Australia to Chicago

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Hi I live in Australia and am looking at the expense and viability of coming over to Chicago to work - any comments would be great and if anyone has any questions on nursing in Australia feel free to ask

Cheers

NurseyT

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

What visa are you looking at? Meeting requirements can also be an issue, we have had a few Australian nurses have issues in the same way some UK nurses have issues because they have reduced hours in some areas both clinical and theory in Paeds, Mental Health, Obstetrics.

Check out the NCLEX forum in the student section and moving this to the International forum. There are a few threads there of Australian nurses moving to the US as well as a thread in the NCLEX forum of a couple of Australian nurses studying for NCLEX

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Thanks for the info, I'll check out the international site. I gained my degree in New Zealand so am not sure how that will hold up with the US.

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Specializes in ED, L+D,.

NurseyT - Can't help you with the info on working in chicago - but as for getting NCLEX with a NZ degree.... I had no problem having my NZ degree recognised in USA for registration. We're lucky in NZ as we are comprehensively trained nurses, so most of us coming through have the requirements for psych, maternity and pediatrics. Many australian nurses do not include maternity in their training, so have problems there.

When you apply - make sure when you ask for your nursing school to send transcripts, get them to send transcripts AND course descriptions, as this helps the US nursing board determine if the courses match theirs.

I found the NCLEX exam to be demanding, but once you understand how to answer the questions its not so bad. The hardest part is getting a job and visa to work over in USA! As you'll see from many others, retrogression pretty much prevents us from getting over there in a hurry. There is a special class visa if you have an australian passport though.

Hope this helps some,

Bec

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Hi Bec

Thats great to know - can you tell me which US Nursing Board you applied to if you don't mind. I was thinking of applying via Vermont.

Cheers

Christine

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Specializes in ED, L+D,.

I applied through California - but I applied before I found this site, because if i knew then what i know now I certainly wouldn't have bothered!!!

Plus now Cali needs a SSN, so unless you have one, you wouldn't be able to apply there anyway.

I've heard that Vermont is good to apply to for international nurses. Which ever board you apply through, there are lots of hoops to jump through regardless, so be prepared to have a LOT of patience!

Good luck :)

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Thanks Bec, very helpful

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