US woos Indian nurses

BANGALORE: The US, which has generated many a visa headache for techies on project assignments, is now wooing Indian nurses to help plug its shortage of experienced nurses.

The overseas placement agencies claim that there is an estimated shortage of nearly 2.5 lakh nurses in hospitals across the US and hence they are now wooing qualified Indian nurses to relocate to the land of the greenback.

One such agency Job2career based in Miami, US, is looking to place 200 nurses from India at its clients facilities in the US. The company, which recruits nurses from India and arranges for their Green Card, says it's the fastest way to become a lakhpathi legally.

The firm claims to have already placed 110 Indian nurses and says it has another 250 at different stages of the recruitment process.

“Nursing is considered to be a knowledge-based and skilled job so salaries offered by them usually start from $ 5,000 and go up to $ 7,000-8,000,” says Nanditha Kamat, who has already been selected for a job there.

At even the lower end, potential applicants from India would net around Rs 2.19 lakh per month while at the top end they would net a tad over Rs 3.5 lakh per month.

Assuming that a nurse spends around $ 2,000 per month on living expenses there, the minimum saving on a monthly basis would still be a cool Rs 1.3 lakhs or Rs 15.76 lakhs annually.

Of course this excludes the fee one would end up paying to such agencies, which could aggregate as much as a month's salary. Nonetheless the potential earnings perhaps make the long 12-18 month wait to get to the land of dreams worthwhile.

LONG JOURNEY WEST

The minimum qualification required for nurses looking at such an option is a Bachelors degree in nursing or diploma course in nursing from any of the Indian government recognised institutes. In addition sound English language comprehension and a minimum one-year of experience is a must, say experts.

The recruitment process involves a preliminary screening with written tests on nursing and English language. Successful candidates who are selected need coaching for further tests that need to be cleared in India and the US.

“The tests include, Commission for Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools(CGFNS), IELTS and NELEX-RN,” says Radhika Rao, a counsellor at Job2career.

Successful nurses end up with jobs in Intensive Care Units, emergency medical services and operation theatres in US hospitals.