Nurse from the UK needing help :)

[Carys25]

Hi all!

I was wondering if I can get a little bit of help. I am actually from the United Kingdom, having trained as a general nurse in Edinburgh and worked in London for a year as a registered nurse, I took a year out to travel the world. Im now returning home and thinking about my options. My partner and I would one day LOVE to live and work in America...but I have no idea how to go about doing it. I will obviously need a bit more experience before even trying but does anyone know about things like Visas, job applications, tests etc that I would need to do having trained in the UK? Thank you!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Requirements for your RN will vary from state to state as well as type of UK training you received. Many UK nurses currently do not meet hours both clinical and theory in some areas that is required by the UK which are Paeds, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Adult. Some states now require a US SSN which you can not get until in the US on a valid work/immigrant visa. Suggest a good read in the Nurse registration forum. End result if passed requiremetns you will need to pass NCLEX to be able to work as RN in the US

Regarding immigration well that is another thing to go through and currently with retrogression and the high number of US nurses struggling to find work will be difficult as you do require a employer for work/immigrant visa. Work visa H1b requires minimum of BSN and if married your spouse can not work. Immigrant visa is currently taking over 6 years to get and many employers are not willing to wait that long therefore finding employer hard.Either way you have to be married if your partner plans on going with you and it can not be same sex marriage as that is currently not accepted by the US government in regards to immigration and work permit. Otherwise partner would have to get their own work/immigrant visa