Prospective international nursing student in Canada

World Canada

Published

Hello everone,

I'm brand new here & would greatly appreciate any input. I apologize if this is a repeat topic, I have searched a lot before posting and there are a number of topics about nurses looking for work in the US or international nurses coming to CA, but that's about it.

I am a US citizen who would love a career change & to go live in Canada for a while. I'm fortunate to be able to pay foreign tuition and, after much online search, I've applied for the 2nd degree entry bachelor of nursing program @ Humber College. I found out that I was accepted by the end of February and I've been very excited about it, filling out immigration forms, selling furniture, etc so I can be there this coming Fall.

To my great surprise, it seems like I would not be able to get my nursing license after completion of the program because, even though I AM NOT a foreign nurse (I would become a nurse there in ON, Canada on a student visa) the nursing board in Ontario requires one to be a canadian citizen, permanent resident or refugee. How would I be able to practice, then? Can a get my license back in the US, even though all my nursing education was done in Canada and I would have no working experience? I'm not even sure if this is correct, maybe I misunderstood what I read because why even go to the trouble of moving to another country, paying foreign tuition, etc if I would be unable to pratctice later. Does anyone knows how this actually works? Nothing at all was mentioned @ Humber College while I was applying as an international student there. Please help! I dont want to find out about something like this halfway through getting my degree.

Hello everyone!

Nice to see you guys in there!

I am a international student from China and now I am studying PN program In Georgian college, Barrie Ontario.

It seems you guy are facing the same problems with me, I did lots research online but the information for us is so limited!

I think there is a good place for us to share the recent information.

I have heared the policy related to nursing has somewhat changed in otario last year that international students have no rights to write the CNO exam. I am not sure about this because I haven't find anything online yet, But there are someone I know actually quit the nursing program because of the poliy.....

I will tell everybody the newest information I get very soon!

good luck to all of us!

0 Votes
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Any information like that would be and should be stated on the College of Ontario website.

0 Votes

Hi,

Vimge4 and BryanWang: There is no issue with taking the exam. CNO will allow you to take the exam after you graduate an acceptable nursing program regardless of being an international student or not. I called them and also emailed them about the exam and the post-graduation work permit and their answer was that we should send them a copy of our post-graduation work permit to be submitted for approval. I have talked with the international office of my school and they have had plenty of nursing international students who did not have any problems registering with CNO and are now working as nurses in Ontario. But the post-graduation permit should be specified for work in healthcare since I think we'll need to go through a medical exam.

0 Votes

I actually called CNO last week as well about this and the info I got was very similar to what your last post says Kamae: That once we graduate and have a work permit, we should submit that instead of the citzenship/residency status documents and that would be reviewed by the board and once a decision is made, they could or could not allow us to get certification, but she did say that the decision is made based on the type of work permit we get, so just make sure we get an open work permit that allows us to work with healthcare. I wanted to ask at my school as well before posting here, but didn have time. Anyway, once i check with Humber about any prior international graduates and if there was ever any issues with CNO, I will post again and let you know.

0 Votes

Where are you going to find an Ontario healthcare employer to hire you when there are more than enough Ontario residents looking for work?

0 Votes

I don't know dishes. It's a lot harder for us because of course, there will always be a preference to hire permanent residents rather than international students. This is a huge risk for most of us because a lot of money is involved for something that has no assurance whatsoever. We're just hoping for a positive outcome really. I for one do not think I can just come in as a student and expect to get a job right away when there are so many residents who don't have jobs. That's why I'm doing everything I possibly can right now to actually deserve to be hired someday in healthcare (if I'm lucky enough- again, I am well aware I won't be a priority).

@vimge4: thanks a lot! do keep me posted.:)

0 Votes

thanks you guys for the info about sending a copy of our post-graduation work permit to be submitted for approval when registering for the licensing exam. this might delay when we can take the exam by a few months, however, so we should keep that in mind.

you have to take the medical exam prior to getting an off-campus work permit with no conditions, which ends up being the bulk of the cost. i don't know if we have to get another medical exam at each stage of the process or if once you get it you are okay for the next stage of the process.

my observation is that once you have graduated from a local program, and hopefully, got some experience along the way (and by default spend some years in canada), you are "local enough" to get hired, even if you aren't a pr or citizen. no one even asked to see my work permit for a year (!) after i started working at a hospital, and then only because my sin was eventually flagged in the database because it starts with a 9. if a local manager wants to hire you and you have a valid work permit, you will get hired.

0 Votes
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Medicals are valid for 12 months so as you move through the system and takes longer than 12 months and a medical is required then you will have to get one done

0 Votes

Congrats on surviving fall prep vimge4! Working as a PSW is a great idea. I am around both younger students who tend to work a lot while in nursing school and older students who tend not to (because they don't have to thanks to husband's income). The health care job experience the working ones get is definitely helpful. In a new grad nurse job market like the US, it is crucial. In Alberta you can get away without it.

Just curious. Do you know if the BN degrees of Canada are recognized in the US where BSNs are the norm?

0 Votes

I'm not really sure about that. I would think that any degree that is reconized here would be also fine there, but that is actually a valid point. The only thing I could actually find out about that is that if you were to persue further education (masters, for example) it is harder to be accepted into good, prestigious programs without the BSN.

BTW, I wanted to ask about the taxes break. So we can claim our high cost (almost crying) international tuition? I am doing my taxes right now and it would be great to include what was paid last year, but all I got from humber was the canadian form and a "talk with your tax advisor" line. I called IRS via Skype and after 40 min. wait was disconnected and havent got the courage to try again yet so it would be great if you could give me a tip on what it is that i should do.

Finally, thanks!! The fall semester @ humber was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but I'm glad it's over and now the fun is just starting. we'll see if I can get my Open Work Permit so I can try landing that PSW job. Thanks again!!

0 Votes

if i were applying for jobs in the us, i would be tempted to say i had a bsn, thinking it was equivalent, since they would not be very familiar with bns. i can't really see any difference between the two. but there are/were plenty of canadian nurses working in the us and many of them must have bns so maybe it is a non issue.

if you have the t2202a form from humber you can use the amount on it for your us taxes. but how much you can deduct depends on whether you qualify for the us programs (if it is your first degree or not, etc.). i would use turbotax or a similar tax program to get a general idea.

the canadian tuition tax deduction is more straightforward and you would be filing to bank your tuition tax deduction for future years when you are earning money in canada.

for canadian taxes ufile is free for students:

https://secure.drtax.ca/ufile/login.aspx

you can fill it out online, but your first tax form needs to be hard copy so you would print it out and send it to:

international tax services office

post office box 9769, station t

ottawa on k1g 3y4

0 Votes

don't listen to these ********... you surely can work in canada. student visa is for you to go to school not to work.... they have what's called "working visa" that allows you to work in canada you just have to apply for it and within about 3 months you'd have it... Canada need nurses!!! alll the collegues that graduate from here are running away to the states! so I think the hospitals here will be more than happy to hire you.( you still need take the registration exam before you get a license which all graduates have to go through..

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment