For nurses hired through PTU, the hospital is the nurse’s direct employer. Each applicant will be interviewed and, if selected by the hospital, the hospital offers the U.S. Registered Nurse (USRN) the job, which will be a clinical nurse position.

A typical employment commitment of the nurse with the hospital is to work with the hospital for at least three years. After completing the commitment, the nurse can continue working with the hospital for as long as she or he wants. Nurses recruited by PTU have retention rate of 85%, meaning that they stay with the hospital who initially hired them, even if they can be employed elsewhere.

In an Indirect Hire or staffing agency hire, the agency becomes the employer of the nurse, not the hospital. The agency then places the nurse at hospitals, nursing homes or other settings according to the agency’s desires. The staffing agency charges the hospital or nursing home a fee for the nurse’s services. Sometimes this fee is well over $100 per hour. Staffing agencies usually also have minimum working commitments.

For nurses hired through PTU, the nurse becomes a Permanent Full-Time employee of the hospital. The nurse is eligible to all benefits – Medical, Dental, Eye, Life & Disability Insurance, Financial Retirement Plans that the hospital offers to their permanent employees. By law, you will receive the same pay scale and benefits as US citizen nurses working at the same hospital!

In an Indirect Hire or agency hire, the nurse position is temporary, or a contract hire. It is not a permanent position. The hospital does not provide any benefits to temporary employees, since the nurse is not their employee. The benefits, if any, are provided by the agency.

For nurses hired through PTU, the nurse has an option to choose which hospital employer do they want to apply to for work. They know from the very start of the process who hired them and where they will work. PTU nurses meet with hospital personnel during the recruitment process, and receive a full orientation upon arrival.

In an Indirect Hire or agency hire, often only upon the nurse’s arrival, would the agency need to employ the nurses to their list of health care systems, typically skilled nursing facilities, rehab facilities, long-term facilities, and often not top-tier hospitals. Such “agency” nurses typically do not receive the full orientation from the hospital. Hospital assignments may be 6 or 9 weeks at the time, and the nurse may then be assigned to a different hospital.

For nurses hired through PTU, the visa granted to the nurse is a Permanent Resident Visa, commonly known as a Green Card Visa. The hospital, being the employer, petitions the nurse for the Permanent or Green Card Visa. Green Card Visas are also available for nurse’s spouse, and children below 21. This means that the entire family will not need to be separated. All are immigrants, permanent residents, to the United States when they enter the US. The family can all come to the US at the same time, should they choose to do so.

Having a Green Card or Permanent Resident status provides the same rights and opportunities as that of a United States citizen, except the right to vote. The spouse can therefore also be employed in the US. The children can avail of the excellent school system of the US.

The nurse and his or her family can become U.S. Citizens in about 5 years. For most International USRNs, this is an opportunity to petition and bring their parents to the U.S. as well.

In an Indirect Hire or agency hire, the nurse is usually petitioned with a working visa, a temporary employment non-immigrant status. In general, the working visa has an expiration date for the nurse to be permitted to work and live in the US. In addition, the spouse nor children of the nurse are not petitioned for any visa to enter the United States.

For nurses hired through PTU, PTU does not take any commission, nor a portion of the nurse’s compensation. The hospital pays PTU its recruitment fee. The paycheck of the nurse comes directly from the hospital and all the compensation, other than normal payroll taxes, goes directly to the nurse, 100%.

For Indirect Hire or agency hire, the agency negotiates a “bill rate” for the nurse’s time working at the hospital. The agency then pays the nurse, which is typically 40% of the total bill rate, for the entire duration of the temporary or contractual employment term of the nurse with the hospital. The agency keeps the difference between the fees paid by the hospital at the bill rate, and what it pays the nurse.

Professionals to USA has partnered with top tier, often Teaching Hospitals and Magnet Hospitals, who have standing orders to recruit in large numbers of nurses each year. PTU hosts recruitment events in hotels in major cities in the Philippines, Europe, and Asia. Even during the pandemic in 2022, Professionals to USA was in the Philippines three times, holding a series of recruitment events with four U.S. hospitals extending over 400 permanent nursing positions. Earlier this year (2023), Professionals to USA was in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in United Emirates Republic and in Seoul, Korea.

With the world managing the pandemic better, hospitals have joined PTU in their big recruitment events, offering on the spot interviews and job offers at the recruitment site.

For Indirect Hire or agency hire recruitment events, the hospitals generally do not participate, since the employer of the nurse is the agency not the hospital.