American nurse wanting to work in the UK

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Finding it difficult to work through all the red tape to work as a nurse in the UK. Application to nmc is the only accomplishment i have made at this point. On obtaining a work visa, i am very confused. The British Embassy is stating that i require a sponsership for promised employment? I understand that there are agencies in the UK who offer sponserships; however, you are then only able to work for that one agency/hospital while in the UK. This does not sound like something i want...what if i find a different nursing position that is more suitable? Is there anyone out there who has gone through the process to work in the UK who may give some advise?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Finding it difficult to work through all the red tape to work as a nurse in the UK. Application to nmc is the only accomplishment i have made at this point. On obtaining a work visa, i am very confused. The British Embassy is stating that i require a sponsership for promised employment? I understand that there are agencies in the UK who offer sponserships; however, you are then only able to work for that one agency/hospital while in the UK. This does not sound like something i want...what if i find a different nursing position that is more suitable? Is there anyone out there who has gone through the process to work in the UK who may give some advise?

Have you tried approaching a hospital in the area/town/city of where you would like to live?

http://www.nhs.uk or http://www.hospitals-uk.com

I think the problem is that you need a sponsership to work in the UK for a certain time before looking else where. I think you can look for work in other hospitals if you don't like where you are working but I am sure they have to be willing to take on your sponsership. I think there is a US nurse working in scotland but at the moment I forgotten her name but I am sure she will add something to this

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Hiya

Kaylesh here.. I think i'm the american rn working in Scotland that folks are talking about.

In order to work here you as you know have to have been accepted by tne NMC.

You have to have a employer sponsered work permit. I got my original one via a agency which was based in England but doesn't seen to be there anymore.

The agency itself helped in finding a hospital willing to deal with the expense and paperwork of the work permit.

THe work permit ties you to that particular employer.You can't change employers without finding another employer that is willing to sponser another work permit.

After being here for four years continously on a work permit you are then allowed to apply/pay for whats called Indefinate Leave to Remain which bascially allows you to work for whomever you want.

Its at the point that you get the ILR that you can change jobs when you want and go where in the UK you want without having to worry about work permits.. So basically you are treated the same as any other UK nurse at that point.

Hope this hasn't confused you more.

Kaylesh

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:) Thank you so much for your imput!!! I do appreciate the information. so, for anyother us nurse out there who wants to work in the UK: First have your licensure as an RN transfered and approved by the NMC, find an Employer in the UK to list on your Visa Requirement, and then apply for your visa. Now that isn't too painfull!!! imagine how i felt when the nmc first told me that i needed a visa first with promised work. employers told me that i needed nmc first, and the brittish embassy told me that i needed a promised employment first. It was enough to make your head spin!!!!! I can't thank you guys enough for helping me figure this out!!! Looking forward to working in the UK!!!!

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:) Thank you so much for your imput!!! I do appreciate the information. so, for anyother us nurse out there who wants to work in the UK: First have your licensure as an RN transfered and approved by the NMC, find an Employer in the UK to list on your Visa Requirement, and then apply for your visa. Now that isn't too painfull!!! imagine how i felt when the nmc first told me that i needed a visa first with promised work. employers told me that i needed nmc first, and the brittish embassy told me that i needed a promised employment first. It was enough to make your head spin!!!!! I can't thank you guys enough for helping me figure this out!!! Looking forward to working in the UK!!!!

You need to have and keep up your US license.. have the NMC licensure.. have the job with work permit set up.As if you have the work permit it shows the UK government that you have a valid job offer,since you can't get the job offer without the work permit. As i said the agency i dealt with handled the work permit application with the hospital that offered me the job.. I couldn't make the move until the work permit paperwork was in my hands while still in the US. Hospitals also now require a criminal reference check which is required before employment. That can take some time as well.That wasn't required (the criminal ref check) when i first came over.Though now every employer is required by law to have it with any job that is health care related

Hope what i am typing makes sense.. If not feel free to PM me :)

Kaylesh

.

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Hi there,

Kaylesh ... once in one of your posts you said that you were working for an agency in Scotland which paid you quite well. Can you please tell me the name of that agency? I'm trying to find a good opportunity so that I can start a new life in UK, preferably in Scotland.

Thanks for all your help and advice you give in your posts!

Regards,

Jef

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Hiya

It was called The Scottish Nursing Guild. Not worked for them in about three years as many of the NHS health trusts stopped using them cos they were soooo expensive. Some of the trusts are still using them for specialty areas such as ICU's NICU's etx. However it was one that i worked at after I had my dual citizenship so i have no idea if they would sponser a work permit and/or hire someone without the right to work in the UK. As has been said you must register with the NMC(uks nursing licensing agency) and there are other things one must do now to be able to work here in UK. The best folks to get in touch with are the NMC to find the current rules and regs of nursing in the UK. As well as getting in touch with The Scottish Nursing Guild(they have a website) just do a search for it. I can't remember the web addy.

Hope that info helps. If you have further questions feel free to ask i shall try to answer. if i can't i'll let you know :).

Im currently on holidlay so may not respond right away.

Kay

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Hi Kaylesh,

Thanks for your reply. I'm currently doing the NMC registration. It shouldn't be difficult to be accepted by the NMC as I'm from Malta an Eu country, apart from that my nursing course was set up on EU standards. Hopefully it won't take so long.

Thanks once again .. you were really helpful!

Hope you have a nice holiday! :nuke:

Regards,

Jef

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