american nursing student wants to work in Canada

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 21, 2008

I'm moving this to the International Forum as per the new guidelines for posting to the Canadian nurses forum. Any post relating to immigration and/or licensure from abroad must be posted to the International Forum. I'm also changing the thread title to reflect that the question in the post pertains to Canada.

suzanne4, RN · Feb 21, 2008

Canada requires that you have a local license, so that means that you will have to write the NCLEX-RN exam before you even apply to the province that you are interested in for licensure.

Then it also depends on what type of training that you will have received and the province that you wish to work in. Many of them are now requiring the BSN for initial licensure. Which means that the ADN will not be accepted if they have the four year requirement for that province.

There are links on the Canadian forum for contact numbers for the individual provinces, they function just like the individual BONs that we have here in the US.

Best of luck to you.

spiritmagejkt · Feb 22, 2008

There maybe a work experience requirement. I had to go through extensive testing which included written multiple choice, fill in blank and essay questions, an oral exam and clinical exams. Then you sit the equivalent to NCLEX. There are subjects on the test not covered in NCLEX, so you need the Canadian study guide. Each provence is different and there isn't as much reciprocity as in the US. I would get the process started for the license and take it from there. Its a bit tedious but I made it through okay so far.

jen

suzanne4, RN · Feb 22, 2008

The US actually does not have reciprocity between licenses, only the NCLEX exam has it. Any applicant that wishes to get a license in another state in the US must go thru the endorsement process and meet the requirements of the new state.

And not all nursing programs meet all requirements anymore.