I have some questions if anyone with experience can help. E3 visa.
I have a Bachelors degree in nursing- Bachelor of Nursing Science.
I have RN and advance EEN (LPN) experience in Nephrology and dialysis and emergency.
I chose the Child Client- as my elective, as in Australia we don't do paeds or OB as part of the usual curriculum. I'm hoping that my 6 month elective will suffice for the paeds part. The OB part i have no idea how to gain as you would have to do the midwifery degree here in Australia. (any help help would be greatly appreciated!)
I would prefer not to go with nursing agencies- such as Avant and conexus- i think its because i think they are all fake.
Questions:
1. Confused on NCLEX, you have to apply to BON in the state you would like to work, but when i go on their websites, it seems like some require you to already have passed the NCLEX, which is rather confusing.
2. Do you have to go through the CGFNS before you can sit NCLEX so they can determine if your degree is good enough?
3. Is it a back and forth thing between applying to your BON and sitting for NCLEX, like half the application is filled then you can sit NCLEX and then the rest is processed after NCLEX is passed?
4. Has anyone from Australia been successful in getting hired in the US without an agency? I would like to work in the south either Arkansas, Ohio or Kentucky. Would you say the process was nearly impossible to trying to apply by yourself?
I get asked this all the time: "why do you want to work there (USA)?
Ill clarify: I feel the US is my home, i have been going there my whole life, my nana is an american citizen, her mother is also one and her husband (my great grandad) a Native American Indian, my mother was born in the US military in Singapore to an Australian father who had the choice of her having either a Singapore passport american passport or Australian, he chose Australian, so i am unable to petition for any US visa other then working. We have been trying for a family visa for nearly 10 years but due to the year my mum was born the laws have not been grandfathered for women to take citizenship from their mother.
Hey there! Well - in the end I called about 50 different schools and of those who I got a response from, only a handful actually offer the OB and Peds classes as solo classes outside of a degree program. Actually, reading back through the responses above - nothing has really changed. I registered with one of the colleges that appeared to require the least amount of malarchy to take the course, however the first opportunity to take the first pre-Rec class isn't till the end of the year, then there's a test, and then - after those two things, I still have to wait for a place in the actual courses I need - it could take years! Frankly, my plans have changed a bit anyway and I'm now in the process of moving to Europe.....which means getting registered in the U.K. so now I'm facing this testing and prep - but at least it's just testing (like the NCLEX) and I don't actually have to repeat courses.
It was all a bit disheartening, the California business. Thanks for asking though!
Hello ! I'm an Australian RN from Melbourne that is extremely interested in working in the United States. Interested in working in Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, Arizona or North Carolina. Any advice on where to begin would be so helpful. I believe that I will probably be in the same boat and lacking obsetrics and potentially paediatric hours. Im from Melbourne Australia is there anywhere I could make up these hours?
Hey there! I see someone gave a good reply to your question. The only things I would add are just from my own experience. I was living in New York when I initially got my registration and the board of nursing there was very helpful about the process I needed to go through - you're going to have to pick one state and follow their process. The only state I know for sure requires more peds and ob is California, I think you should be fine with most of the others.
My first step with going through CGFNS for the verification process. This was the longest part of the whole thing and took several months. You can do this in Australia I believe. The entire registration process for me was almost exactly one year, so definitely start now! After my degree was verified with CGFNS, this information was sent to the board of nursing (which I had concurrently applied to when I applied through CGFNS) in New York and I was cleared to take the NCLEX. I studied for a month or two for this using an NCLEX review book published by Saunders. I also used videos and info online. As you'll find, taking the NCLEX is just as much about learning to take the test (the style of questions, the pace of the exam etc) as it is about your knowledge so I would highly recommend a book that offers a lot of practice tests/questions. Once you pass the test registration comes through very quickly.
So I would start by calling the board of nursing that you want to register with - then get your CGFNS application going ASAP.
Let me know if you want more specific info about any of this! I did mine over 4 years ago now so I'm slightly dusty on the details but can look it all up easily if you need more detail!
I also would love to know if at any point during the cgfns process did they they ask for high school/ secondary school results? My only concern is I didn't finish my final year in high school but became a nurse as a mature aged student later on. Will this be a problem
Hi..thanks for the reply.:-)sorry just want to ask,are you currently working now in the US in which states are you right now?so you applied for a NY BON?i think i will also go on that pathway..thanks again.
Yes, I'm still working in the US. I work in Washington state now. I have registration in both NY and WA. I originally got my registration through NY. Didn't have any issues with getting registration in WA after NY, it just took a little longer than usual because they need to check international qualifications etc, no additional study or exams though. I believe that's the case for most states except California, but I would check if you have your heart set on somewhere. New York is a fantastic place to practice. The City generally has great wages for nurses....WA, not so much - I took a big pay cut to move here. It's not like Aus with national pay rates - it varies wildly from hospital to hospital, state to state - even within hospital departments. Maybe factor that in as well!
Hi Ausnurse720, do you mind sharing how many theory and clinical hours in pediatrics and obstetrics you had when your transcript was evaluated by cgfns? Thats wonderful that they didn't find educational deficienciesí ½í¸Š
OK, so here we are Aussie Registered Nurse wanting to work in the USA / North America, Canada is almost the same as United States . . .
You must be a REGISTERED NURSE, EEN etc are not eligible, this is a DOL ruling saying us jobs are only available to DEGREE professions regardless of experience.
Your academic grades need to be converted into american via a transcript agency, this will involve many hundreds of dollars and take a few months. the university results must be posted DiRECTLY from your college, send them REGISTERED MAIL since mine were ' misplaced ' twice.
you must nominate the USA State you wish to work in since each state is licenced seperately, there is a national licence avail for the middle 25 states, but generally coastal states each req a sep lic.
once your grades are converted you will be an ASSOCIATE degree nurse, usually because most Oz RN courses lack hours in maternity, mental and peads.
once your grades are converted your USA state will give you permission to test for the NCLEX. the NCLEX is to make sure your safe to practice (only 30% of first time international nurses pass first time ) i passed after six hours and 245 questions, 85% of usa nurses pass in one hour with 150 questions.
you only must pass the nclex once in your lifetime, renewal for each state is 2 years and has several mandatory CPD subjects, hours are similar to Oz RN rego.
you CANNOT pick up your licence without a SS# social security number [ this is what ended my attempts ]. you need a sponsor and they are hard to find. they must prove they cannot find a USA RN and generally most employers will not go to that extra effort for you.
i was offered a three year contract in nebraska or NYC to get a free and clear usa social security number but i am over 50 and did not pursue that avenue. generally sponsorships are for less desirable placements.
holidays and salary are via negotiation, expect 2 or 3 weeks and do not expect working conditions like you would find in Oz. Generally it is best to specialise and get some experience in your chosen speciality and then ; yes you guessed it . . . sit a special exam as a credential that certifies your speciality nursing skills. But normally this requires 2 or 3 years of work within that chosen field.
so here comes the " catch 22 " you need a sponsor, they do the paperwork for you to work for them as an RN. But you cannot collect your state licence until you have a SS#. thus you cannot call yourself an RN ( penalty is 7 years jail ). And without your licence you cannot apply for a job as an RN in order to find a sponsoring employer ...
Should you actually find a sponsor you can apply for a work H1B1 visa, this is by application only to be completed within your home country (Australia ) generally this takes 3 or more likely 5 years since your competing against all professions for all countries.
However Aussies can get an E3 visa work this can be applied for from within the USA and lasts 2 years. There are 10,000 E3 visas available and never have more than 5,ooo been used in any one year. You must prove you plan on leaving america at the end of your two year tour ( that you always will plan on exiting america ) at the end of your 2 year E3 visa tour. But E3 visas are renewable indefinitely ...
most usa nursing agencies req one year of experience as an RN within north america. most placement agencies require you to be permanently employed in Australia for greater than one year currently before they will advance your application to a USA employer . . .
you can always apply to emigrate to the USA as an RN if you have two years experience ( in the past 5 years ) of current professional RN work history. You can always apply yearly for the green card lottery ( for FREE ) but this is pure luck, no one can help you get a greater chance to win this lottery; it is only open for one month per year, generally around October ...
LoL and of course you can get married to an American , this is an involved process and carries heavy penalties both for you and the American if immigration considers your marriage not to be genuine. In addition , you can visit USA for 90 days only via your passport, a visa requires an interview in sydney and is valid for travel for 6 months. Do not overstay your visa; again huge penalties ! ! !
Hey there! Looks like you have a loads of info about NCLEX etc. Just wanted to comment that I've been employed in both New York (Manhattan - where I sat the NCLEX) and Washington (Seattle) without an agency. You don't need an agency at all. A lot of hospitals have open days for employment and I made some HR connections going to those - these were advertised on Indeed.com. In Seattle I simply applied for jobs online as you would in Australia.
Keep in mind that resumes here was usually only one page.
I have recently run into trouble getting my California registration though - this state requires more OB and Peds hours unfortunately. Still working on what I'm going to do there but so far in other states I haven't have any trouble.
Hope this helps!
Hi Ausnirse720
just quick question...
when you say cali bon needed more ped and obs hours.. is that you had some ped/obs hours already and they needed more?? Or you didnt have any and they asked you to do them ??
I got rejected by Texas bon..
Now I have applied ny bon and see what happens..
still not sure if the NY bon will issue the ATT without ped/obs..
Ausnurse720
15 Posts
Hey there! Well - in the end I called about 50 different schools and of those who I got a response from, only a handful actually offer the OB and Peds classes as solo classes outside of a degree program. Actually, reading back through the responses above - nothing has really changed. I registered with one of the colleges that appeared to require the least amount of malarchy to take the course, however the first opportunity to take the first pre-Rec class isn't till the end of the year, then there's a test, and then - after those two things, I still have to wait for a place in the actual courses I need - it could take years! Frankly, my plans have changed a bit anyway and I'm now in the process of moving to Europe.....which means getting registered in the U.K. so now I'm facing this testing and prep - but at least it's just testing (like the NCLEX) and I don't actually have to repeat courses.
It was all a bit disheartening, the California business. Thanks for asking though!