Graduate UK nurse making move to USA

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Hi,

I'm a graduate trained as an adult nurse in the UK! I currently have a job on an acute medical assessment ward and I'm looking at moving the USA in approx 1 year.

I spoke to a London based agency and they have advised me to apply to the CGFNS for credentials evaluation and apply to take my NCLEX.

They then told me to give them a call when the above is completed, and they contact hospitals/agencies in the USA to secure me a contract and visa!

I asked about making up of theory/practice hours and I was advised he has never come across a british adult trained nurse who has had any major issues with the credentials part. He did mention he had a woman who needed 20 hours extra mental health nursing, but was able to use her learning disabilities placement hours to cover this also.

Has anyone here made the move to the USA as a UK trained adult nurse and if so, how has the process been for you?

Hi Lou1991.

How is your process moving along?

I moved to Houston a couple of months ago and I work for one of the major health care systems in Houston. If you are thinking of moving to Houston there are tonnes of jobs for speciality areas for experienced nurses specifically. I am also an ER RN, and I see job postings for ER positions frequently.

you can message me privately if you want more info.

Cheers,

Laurie

Hi Laurie. Your post attracted me as you seem to have managed to move successfully to the USA. I am a UK nurse with 25 years of experience and currently working in a senior post. I am desperate to move to the USA. I have been looking at California but I need a tax code or social security number before I can even apply to see if I'm eligible to take the NCLEX. I am struggling to get a tax code and I'm not going to get a SS number. I am now looking for a state where it is easier to get the NCLEX so would appreciate all the advice I can get with tips of how to go about starting the process. I have even considered Texas but preferably the larger vibrant states. It will be good to know how you suceeded.

Thanks,

Amrat

Hey Everyone,

I just came across this post and thought I'd add my experiences so far of doing the same! Hopefully, it might be helpful to other people wondering about applying to the US.

I applied to CGFNS in Sept 2015 and got my final evaluation back in May 2016. I am an adult trained nurse and as expected did not get enough hours for midwifery and paediatrics. It took a long time to get the report as my school of nursing were particularly unhelpful and CGFNS only accepts paperwork via post which takes about 3 weeks each time. And when they do receive it, there's not much of a hurry to scan it and upload it on to their system! There was a lot of to and fro-ing as I wanted CGFNS to consider my PgDip in health visiting towards maternal/paediatric nursing hours. Long story short, they won't consider any post registration/post qualification modules. They literally just consider your pre-registration nursing and getting any other transcripts/degrees evaluated is a waste of time and money.

Despite not getting enough hours, I applied to the BON of my choice only to be told 8 weeks after I applied that I was deficient in those hours and I would need to make those hours up. Only hours at a US university would count. The BON I applied to could not tell me of any place in their state that could help me do this and that this was something that I had to find myself. I came to a dead end with this one too but not after shelling out more money for another evaluation (this time an academic one), because one admissions tutor at a university reckoned I might be able to do the required modules as freestanding modules. Then, when I applied, another admissions tutor for the course said that I couldn't.

However, what I did want to add was this.

After all those setbacks, I decided to ring round three UK based nursing agencies to see if could get any advice. The resounding response was they basically won't touch you until you have your NCLEX and license. Only one agency bothered to call me back and he was particularly helpful. According to him, most sponsored job contracts are 2-3 years in length and in the acute sector. This was particularly insightful for me as I'm a practice nurse and I like working in primary care. I was essentially told I'd need to go back to working in a hospital. Also, personally speaking, i'm not keen to be tied to working in the same place for so long!

What the recruiter did tell me was that in his opinion, the better option for me would be to re-apply to CGFNS and that I should draft a letter outlining the hours that I have done in child/maternal and mental health nursing and get someone from the school to sign this, preferably an academic lecturer then send this to CGFNS. He stated that we should have enough hours in our first year/CFP year of nursing. In his experience, this has worked for him to get British trained nurses into the US. He did not know of anyone managing to top up their hours in the US after they had got their CES back.

After all the setbacks, I'm still considering my options to be honest and wondering if Canada might not be a better fit for me personally. I'm not an acute nurse anymore and whilst I'm sure I could go back to being an acute nurse. I much prefer primary care nursing. I hope I haven't sounded too bitter whilst writing this, just thought i'd give an honest account of what it's been like.

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Freya008 for Canada you will still be required to have similar requirements as the US for your transcripts so if missing hours in training would still affect you, I do think however the provinces may make some exceptions if you can show courses done as post grad

Hi Silverdragon,

Thank you. Yes I'm aware of still needing to have the same hours in those disciplines in Canada but thankfully it seems that they have bridging type courses for nurses lacking in them!

Sadly I don't hold out much hope for them to consider my postgrad experience as NNAS is basically run by CGFNS.

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi Silverdragon,

Thank you. Yes I'm aware of still needing to have the same hours in those disciplines in Canada but thankfully it seems that they have bridging type courses for nurses lacking in them!

Sadly I don't hold out much hope for them to consider my postgrad experience as NNAS is basically run by CGFNS.

NNAS may not but some members have posted that the provincial colleges do take experience into account

Thanks for that! That's super useful to know!

Hi silverdragon,

You seem to have a lot of knowledge on the whole NCLEX and requirements from UK to USA. Im incredibly sorry if im repeating whats been said but i am so worried and need some advice.

I already have an E2 working resident visa. I will be moving to NJ next month with my husband. I've just started the whole CGFNS process and currently awaiting transcripts to be sent. Now, I know the process takes a while which is scary in itself but i am now worrying that as a UK degree nurse i wont meet certain requirements for child.mental health etc etc. what is the reality of passing this and working in the USA? and if i do not meet the requirements, can i sit som sort of extra class to enable me to be eligible? I feel upset if i have shelled out all of this money to then find out , actually i may as well have burnt it all haha.

What do i do!

Anyone else who has any up to date experience and advice please chip in too!!

Kind regards,

rosie

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi silverdragon,

You seem to have a lot of knowledge on the whole NCLEX and requirements from UK to USA. Im incredibly sorry if im repeating whats been said but i am so worried and need some advice.

I already have an E2 working resident visa. I will be moving to NJ next month with my husband. I've just started the whole CGFNS process and currently awaiting transcripts to be sent. Now, I know the process takes a while which is scary in itself but i am now worrying that as a UK degree nurse i wont meet certain requirements for child.mental health etc etc. what is the reality of passing this and working in the USA? and if i do not meet the requirements, can i sit som sort of extra class to enable me to be eligible? I feel upset if i have shelled out all of this money to then find out , actually i may as well have burnt it all haha.

What do i do!

Anyone else who has any up to date experience and advice please chip in too!!

Kind regards,

rosie

The US is General trained. The state will review your transcripts and make a decision and then you need to make up any deficiencies they say you need. To the best of my knowledge there are no courses in the UK unless you do the 18 month courses, if they are still done. Mainly you need to find Nursing schools in the US willing to help as long as approved by the BON

Thank you. I kind of get that now after reading other posts. I just don't know how some people got accepted and some didn't ? Surely uk trained is all the same ? Or does it depend on the placements you got?

So would my best bet be speaking with my bon to see what they think I need or will they not discuss until my ces report is complete.

Also- my bon are asking me for £200 to register with them even before I've passed any exam or even been told if I'm eligible. Is this just a way of making MORE money off us. Only to say actually you can't even work as a nurse sorry!!

Seems pretty unfair ?

X

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Thank you. I kind of get that now after reading other posts. I just don't know how some people got accepted and some didn't ? Surely uk trained is all the same ? Or does it depend on the placements you got?

So would my best bet be speaking with my bon to see what they think I need or will they not discuss until my ces report is complete.

Also- my bon are asking me for £200 to register with them even before I've passed any exam or even been told if I'm eligible. Is this just a way of making MORE money off us. Only to say actually you can't even work as a nurse sorry!!

Seems pretty unfair ?

X

The money to the state is to pay for your application. The BON can't give report until assessed your application and seen your CES report. Not all UK training is the same and some are fortunate to gain both clinical and theory hours in the areas required

Okay, so I have just found out I cannot register with my bon until I have a ssn? This can't be done until I'm actually in nj. I'm at a bit of a halt now because I can't get a ssn for about 6 weeks, to which I then need to register with bon, and my nmc has asked me to pay a fee to send my nursing PIN over but to ensure I have registered with the bon first! So again, am I right in thinking I can't do any of this now until I'm there in 6 weeks or so. I am so so confused with this whole process ������ help!

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