need some info pls

Hi, Go to the Board of Registered Nursing website for CA www.rn.ca.gov

I don't know if you can apply for a CA license immediately, since you went to school in OK. You might have to apply for a license in OK, and then get a CA endorsement. Please check the website, since I am no expert on the licensing rules. You should be able to apply for the OK license even though you live in CA, and you can sit for the NCLEX anywhere in the country---you do not have to be in OK to take the test itself. Also, the CA application process takes a pretty long time...they handle a lot of folks! If you were to apply in OK, get the OK license, and then apply for a CA endorsement, the CA Board would probably get you a temp CA license fairly quickly... Again, I am not sure about any of this info.... please check that website. Good luck!

Right now the Bay Area is one of the hardest to get hired in as a new grad. There are quite a few nursing schools in the area as well so that makes it even harder to find a job. Most of the facilities only offer new grad programs two to three times per year and they are going to want you to have a license in hand before you can begin.

You will be in a much better place if you have the exam already written and passed before you apply, especially since you are from out of state. The grads from CA are able to write the NCLEX right away as well.

Much has already been written on this topic here, please just do a search. The other newer issue that you up is that hospitals are even cancelling out new grad programs in sone areas where the nurse was already hired and given a start date. Things are economically quite bad in the area as well.

Wish I could tell you that you will be able to find a job right away, but that is not going to be the case at all. We are telling everyone to make sure that they have a job before moving to the Bay Area, things are that bad and especially for a new grad. Those with at least two years of experience in a specialty area are even not finding things as easy right now. Lay-offs and hiring freezes are also in place at several facilities.

Best of luck to you.
(p.s. Licensing usually takes about 6 to 8 weeks before you will get permission to sit for the NCLEX if you have trained in the US.)

Do you have a visa that will permit you to work here since you state that you are not a citizen?
Do you have a SSN#? If not, then CA will not issue a license to you.

If you are on the OPT, this means that you are under the F-1 visa. You are not going to be able to get hired in any hospital in the Bay Area at this time. New grad programs start in a couple of weeks, so you are looking at the summer at the earliest and chances are going to be slim at that as well.

The major issue for you is that once your OPT is completed, you are not going to have the documentation to be able to continue to work here and there are no visas for you to adjust to. I wish that this information would have been given to you before you moved here. There are many that do not need petitioning that are unable to find work at this time.

You are going to have to try nursing homes if you care to work at this time. I wish you the best of luck. You may wish to check out the International Forum as well since much of this is covered there.

We are also telling people not to move up here unless they have a job already lined up. Things are that bad. The area has about a 10% unemployment rate as well.

Please check out the International Forum that can be found above the state threads. There is much information that you need to be aware of.

I understand completely about the OPT, it is used by many foreign nurses that train in the US and are under the F-1 visa. The issue is that there is an over-saturation of new grads in the Bay Area to begin with, so chances of getting a job are quite slim as a start. Add into it the fact that you are only going to be able to work the remainder of your OPT and you are going to find that you are not going to get hired. It makes no sense for a facility to invest in a new nurse that is not going to be able to remain there to work after the 9 months or so that you have left.

And waiting until summer, when there is even a larger group of new grads out is only going to give you a month or two at best with the OPT if you already have it.

You are going to have to try a nursing home, that is going to be your only option at this time. Forget about hospitals. There are more than 250 applicants for about 15 to 20 openings and we have even seen some new nurses post that got hired and then there new grad orientation got cancelled. It costs a facility quite a bit of money for every nurse that they hire.

One of the worst locales for having a chance of getting hired as a new grad in the US is the Bay Area.
You will not be able to get into a new grad program in the summer in any form as your OPT will expire and then you will not be able to work here. The OPT is never extended for any reason. Once it is issued, then no changes can be made to it.

Definitely do some reading on the International Forum for more specifics that you need to be aware of.