my friend is flying to British Columbia this september

[RJmanuone]

Hey there dear nurses,

My buddy during Nursing Grads, has made a career plan to move to BC, Canada. He has been advised by a consultancy in India to pick up a two year study program 'Social Service Worker' for migration and job prospectus...

Canadian friends kindly give your opinion on this... He is a nursing graduate who has fairly good communication in English IELTS score of 6.5, and my doubt is why he has to take up a program that is 'social service worker' does that relate to be a career perspective of nurses?

If it is a yes, then what are the career prospectus of the program... also please do give an idea of the average salary in BC.

And he has no idea of French, does he need to do his homework in French in any case

He is from Kerala, India (Asia).

Thanks in advance.

Bonjour.

[loriangel14, RN]

Social Service Worker will have nothing to do with nursing and will not have any effect on immigrating or getting a job. Your friend needs to look into what kind of visa he can qualify for and apply for a nursing license in the province that he wants to work in.What is he flying to BC for? You can't apply for a visa or immigraion from within Canada. You need to get that all organized before hand. He will not be required to know French unless he wants to work in Quebec.

[Fiona59]

I imagine that your friend will be staying in the lower mainland and is hoping to settle there?

The cost of living is very high there. There isn't a shortage of nurses. There are at least five nursing programmes that I can think of that graduate nurses each year.

Healthcare funding is pretty much frozen across Canada right now, our economy is kind of down. So hiring preference is given to new grads. Unless he has several years of a specialty (OR, ICU, etc) it doesn't look good.

Oh, and the course? Sounds like a fundraiser for a visa company.

[RJmanuone]

Oh, and the course? Sounds like a fundraiser for a visa company.

haha... i too thought of the same... and he has around 3 years of experience India, no canadian/international experience...

I'll covey the message to him... thank you fiona59... take care...

[RJmanuone]

thank you loriangel14

...friend needs to look into what kind of visa he can qualify for and apply for a nursing license in the province that he wants to work in.What is he flying to BC for? You can't apply for a visa or immigraion from within Canada...

He said the visa is 2year study permit and 3 year work permit... And about nursing license i think CRNE can only be taken from within Canadian provinces...

[loriangel14, RN]

Where did he get the permits from? Did he already go though the Canadian government to get these visas? Has he applied for a nursing license yet? Is he enrolled in this program for the fall? If he is coming ona student visa he has to be accpeted first.