I moved to Canada as a nurse!!!!!

I just want to share my personal experience moving to Canada to work as a nurse. And, I would like to encourage anybody who is dreaming to move to Canada to work as a nurse. World Immigration Article

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Originally I am from Russia but I received my Associate of nursing degree in USA. After graduation from Denver School of Nursing, Colorado I had been working as a registered nurse (RN) for almost one year.

I really liked to live and work in USA. But unfortunately I was urged to move from USA due to the fact that I did not have bachelor of Nursing and with ASN I could not get my US work visa. It is funny to see all these ads after that claiming that USA needs nurses. May be it does but it is very difficult for foreign nationality to stay in USA.

So I have less than 6 months to find a good alternative for my US nursing job. Canada was the first on my mind.

There is a flood of information on Internet but it takes forever to read through all these governmental websites trying to decide what province of Canada I am suitable best and I did not really care what part of Canada to go. All Canadian provinces have their own requirements for licensing of foreign nurses. Now I know that they are pretty much similar but at that time I did not know anything about nursing requirements in Canada. I choose Nova Scotia (Atlantic province of Canada) because I always wanted to live near the ocean.

I applied as a RN to the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia to find out that my Associate of nursing degree from US is not enough to be registered as RN here in Canada. I was suggested to come to Halifax, Canada for assessment. For me it was simply impossible.

First I needed a Canadian visa and besides that I would not be able to return to USA (where I could officially stayed only for short 5 months) and I am not saying that it is a LOT of money to travel to Canada, staying in the hotel plus I still could not be sure how this assessment would go.

Close to a nervous breakdown :uhoh3: I found a local consulting and recruitment agency for foreign-trained nurses in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was suggested do apply as LPN to the College of Licensed Practical nurses of Nova Scotia. Thankfully my application was approved. I was offered a job by this recruitment agency (everything was FREE) and they found me a place to live in the apartment complex located on the territory of my future work. So it was really convenient. I did not need to buy a car right away everything was close.

So to summarize my experience: I started looking for the ways to go to Canada in October 2009. My RN application was refused in November. In December I applied as LPN and by April 2010 I was able to come to Canada. By the way my family came later.

I was just blown away by Canadian Hospitality. I was met at the airport by personal of the agency . They also helped me a lot during my first week in Canada plus found me place to live.

Some more interesting facts from my Canadian experience:

1/ It happened that I came already pregnant to Canada. To my big surprise I was eligible to have one year maternity leave after full time of work during my first 8 months in Canada.

2/ Being an American graduate I even was not asked to go through the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Exam (CPNRE).

3/ I applied for permanent residency after one year of staying in Canada through Nova Scotia Nominee program though I am still waiting for it. Hope to receive it soon.

So it will be soon almost 2 years in Canada. It seems to me that People at work are more relaxed compare to US.

But I finally got use to this "Canadian slowness ". I love Canada:redbeathe and I think I found my new home. :yeah:

The job market for RN's at this point is few and far in between. Most often the position is either casual or part-time which many nurses do not take as an option.Full time RN positions posted are few especially here in Toronto.If there are postings, the competition is so stiff especially if you are an IEN who have recently arrived and passed the CRNE.Most institution will be looking for the "experienced RN's" which I know most nurses coming from other countries considered themselves to be such. This "experienced nurses" that institutions are looking for, are those that have been exposed to the working environment in Canada.

I am also an IEN originally from the Philippines .I was lucky enough to find a job right away after I passed but I have friends who found it difficult to find a full time job.Hurdles are just many when applying for a job. When the job is posted on-line ,so many nurses will apply for that job. Another problem is the competition coming from internal applicants who are also looking for full time positions.If you are lucky enough you will get the call for the interview,then comes the interview itself. Sometimes there is only the hiring manager involved who will be interviewing but most of the time it involves 2 or more persons.For those who are not used to such set-ups and behavioral type of questioning, it is really daunting.

Good luck to those who would be coming to Canada to work as nurses . Just prepare yourself always for the challenges that awaits you here.Strength lies in one's ability to adapt and learn in this new environment.Open-mindedness and willingness to accept ones limitations can be an asset.

1 Votes
RL657 said:
The job market for RN's at this point is few and far in between. Most often the position is either casual or part-time which many nurses do not take as an option.Full time RN positions posted are few especially here in Toronto.If there are postings, the competition is so stiff especially if you are an IEN who have recently arrived and passed the CRNE.Most institution will be looking for the "experienced RN's" which I know most nurses coming from other countries considered themselves to be such. This "experienced nurses" that institutions are looking for, are those that have been exposed to the working environment in Canada.

I am also an IEN originally from the Philippines .I was lucky enough to find a job right away after I passed but I have friends who found it difficult to find a full time job.Hurdles are just many when applying for a job. When the job is posted on-line ,so many nurses will apply for that job. Another problem is the competition coming from internal applicants who are also looking for full time positions.If you are lucky enough you will get the call for the interview,then comes the interview itself. Sometimes there is only the hiring manager involved who will be interviewing but most of the time it involves 2 or more persons.For those who are not used to such set-ups and behavioral type of questioning, it is really daunting.

Good luck to those who would be coming to Canada to work as nurses . Just prepare yourself always for the challenges that awaits you here.Strength lies in one's ability to adapt and learn in this new environment.Open-mindedness and willingness to accept ones limitations can be an asset.

Thank you for telling your experience. Several of us Canadian nurses have been trying to tell people this for the last couple of years and have been called "naysayers" and worse for saying exactly what you have.

1 Votes
RL657 said:
The job market for RN's at this point is few and far in between. Most often the position is either casual or part-time which many nurses do not take as an option.Full time RN positions posted are few especially here in Toronto.If there are postings, the competition is so stiff especially if you are an IEN who have recently arrived and passed the CRNE.Most institution will be looking for the "experienced RN's" which I know most nurses coming from other countries considered themselves to be such. This "experienced nurses" that institutions are looking for, are those that have been exposed to the working environment in Canada.

I am also an IEN originally from the Philippines .I was lucky enough to find a job right away after I passed but I have friends who found it difficult to find a full time job.Hurdles are just many when applying for a job. When the job is posted on-line ,so many nurses will apply for that job. Another problem is the competition coming from internal applicants who are also looking for full time positions.If you are lucky enough you will get the call for the interview,then comes the interview itself. Sometimes there is only the hiring manager involved who will be interviewing but most of the time it involves 2 or more persons.For those who are not used to such set-ups and behavioral type of questioning, it is really daunting.

Good luck to those who would be coming to Canada to work as nurses . Just prepare yourself always for the challenges that awaits you here.Strength lies in one's ability to adapt and learn in this new environment.Open-mindedness and willingness to accept ones limitations can be an asset.

Everyone is entitle to his/her opinion, and I respect and appreciate yours. I trully understand the difficulties faced with getting employment, especially for IEN. Even here in US, new graduates with BSN find it very hard to get employment in a acute care setting than Long-term care due to lack of experience. Nursing is a broad profession; one can choose to work in Dr's office, agency, acute hospital care, long-term care, home health, travel nurse, etc if experienced.

The issue here is the registration process. There are many experienced IEN who worked in difference settings in their home countries such as ER, ICU, CCU,Tele,Med-Surg, etc and faced with this issue of long registration process. Some continue to endure, while some give up their dream and passion for continuing career in nursing. Two IEN nurses I met several weeks ago; and they have worked in canada for 5years, told me some of the discriminations IEN face with CNO. For instance: "if you call CNO several times","they will get irritated and put your file at the bottom list". I understand that CNO requires 12weeks to process application and should not be disturbed before/during the 12weeks window, but after 12weeks and still no reply? smile.png.

Nursing being a regulated profession depends on countries/states requirements. I volunteered for a tour at one of the local hospitals here in ontario through a program, just to see how different Canadian system is from US system smile.png wow!! some of the equiptment I saw were last used in my hospital about 3years ago. That's all I have to say; just my opinion. peace!!

My advice to all IEN is; it doesn't matter which country you came from or were trained, keep focused and don't give up/discouraged. You know what you're worth and your capabilities. I have found that ones glory is hidden in what he/she fears most!!!

1 Votes
Nov2010 said:
Everyone is entitle to his/her opinion, and I respect and appreciate yours. I trully understand the difficulties faced with getting employment, especially for IEN. Even here in US, new graduates with BSN find it very hard to get employment in a acute care setting than Long-term care due to lack of experience. Nursing is a broad profession; one can choose to work in Dr's office, agency, acute hospital care, long-term care, home health, travel nurse, etc if experienced.

The issue here is the registration process. There are many experienced IEN who worked in difference settings in their home countries such as ER, ICU, CCU,Tele,Med-Surg, etc and faced with this issue of long registration process. Some continue to endure, while some give up their dream and passion for continuing career in nursing. Two IEN nurses I met several weeks ago; and they have worked in canada for 5years, told me some of the discriminations IEN face with CNO. For instance: "if you call CNO several times","they will get irritated and put your file at the bottom list". I understand that CNO requires 12weeks to process application and should not be disturbed before/during the 12weeks window, but after 12weeks and still no reply? smile.png.

Nursing being a regulated profession depends on countries/states requirements. I volunteered for a tour at one of the local hospitals here in ontario through a program, just to see how different Canadian system is from US system smile.png wow!! of the equiptment some I saw were last used in my hospital about 3years ago. That's all I have to say; just my opinion. peace!!

My advice to all IEN is; it doesn't matter which country you came from or were trained, keep focused and don't give up/discouraged. You know what you're worth and your capabilities. I have found that ones glory is hidden in what he/she fears most!!!

If Canadian hospitals are so sub-par in your professional opinion why do you want to work here?

No profession owes anyone a position. Locally educated nurses are finding it difficult to find work and will be quite happy to find employment in a hospital with some of that three year old archaic equipment.

1 Votes
Fiona59 said:
Thank you for telling your experience. Several of us Canadian nurses have been trying to tell people this for the last couple of years and have been called "naysayers" and worse for saying exactly what you have.

Fiona as an IEN myself I would like to share my experiences as I moved on with my career here in Canada. It is tough out here for us who are not nursing graduates from Canada.Filipinos are optimistic by nature and always believed that there is a rainbow at the end of the storm. I hope that IEN's will equip and prepare themselves for the challenges that lay ahead. As I said before it is tough but with preparedness,patience and learning to navigate in the nursing job market here,who knows an IEN can land on a job.I have read a lot of threads of many IEN's coming from the Philippines wanting to practice their profession in Canada. Let's accept it that many are clueless of what is to be expected and what are the processes involved in order to successfully integrate onself in the new environment.I don't have anything against them but it would really be helpful to learn as much as possible about the place we are migrating into,the support system available,the job market we are getting into,etc..

I recently had my vacation in the Philippines and I noticed proliferation of agencies encouraging nurses to migrate to Canada offering this and that and painting a rosy picture of what their life is gonna be here.What I disliked most is the fact that these agencies do not affer a clear picture of what is the process involved in registering as an RN in provinces where they wanna migrate. Most often they would inform these interested people that they will need to do a bridging program. Many also will convince these applicants to take IELTS General Training instead of the Academic Training .It's absolutely ridiculous that the applicant take the GT instead of the AT if that person wants to practice as a nurse in Canada. Isn't it a waste of money to take the GT first and then take the AT once here in Canada.That is only my opinion by the way and if that particular applicant wants to take the GT first then that is their prerogative. Nevertheless those options should have been properly discussed with these applicants for migration.While I was on vacation several friends and relatives approached me about this and I am displeased that it was not part of their seminar regarding the assessment process if they want to practice nursing.

1 Votes
Fiona59 said:
If Canadian hospitals are so sub-par in your professional opinion why do you want to work here?

Same reasons why so many canadian nurses migrate to US to work. Currently, I work with so many canadian nurses in my hospital across the border. leave this bs of "canadian nurses are more educated and well trained" It wasn't like this before 2005. According to a canadian nurse I work with "It's all about the benjamin", "period"

1 Votes

Hi Nataliak,

Thank you for your word of encouragement, I realy appreciate it. I am an IEN as well I did the crne in ONTARIO from 2009 and was successful. I have been trying to get employment since, in order to apply for my license and my work permit without any success. I think every hospital and nursing home have a copy of my resume by now.I just recently applied to Nova Scotia for registration and licensure and had to send all my document to crnns with fees all over again. (I dont really mind doing that.) I just need to know that I will have a chance of getting employed. Could you email me the name of the agency that helped you. my email address is [email protected] All I need is for CRNNS to assess me since I have already done the exam. I hope the proceedure wont take as long as nine months.Looking foward for your response

1 Votes
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
elacoha said:
Hi Nataliak,

Thank you for your word of encouragement, I realy appreciate it. I am an IEN as well I did the crne in ONTARIO from 2009 and was successful. I have been trying to get employment since, in order to apply for my license and my work permit without any success. I think every hospital and nursing home have a copy of my resume by now.I just recently applied to Nova Scotia for registration and licensure and had to send all my document to crnns with fees all over again. (I dont really mind doing that.) I just need to know that I will have a chance of getting employed. Could you email me the name of the agency that helped you. my email address is [email protected] All I need is for CRNNS to assess me since I have already done the exam. I hope the proceedure wont take as long as nine months.Looking foward for your response

seeing less and less jobs advertised here in NS. last time I checked the health authority was only advertising internally. You could try contacting LTC facilities

1 Votes
NataliaK said:
Hi,

just want to share my personal experience moving to Canada to work as a nurse.

And I would like to encourage anybody who is dreaming to move to Canada to work as a nurse.

Originally I am from Russia but I received my Associate of nursing degree in USA. After graduation from Denver School of Nursing, Colorado I had been working as a registered nurse (RN) for almost one year.

I really liked to live and work in USA. But unfortunately I was urged to move from USA due to the fact that I did not have bachelor of Nursing and with ASN I could not get my US work visa. It is funny to see all these ads after that claiming that USA needs nurses. May be it does but it is very difficult for foreign nationality to stay in USA.

So I have less than 6 months to find a good alternative for my US nursing job. Canada was the first on my mind.

There is a flood of information on Internet but it takes forever to read through all these governmental websites trying to decide what province of Canada I am suitable best and I did not really care what part of Canada to go. All Canadian provinces have their own requirements for licensing of foreign nurses. Now I know that they are pretty much similar but at that time I did not know anything about nursing requirements in Canada. I choose Nova Scotia (Atlantic province of Canada) because I always wanted to live near the ocean.

I applied as a RN to the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia to find out that my Associate of nursing degree from US is not enough to be registered as RN here in Canada. I was suggested to come to Halifax, Canada for assessment. For me it was simply impossible.

First I needed a Canadian visa and besides that I would not be able to return to USA (where I could officially stayed only for short 5 months) and I am not saying that it is a LOT of money to travel to Canada, staying in the hotel plus I still could not be sure how this assessment would go.

Close to a nervous breakdown :uhoh3: I found a local consulting and recruitment agency for foreign-trained nurses in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was suggested do apply as LPN to the College of Licensed Practical nurses of Nova Scotia. Thankfully my application was approved. I was offered a job by this recruitment agency (everything was FREE) and they found me a place to live in the apartment complex located on the territory of my future work. So it was really convenient. I did not need to buy a car right away everything was close.

So to summarize my experience: I started looking for the ways to go to Canada in October 2009. My RN application was refused in November. In December I applied as LPN and by April 2010 I was able to come to Canada. By the way my family came later.

I was just blown away by Canadian Hospitality. I was met at the airport by personal of the agency . They also helped me a lot during my first week in Canada plus found me place to live.

Some more interesting facts from my Canadian experience:

1/ It happened that I came already pregnant to Canada. To my big surprise I was eligible to have one year maternity leave after full time of work during my first 8 months in Canada.

2/ Being an American graduate I even was not asked to go through the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Exam (CPNRE).

3/ I applied for permanent residency after one year of staying in Canada through Nova Scotia Nominee program though I am still waiting for it. Hope to receive it soon.

So it will be soon almost 2 years in Canada. It seems to me that People at work are more relaxed compare to US.

But I finally got use to this “Canadian slowness “. I love Canada:redbeathe and I think I found my new home. :yeah:

Hi NataliaK, may i know the name of the agency? Like you I have been struggling to find a job here in the US, i wanted to move to Canada and start pursuing my career as a nurse. If it will be hard for me to get hired as a nurse there, i wont mind working as a LPN. I just want to start preparing for my future. I hope you could reply to this little favor of mine. Here is my email address: [email protected] - Thank you so much and God bless you ?

1 Votes
lou_din said:
Hi NataliaK, may i know the name of the agency? Like you I have been struggling to find a job here in the US, i wanted to move to Canada and start pursuing my career as a nurse. If it will be hard for me to get hired as a nurse there, i wont mind working as a LPN. I just want to start preparing for my future. I hope you could reply to this little favor of mine. Here is my email address: [email protected] - Thank you so much and God bless you ?

An LPN is a NURSE. There is no shame in my profession.

1 Votes
Fiona59 said:
An LPN is a NURSE. There is no shame in my profession.

Yes I know LPN is a nurse.. It's not a shame to work as an LPN.. What I meant is I can take a job offer as an LPN also. I won't mind because it's also an opportunity and an open door for me because from what I've read, it's hard to get registered, hired and be sponsored as an RN (bsn) in Canada. ?

1 Votes
lou_din said:
Yes I know LPN is a nurse.. It's not a shame to work as an LPN.. What I meant is I can take a job offer as an LPN also. I won't mind because it's also an opportunity and an open door for me because from what I've read, it's hard to get registered, hired and be sponsored as an RN (bsn) in Canada. ?

Canadian health authorities are NOT recruiting overseas. They are filling jobs locally with new grads and under employed nurses.

Your use of the words "willing to work as an LPN" because it's hard to get hired as a nurse is offensive to Canadian and US LPNs.

1 Votes
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