Graduate UK nurse making move to USA

World Immigration

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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?

What type of visa will you be entering the USA on? VWP? Family? Work?

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

US nurses are generalist trained so you will need adult,paeds, OB/gyn and mental health on your transcript .

Working visa - been advised there will be sponsorship from employer

loriangel 14

I did ask this because it is what I said. Before registering in the UK we have to meet general nursing requirements and an EU declaration is signed that I have had exposure/training in child, obs, mental health and learning disabilities.

Has anybody gone through this process with an adult nursing degree and what was their outcome?

I wonder what the agency is up to? In many areas the US job market is saturated with local qualified nurses and employers have no need to utilize recruitment agencies. You should look into licensing requirements through the state BON on your own, you should not rely on advice from an agency recruiter who has incentive to lie to you.

1 Votes

dishes

I know I thought the same. I dont know where their incentive comes from because they gave me all the relevant advice i.e/ apply to CGFNS putting texas as the state board and then take NCLEX. Once all that is sorted, call them. They said they supply UK nurses to diff hospitals in places like Houston, Phoenix and have a range of large teaching hospitals to smaller rural area's that cannot seem to reccruit nurses. They assured me they do not ask for a penny and they get paid by the hospital to recruit. He advised the employer would sponser me and pay for my visa and he has had nurses go over recently to work in texas from the UK. He said if there is any problems with my CGFNS then he will help me to sort out any missing hours... ?

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.
loriangel 14

I did ask this because it is what I said. Before registering in the UK we have to meet general nursing requirements and an EU declaration is signed that I have had exposure/training in child, obs, mental health and learning disabilities.

Has anybody gone through this process with an adult nursing degree and what was their outcome?

Exposure doesn't count. It would have to be on the transcript from your schooling and it would have to meet the hours required by the state for theory and clinical hours.

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Your transcripts must show clinical and theory hours in Paeds, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Adult. If he is telling you otherwise he doesn't know what he is talking about. We have had a few members post that they trained in the UK and had issues registering with a state. Only real way to find out is apply and see what the BON says. Regarding working rights I would check and be clear in what they are sponsoring you for. Immigrant visa is the one that nurses mostly come under although sometimes they may want to go for H1b but that usually is available April for Oct start and is a lottery unless the employer is fortunate to not be affected by the cap and can be applied for anytime

dishes

I know I thought the same. I dont know where their incentive comes from because they gave me all the relevant advice i.e/ apply to CGFNS putting texas as the state board and then take NCLEX. Once all that is sorted, call them. They said they supply UK nurses to diff hospitals in places like Houston, Phoenix and have a range of large teaching hospitals to smaller rural area's that cannot seem to reccruit nurses. They assured me they do not ask for a penny and they get paid by the hospital to recruit. He advised the employer would sponser me and pay for my visa and he has had nurses go over recently to work in texas from the UK. He said if there is any problems with my CGFNS then he will help me to sort out any missing hours... ?

I am from Texas. I would be skeptical, and as long as they are not asking for money then I would proceed with caution.

I don't see any reason to import nurses to USA. Students can attend a community college and get a 2 year degree and become a RN. So we have plenty of people to fill nursing jobs, and with the thriving economy in Texas we have people from all over USA and world coming her to live and they also can supply the labor.

The days of importing nurses via work visa are a thing of the past.

I agree with PinayUSA, I am a nurse in Toronto and know that if Phoenix and Houston hospitals were not able to recruit American nurses, their next step would be to recruit nurses through job fairs in large Canadian cities, (they did this until the global market dipped in 2008). The reasons to recruit Canadian nurses before UK nurses are;

US and Canada have a NAFTA agreement and Canadian nurses can be hired via TN visas

Canadian nurses are similar to the US in that they are generalist trained

Canadian nurses take the same national licensing exam as US nurses (the NCLEX)

Recruiters can be more confident of a Canadian becoming licensed in the US than a UK nurse.

If the recruiter receives commission for getting internationally educated nurses to sign on with the agency, they have incentive to misinform potential applicants.

I am from Texas. I would be skeptical, and as long as they are not asking for money then I would proceed with caution.

I don't see any reason to import nurses to USA. Students can attend a community college and get a 2 year degree and become a RN. So we have plenty of people to fill nursing jobs, and with the thriving economy in Texas we have people from all over USA and world coming her to live and they also can supply the labor.

The days of importing nurses via work visa are a thing of the past.

Wow, you've changed your tune. You usually are urging phillipino nurses to come to the US

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