Australian RN wants to work in USA

[tdcam1]

Hi everyone,

I am an Australian trained RN and my wife was born and raised in Chicago. I have mostly been working in mental health with an Australian Bachelor of Nursing and an Australian Graduate Diploma of Mental Health Nursing. We have been thinking of moving to US however are both aware of the difficulty that Australian nurses can have with getting registered in the US. We would like to initially live in Illinois with my wife's parents to save money then hopefully we would move to the west coast somewhere, preferably California. Where do I begin with trying to get registered in the US so we can actually see if it is even worthwhile going there? Has any Australian trained nurses been successful in getting registered in Illinois and/or California? It is my understanding that once I am qualified in the Illinois I will likely need to go through the assessment process again to be able to work in California? Has anyone managed to find places to make up the theory and clinical hours that Australian nurses often lack?

I look forward to hearing from the community. Thank you.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Starting point would be checking out the state Board of Nursing (BON) of Illinois and checking process for International Educated Nurses. Yes as a IEN you will have to go through the process again for CA as they do their own assessment

[tdcam1]

Hi Silverdragon102,

Thank you for your reply. I did forget to mention that I did contact the Illinois BON last week but have yet to hear back from them yet. I guess I am being a little impatient because I am keen to get started with the process and to find out asap if this is a viable option for us and also was hoping that there may be any Australian trained RN's on these boards with first hand experience of going through the process in the US and in particular Illinois or California. Thank you again for your reply though.