The correct word would be "retrogression" which means more applications than available visa numbers. I am in the same situation right now. H1 does not exist for nurses unless you have a specialty (usually masters degree in most cases, but this has to be satisfied by hospital that hires you, that the position you applied to was advertised for 30 days and no US citizens were eligible except you, and you have the special training that they are looking for, but this is going to be tough for them since due to shortage many hospitals are willing to spend money on their own and train special occupations under nursing, so you dont have to take an extra class to get certified in a certain field, so thats a bummer).

Until January 2007 schedule A was still available but they ran out of it by end of that month. So Schedule A does not exist anymore. I got a BSN here in US, passed the NCLEX-RN and I am wasting my OPT. Once your OPT is over, you will have to maintain your F1 status or go back home. This is because until recently like in 2006 you could file I140 and I485 concurrently but when they started running out of visas, they now only accept I140 and when visas do become available and you are given a visa number and it is pending then you can file I485. But at this moment, they are currently processing applications of 2006 (suggest you go to travel.state.gov for visa bulletin for updated information). So there is a backlog and visa numbers are not available at this time and you CANNOT apply for it besides your I-140. So you basically have to wait until they become available (god knows when) or you run out of your OPT and will have to maintain your F1 status as stated earlier. Also, anti-immigrant activits are against the so called "emergency nursing shortage relief act" to provide 20,000 visas per year for 3 years for foreign nurses and the debate has been postponed. It still needs to go through a lot of debates so thats not something that you can hope for. No, there is no light at the end of the tunnel!

For more information go to:

http://allnurses.com/forums/f75/international-nursing-students-us-119024.html

Before you post any questions, I suggest you read the latest posts (its about 91 pages in length from 2006-2008). You can read the last 10 pages and it will give you an idea about the whole situation. Again, many people will tell you things, but you need to decide!!! And the fact is there is no H1 for nurses unless you have a specialty and that too is gone withing seconds when they do open. H1-C is limited to 500 visas per year and in bad or rural areas...hard to get but you can try...

Also, information on the bill i was talking about "emergency nursing shortage relief act" can be found on:

http://www.immigration-law.com/Canada.html I know it says canada but you will still be able to see information about this act. Or you can do a google search on H.R. 5924 (Nursing Relief)

Or go to http://www.usimmigrationnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=217&Itemid=313 for the information I just gave you.

Let me know if you have any concerns. Good luck!