By Aira Miranda
 
 Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education, confirmed on Sunday that a total of 12,399 nursing graduates from the Philippines took the U.S. licensure examination for the first time from January to September of this year to practice their profession in the United States.
 
"The nine-month figures already surpassed the 9,788 Filipino nursing graduates that took the U.S. admissibility exam for the first time, without counting repeaters, in the whole 12 months of 2021," Rillo said.
 
"Superb pay is the biggest factor driving Filipino nurses to migrate to America. Our nurses also want to live and work in America because there is no language barrier, and they identify with the Western culture," he added.
 
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, the median annual salary for nurses in the United States was $77,600 in 2021. This is equivalent to around P4.4 million at the current conversion rate of $1 to P57.45.
 
Rillo has been advocating for the passage of new legislation to enhance their starting salary in the United States by 75%. Rillo is a proponent of House Bill No. 5276, which proposes to increase the minimum basic monthly wage of government-employed nurses from P36,619 to P63,997.
 
Under the proposed legislation, the lowest base salary for nurses working in public health institutions would be increased by six steps to the Salary Grade 21 mandated by the 2019 Salary Standardization Law.
 
In domestic and foreign settings, the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX) is delivered using computerized adaptive testing.
 
Nurses who studied outside of the US are required to pay a $200 (P11,490) registration fee, among other requirements, before they can book an appointment to take the NCLEX.
 
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