16.     Unemployment High Among Filipino Nurses

An article published by Feet in 2 Worlds discusses that even though most foreign-born nurses in the U.S. hail from the Philippines, Filipino nurses are having trouble finding employment in the U.S. due to the economic recession and a shortage of visas.  In the 1980s and 1990s, Filipino nurses were persuaded to come work in the United States with perks such as free housing, free airfare to the U.S., a signing bonus, and a green card for the nurse and his or her family members.  Now nursing jobs for these nurses are so hard to find, even with a nursing shortage, that the nurses have to pay recruiters to find them work.

The current economic climate has forced many U.S. hospitals to close or to reduce the number of beds, forcing Filipino nurses to look for non-hospital jobs like caregiving, or go back to school for higher education.  The nurses also must compete with American nurses for existing positions, and the number of American nurses has grown as unemployed Americans chose nursing as a second career.

According to the American Nursing Association, there is still a demand for Filipino nurses, but because of the decline in available visa numbers, American nursing graduates are filling positions normally filled by foreign-born nurses. 

Currently, availability of visa numbers for green cards for Filipino nurses is extremely low.  Foreign nurses, professionals and other skilled workers compete for 40,000 employment-based visa numbers each year in the third category of employment-based green cards.  Out of these 40,000 visa numbers, Filipinos can receive only 7 percent; this means that out of the available 40,000 visa numbers, only 2,800 green cards per year can be issued to Filipino nurses.  And currently, there are more Filipino nurse applicants than there are available green cards.

Nursing has become a popular career choice in the Philippines, with thousands of nurses becoming licensed every year.  In 2009 alone, over 95,000 nurses were licensed.  However, with this high number of nurses, there is an excess of nurses in the Philippines, so the nurses look to other countries, like the U.S., for career opportunities.

http://news.feetintwoworlds.org/2010/04/14/filipino-nurses-immigration/