigrate to the U.S.

The shortage spurred the growth and creation of hybrid industries such as nurse registries and temporary nursing staff companies. These types of companies assign nurses on a temporary basis with their client hospitals, medical facilities, and private homes.

A nurse working for one of these companies for example, might find herself working at Hospital A for 2 days out of the week and Hospital B for 3 days. Then, a few months later, working 4 days for Hospital C. The RN goes wherever her employer has been contracted to provide services. She is not an employee of the hospital, but rather the registry company.

Because of the shortage, various RN employers (hospitals, agencies, RN staffing companies) heavily recruit for RNs overseas. Foreign RNs who wish to immigrate are delighted at the opportunity the recruiters offer and are often all too eager to sign up.

While this path may be one of the easiest ways to immigrate, it is not without its pitfalls. Employment-based sponsorship means the RN will be allowed to immigrate if the RN intends to work on a permanent basis for the petitioning employer. This is a critical condition of immigrating that carries consequences if not fulfilled. During the typical recruitment process, the RNs are promised sponsorship in exchange for working for the employer. Contracts are prepared and representations are made regarding the nature of work, type of work, place of work, working conditions and wages. Many RNs are so eager to immigrate, they do not carefully read these contractual documents, ask serious questions regarding the terms and conditions, or have the contracts reviewed by their own attorney.

In the excitement of the prospect of immigrating to the U.S. many RNs are seduced with the notion that the dream job awaits them in the U.S. For some this is true, but for many, it has drastic consequences. The RNs gloss over the contracts and assume an attitude of, “I’ll deal with it later.”

The most common contractual clause that wreaks havoc on an immigrating RN’s life is the breach of contract damages clause. Most contracts typically require the RN to work for a specific number of years and failure to do so triggers the damages clause. The damages can range from $15,00 to $50,000 dollars!

Many RNs signing these contracts are unfamiliar with the litigious culture in the U.S. Some come to the U.S. and find the working conditions and salaries they were told they would receive are not the same as represented when first recruited. Some conditions are so unbearable.

For example, being placed in graveyard shifts in hospitals far from home. Or, not being placed in any hospital and collecting no salary while the sponsor tries to obtain a new client for the RNs placement. Many of these RNs then leave their employers and this is when additional tragedy strikes.The employer begins a campaign of harassment and may sue for breach of contract and obtains a judgment against the RN for the penalty amount. The judgment typically comes with a wage garnishment order. This means the RN’s new employer is required to pay a portion of the RN’s wages to the sponsor to cover the judgment. Because RNs are in a licensed occupation requiring a reporting of where they work, it is very simple for the sponsor to locate the RN and exact the judgment.

But, worse than a breach of contract is the possible immigration consequence. The RN has obtained permanent residency because she stated she intends to work on a permanent basis for her sponsor. By leaving or changing employers shortly after entering the U.S., she has now opened the door for the Immigration Service to revoke the green card! Some employers immediately notify the Immigration Service when an RN leaves exposing the RN to possible green card revocation and deportation.

For many others, the immigration consequence comes several years later when the RN is applying for U.S. citizenship. The Immigration Service reviews the basis of the green card and determines how long the RN worked for her sponsor. If it determines that the RN has only worked for a short period of time, it may begin revocation and deportation proceedings against both the RN and her family members who obtained green cards through her.

These tragic consequences can be avoided by careful review in the beginning. For many of those currently in the position, there is still immigration and contractual relief available. The U.S. Constitution prohibits slavery and indentured servitude and because in many cases the sponsoring employer breaches the contract, the employee is not liable for any damages. This core constitutional value is the basis for providing relief to those forced to leave their sponsors. This will be the subject of our second part of this article.

Author’s Note: The analysis and suggestions offered in this column do not create a lawyer-client relationship and are not a substitute for the individual legal research and personalized representation that is essential to every case.

Reeves & Associates, a PLC

Unit 507 Tower One Ayala Triangle

6767 Ayala Ave., Makati City, Philippines 1226

Phone: (632) 759-6777Facsimile: (632) 759-7888

scasal@rreeves.com

Pasadena, CA Phone: (626) 795-6777San Francisco, CA Phone: (415) 568-3777

Las Vegas, NV: (702) 227-9888

Bill Creating Special Non-Immigrant Visa Category for Foreign Registered Nurses Introduced

RETROGRESSION UPDATE

A bill has been filed in the U.S. Congress seeking to create a special non-immigrant visa category for filipino nurses and other foreign registered nurses.

The proposed legislation dubbed, “The Nursing Relief Act of 2009″ (H.R. 1001), will create a temporary W Visa category for registered nurses. It will work in a very similar way as the H-1B visa except that the category is exclusive to registered nurses.

The proposed W Visa cateogory will have a yearly numerical limit of 50,000. However, the cap may be increased depending on the demand for foreign nurses. A W Visa will be valid for three (3) years at a time.

Related Link:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1001.IH:

Yeah yeah!!!! Now I’m very hope full that bill would pass, I bet many nurses are looking forward into that. US wait for me,,, haha

After outsourcing, Obama opposes overseas nurses

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Friday opposed the idea of inviting overseas nurses, including from India, to fill up the huge shortfall the United States is facing right now.America like most of the Western countries is faced with acute shortage of nurses and in recent years it has allowed medical personnel from India, China and Philippines to immigrate to work in hospitals.

“The notion that we would have to import nurses makes absolutely no sense,” Obama told a gathering of health experts and lawmakers at a White House meeting on health care reforms.

Instead, Obama argued that the best possible approach to meet this shortfall is to train people inside the country.

“For people who get fired up about the immigration debate and yet don’t notice that we could be training nurses right here in the United States,” he said responding to an observation made by Congresswoman Lois Capps from California.

“We have a huge shortage of nurses today. Estimates are that the US will be lacking over 500,000 nurses in the next seven years,” said Democratic lawmaker Capps.

Last week, a legislation was introduced in the US Congress to create a special category of nursing visas, which would facilitate much faster and easier brining of trained nurses from Asian countries like India. Called the “Nursing Relief Act of 2009″ the legislation proposes to make provisions for the new category of visas for registered nurses with an annual limit of 50,000.

The legislation notes that there are more vacant nursing positions in the US than there are qualified registered nurses and nursing school candidates to fill those positions. And according to the Department of Labour, the current national nursing shortage exceeds 126,000.

Obama said there are a lot of people in the US who would love to be in the nursing profession, and yet the Government is not able to providing them the resources to get them trained.

“That’s something that we’ve got to fix. That should be a no-brainer. That should be a bipartisan no-brainer, to make sure that we’ve got the best possible nursing staffs in the country,” Obama said amidst applause.

Source:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/after-outsourcing-obama-opposes-overseas-nur…/431684/

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As I read this news, I felt sad because of course if that may happen overseas nurses will have a hard time going to US. So how’s my US dream??? I don’t know but of course US can’t produce many nurses in a short period of time. I think they may still be needed some nurses outside their country to fill their shortage. I hope retrogression will be lifted so that many nurses can go to US. Here in Philippines on the other hand has an oversupply of nurses, grrrr, I can’t find a hospital job because almost all the hospitals here especially the known ones are freeze hiring.  Maybe I should really try Saudi haha,,,