American Nurses in U.K

kaitfinder, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2019

That is true, there is a £400/yr of visa charge; it’s called the Immigration Health Surcharge Fee and is required in order to use the NHS facilities as a resident. However, most hospitals will pay this fee on your behalf, as well as your visa application fee. Try to search for a hospital trust that will pay this. The IHS fee has been around for many years, however they just recently (June? Sometime in 2019) increased it from £200 to £400.

For example, a work visa tier 2 (standard for nursing) is a 3 year work visa; erego, the IHS fee would be £1200. If you decide to take up permanent residence in the UK and apply for permanent leave to remain, you no longer have to pay the IHS fee.

MissPosh08 · Sep 21, 2019

4 hours ago, kaitfinder said:
@babyNP.
That is true, there is a £400/yr of visa charge; it’s called the Immigration Health Surcharge Fee and is required in order to use the NHS facilities as a resident. However, most hospitals will pay this fee on your behalf, as well as your visa application fee. Try to search for a hospital trust that will pay this. The IHS fee has been around for many years, however they just recently (June? Sometime in 2019) increased it from £200 to £400.
For example, a work visa tier 2 (standard for nursing) is a 3 year work visa; erego, the IHS fee would be £1200. If you decide to take up permanent residence in the UK and apply for permanent leave to remain, you no longer have to pay the IHS fee.

Random question, but if you wanted to would you be able to apply for permanent citizenship? It’s a goal of mine to work as a nurse in the U.K., so I’m just curious about the process.

kaitfinder, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2019

35 minutes ago, MissPosh08 said:
Random question, but if you wanted to would you be able to apply for permanent citizenship? It’s a goal of mine to work as a nurse in the U.K., so I’m just curious about the process.

Hey!

Yes you can apply for permanent citizenship. To do so, you first must apply for Indefinite Leave To Remain and then, once granted, apply for UK citizenship.

To apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain you must have had permanent residence in the UK for at least 5 years.

You do not need to be a citizen or have indefinite leave to remain to practice as a nurse in the UK.

Temi1234 · Sep 22, 2019

@kaitfinder

How is Oxford like, is it safe to live in for individuals and children. I got a job from Oxford but people have been saying, the cost of living is high. Also, do you do side jobs.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 22, 2019

To give you an idea on cost of living check out supermarkets Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s. For rental check out rightmove.co.uk and type in Oxford. I didn’t live in Oxford but passed through several times and seems a pretty place and no worse crime then other places. Don’t forget in the UK you don’t pay taxes at the till unlike the US and Canada. Prices you see are what you pay

Temi1234 · Sep 22, 2019

23 minutes ago, Silverdragon102 said:
To give you an idea on cost of living check out supermarkets Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s. For rental check out rightmove.co.uk and type in Oxford. I didn’t live in Oxford but passed through several times and seems a pretty place and no worse crime then other places. Don’t forget in the UK you don’t pay taxes at the till unlike the US and Canada. Prices you see are what you pay

OK thanks

kaitfinder, BSN, RN · Sep 22, 2019

1 hour ago, Temi1234 said:
@kaitfinder
How is Oxford like, is it safe to live in for individuals and children. I got a job from Oxford but people have been saying, the cost of living is high. Also, do you do side jobs.

Oxford has a more expensive cost of living than other places as it's a major city that is fairly affluent, however you can still find cheaper places to live, especially if you live outside the city center. Also if you have a roommate it makes it much more cheap. The expensive part is the housing; food and utilities are roughly the same or cheaper if you know where to shop than they were in America. Gas (petrol) is more expensive, if you plan on having a car. It's not necessary to have a car, as public transportation is readily available in most areas.

Compared to America, it is fairly safe, as safe as most anywhere in the UK. Guns aren't legal and generally violent crime feels fairly low in Oxford. As a female, I feel much safer than I did in most places I lived in America. Of course there are more dangerous areas of every city and common sense is necessary but overall it feels safer, especially outside the city. I often see younger (10 years old? 12 maybe?) walking to and from school without an adult. Don't know the per capita crime rates but personally I feel more safe.

@Temi1234

Also, if you get a work visa as a nurse in the UK you can only work as a nurse, no side jobs aside from that. However, you can do extra work as a nurse as long as you stay under contract with the hospital who signed your Certificate of Sponsorship (required to secure a visa).

MavWreck · Oct 9, 2019

I'm curious about the salaries. I've seen that NHS RNs average around 17GBP per hour (around $21). Is that accurate? I know health care professions in general don't pay as much as the US, but that seems significantly lower. I have some debt so I'm just wondering if I'd be able to afford living there on an RN salary.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Oct 9, 2019

1 hour ago, MavWreck said:
I'm curious about the salaries. I've seen that NHS RNs average around 17GBP per hour (around $21). Is that accurate? I know health care professions in general don't pay as much as the US, but that seems significantly lower. I have some debt so I'm just wondering if I'd be able to afford living there on an RN salary.

Check this out. Nurses start band 5. This is for England

https://nursingnotes.co.uk/agenda-for-change-pay-scales-2019-2020/

MavWreck · Oct 9, 2019

4 minutes ago, Silverdragon102 said:
Check this out. Nurses start band 5. This is for England
https://nursingnotes.co.uk/agenda-for-change-pay-scales-2019-2020/

So that is accurate then. So looking at the numbers, nurses make about 5-7k (GBP) less than the average salary in the UK where as in the US they make about 5-7k more.

babyNP., APRN · Oct 9, 2019

Nurses in the UK used to have something called "bursaries" where their tuition was (mostly if not all) paid for, some even got stipends, so there was little to no student loan debt unlike the US. If you have a lot of debt, it might be difficult, depending on your lifestyle. Certainly it's doable, but for example, space is much more limited. My in-laws (DH is English) were middle class and they had what looked like a college style small fridge and apartment style small washer. Their bedrooms could fit a bed and not much else. They lived in a suburb in northern England, so not like a high cost of living area comparatively.

Fresh food is cheaper in the UK on average, because the farmers get subsidies to encourage this. But sales tax (called VAT) is otherwise 20% (generally not applied to regular groceries). National tax is starts at 20% (after a personal allowance, similar to a standard deduction).

Despite this- I would argue that the average person in the UK is much better off than the average person in the US. But one might quibble when you compare nurses in the countries when looking at finances. However, there's a lot of other factors at play like free healthcare, the fact that guns are basically outlawed (and very few criminals have them anymore), worker protections, and vacation (usually at least 5 weeks, sometimes more), plus the EU freedom of movement. Oh wait...lol.

kaitfinder, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2019

9 hours ago, MavWreck said:
I'm curious about the salaries. I've seen that NHS RNs average around 17GBP per hour (around $21). Is that accurate? I know health care professions in general don't pay as much as the US, but that seems significantly lower. I have some debt so I'm just wondering if I'd be able to afford living there on an RN salary.

The link @Silverdragon102 posted is correct, more or less. The pay is actually much less than what I received in the US but I make up most of the difference by not having to pay health insurance, low car maintenance costs, cost of my personal living, etc. You can pay off debt on this salary, but it would depend on how much debt you have and how quickly you're trying to pay it off. If it's debt you accrued in America from schooling I can probably assume it's not a small amount, so definitely consider how much you'll be able to pay off on a £23500 yearly wage with at least £500 for rent/utilities.

I actually find fresh food to be more expensive in most areas with less selection and poorer quality of fresh produce than I previously found. I used to live in Atlanta near a large farmers' market that generally was cheaper with better quality. However, meat prices in the UK are cheaper and the quality of the meat in the UK is much, much better.

Just a quick note about vacation, I get 5 weeks paid vacation yearly at a minimum. Far more than the 2 weeks I was getting in America. When you only work 3 days a week, this adds up pretty fast. EU freedom of movement doesn't really affect you if you're coming from a country outside the EU, so I wouldn't worry about it if that's you.