A Day in the Life of an OR Nurse

Each month, we share the latest update and remind you of the steps you can take while you wait. To walk us through everything that you need to know, here's Elizabeth joining us, our associate director of immigration and licensing. Elizabeth, thank you for joining us.

Hello, and thank you for having me again.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in the world. I'm very excited to join you today to go over the Visa Bulletin update, for the month of May. So as you may or may not be aware, the the Visa Bulletin comes out from the Department of State once a month. It comes out in the middle of the month for the following month so that we can plan and prepare.

So recently, the May Visa Bulletin came out.

Unfortunately, there was no movement from April. So we had, in the last few months, been seeing quite a bit of advancement in the Visa Bulletin with the priority dates moving forward. For the month of May, the Department of State has, determined to not move the dates from where they stood in April. So there is no change, so not much to talk about in terms of movement. However, I think now is a good time to give a reminder on kind of how the Visa Bulletin works, how a priority date is established, and kinda where it falls into play during the process.

As you may or may not know, once you sign on with Health Carousel, we file your I one forty petition. We collect some documents from you to file the I one forty petition.

When USCIS receives the petition, the day they receive it in the mail from from us, that will be your priority date. Your priority date is your place in line. Once that priority date has been locked in with the approval of the I-one hundred forty, then you want to reference this Visa Bulletin, and what you're looking for is your employment based preference category. You can see there's a number of different priority date preference categories.

Our registered nurses fall within the EB3 category, as well as if we have any medical technologists on the call, You will also fall within that e b three, category. If there are physical therapists on the call, you may fall into the e b two category. And then you're gonna look across the top at the different countries listed or also there is the all chargeability context or column. So you're going to be looking based on your country of birth.

Wherever you were born, it's not going to take into consideration your current citizenship. It will be based on your country of birth for, immigration purposes. If you're not born in China, India, Mexico, or the Philippines, then you're looking at the all chargeability column. So once your I one forty is approved, it is sent from USCIS to National Visa Center for further processing.

Once you have reached the stage of DOC qualified, which means that you've provided all of your civil documents.

You've paid fee bills, and you have completed the d s two sixty, which is the immigrant application, then your case will be held with the National Visa Center until your priority date becomes current, then the National Visa Center will send your case over to the embassy for scheduling your interview. And this is, something that, you know, you need to be preparing for while waiting for your priority date to become current.

So things like preparing your civil documents, and as we heard from Lauren, practicing your English.

As we've heard from Mali earlier, maintaining bedside experience and keeping your skills sharp.

And the biggest thing, biggest key takeaway here is that while, you know, sometimes we see a lot of movement like we have in the last few months, sometimes we see no movement like we have this month for May, and then occasionally, we will see it retrogress. So the biggest key takeaway is to not lose hope. Your moment is coming.

Ebs and flows in the Visa Bulletin happen monthly, and we keep a close eye on it. We hope for movement. Sometimes there is none. But when there is no movement, when there is retrogression, we want to use this opportunity as a waiting period this waiting period as an opportunity to actively prepare, keeping your bedside experience up, practicing your English, making sure your documents are in order, and that you're ready for when you start interviewing with client facilities in the United States, that you are ready and able to, you know, receive that job offer so that when your interview is scheduled with the embassy, you're ready to go, and and, you know, have a great interview, and then shortly arrive to the United States, ready to go, hit the ground running. And then our full circle of support is here to guide you through each step of the process.

We have amazing team members who are here working diligently to get you here, get you prepared and ready to to start your nursing career in the United States. But with that, I think we're gonna wrap up this segment of the Visa Bulletin. And, again, you know, don't lose hope.

Keep keep actively preparing, and your time will come. You will be coming to the United States to work. Start your nursing career in the US in in the in the in due time, in the in the time that's meant for you.

Thank you, Elizabeth, for walking us through, you know, a lot of the important questions that, you know, we get on a daily basis and continuing to provide clarity during the process.

We know this journey requires patience, but there is progress happening. And you are not navigating it alone. That's the biggest piece to it. You are never alone throughout this. Our team remains committed to supporting you every step of your journey.

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