Importing Nurses - Is It Wise?

Is recruiting foreign labor a wise solution to help curb the national nursing shortage crisis or just another move by the employing health care industry to import cheap labor? According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, a 21 percent increase in the need for nurses is projected nationwide from 1998 to 2008 and it could lead to a shortage of more than one million nurses by the end of this decade. This has created tremendous opportunities for healthcare staffing agencies, which recruit hundreds of nurses from India each year earning millions in revenue.

I know this much - the domestic workforce doesn't seem to share the same excitement about the profession as staffing agencies. Nurses' unions disagree with the premise that nurses from abroad will help solve the problem. Nursing organizations are voicing a deep concern that foreign nurses are not being incorporated into the unions upon entering the workforce. And this means hospitals and the like can hire foreign workers far cheaper than domestic nurses plus they don't complain about working conditions, because it's better than their home country. The result is a national deterioration of the nursing wage, which affects all nurses. "There is no shortage of nurses in Massachusetts," says David Schildmeier, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "There is a shortage of nurses willing to work in hospitals under current conditions, assigned to too many patients, that is why people are leaving." more...

Processing Of US Green Cards Resumes In July ( Visa numbers available for nurses, PTs and other professionals next month

NEW YORK CITY -- Visa numbers for Filipino workers under the employment-based third preference category (EB-3) will be available in July, according to a State Department release on Wednesday, June 13.

The availability of the visa numbers means the visa processing for EB-3 professional and skilled workers from the Philippines, including registered nurses (RNs) and physical therapists (PTs), will resume by July and the eventual deployment of these foreign workers will not suffer further delay.

EB-3 workers who are in the US waiting for visa availability will also be able to apply for adjustment of status beginning July. details....

Philippines offers nurse transfusion

MANILA, Philippines – At 47, electrical engineer Victorio Mangalindan is back in school, studying for a new career as a nurse. His classmates include three lawyers and 10 accountants.

"And there are so many doctors!" he said.

Mr. Mangalindan says the foul air and water of Manila will only get worse as his 2-year-old son grows up. He wants to raise the boy in the U.S., and "the surest way to get a working permit or a visa is nursing."

Many Texas hospitals would be glad to have him. There are 28,000 job openings for nurses in the state. Texas colleges and universities are graduating just 6,000 nurses a year. By 2010, the federal government estimates, Texas will have a shortfall of almost 42,000 nurses. The nationwide shortage is expected to be 10 times as large.more....

Filipino nurses in Ireland

By Mata Press Service

Canadian hospitals are headhunting Filipino nurses working in Ireland, with offers of fast-track work visas, better wages and even low-interest-rate car loans.

There are more than 10,000 foreign-born nurses working in Irish hospitals — a huge proportion of whom are Filipino nationals, Dublin media reported.

Filipino Overseas Ireland Ltd, which was on a recent recruitment drive, is hoping to attract 250 staff nurses for a hospital in Alberta.

Quoting sources in the Irish-Filipino community, a hundred nurses based in Irish hospitals signed up to work in Canada at a recent recruitment fair. The steady exodus has led to the magazine Filipino Forum running a lead feature titled “Goodbye Ireland.” more.......