Best companies for UK nurses to work in US

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Specializes in Surgical, Oncology, Primary Care.

I would appreciate any information/recommendation on companies i.e. Adeiva, who help in the process of licensure, NCLEX, immigration etc for me, a UK registered nurse who wants to begin the process of working in the US (Florida). :nurse:

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately you will be caught up in retrogression and looking at a few years before you will be able to make the move. You can do it yourself but we are seeing less and less employers willing to petition foreign nurses due to the long wait. Starting point would be read the thread called Primer to working in the USA and on retrogression. There is no quick way and Florida BON will not accept your application for licensure without CES from CGFNS and we recommend full course by course. Also when did you do your training as a lot of recent UK training is short of hours as you need hours both clinical and theory in all areas (Paeds, Midwifery, Mental health and general adult)?

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Specializes in Surgical, Oncology, Primary Care.
Hi and welcome

Unfortunately you will be caught up in retrogression and looking at a few years before you will be able to make the move. You can do it yourself but we are seeing less and less employers willing to petition foreign nurses due to the long wait. Starting point would be read the thread called Primer to working in the USA and on retrogression. There is no quick way and Florida BON will not accept your application for licensure without CES from CGFNS and we recommend full course by course. Also when did you do your training as a lot of recent UK training is short of hours as you need hours both clinical and theory in all areas (Paeds, Midwifery, Mental health and general adult)?

Yes, I realise it is a long complicated process but also I am just starting to realise what retrogression means - NO GREEN CARDS!! do you think that it is worth starting the process at the moment, especially if it is unlikely to get a petition from a prospective employer. I have an RN diploma in Nursing (adult), which I obtained in 2005. This covered theory and clinical in all areas. Your thoughts......... Thanks.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

There is nothing stopping you from starting the process by applying to CGFNS and getting CES done and then your application with Florida BON. Once that is sorted things may have moved forward a bit with retrogression and you may have an idea re looking forward. The decision is up to you but employers like to see you meet BON requirements before they will agree to a petition. Would not recommend going with an agency as there is no guarantee that you will end up where you want but also they usually have high cancellation fees.

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Specializes in Surgical, Oncology, Primary Care.
There is nothing stopping you from starting the process by applying to CGFNS and getting CES done and then your application with Florida BON. Once that is sorted things may have moved forward a bit with retrogression and you may have an idea re looking forward. The decision is up to you but employers like to see you meet BON requirements before they will agree to a petition. Would not recommend going with an agency as there is no guarantee that you will end up where you want but also they usually have high cancellation fees.

Thanks, very helpful

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.

Silverdragon or Suzanne, can I just check something with you just following up. Charlie trained in 2005 which is one of the adult branch program of nursing, is there not a requirement with these courses for further hours in some of the specialities to be able to register in the US.

It's for my own curiosity and also as there will be quite some time it may be worth looking at what additional hours are needed so he can complete them during the time he is waiting.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Good question Sharrie,

What we are finding is it varies from one university to another. The only way really to know is get CES done by CGFNS. We have had some UK nurses find they do not meet requirements and short in hours and then others and 1 I can think of was a mental health trained nurse meet all hours. With UK training it is so hard to predict

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Just to add some universities may offer catch up courses but it is a case of ringing around as both theory and practical needs to be done at the same time. Other alternative is see if you can do something with a school of nursing outside of the UK as a guest student, there are usually fees to pay

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They must have documented hours in both peds and maternal health on their transcripts and clinical and theory hours are required to be completed during the same timeframe. With the Adult Brance, they will normally have enough hours in mental health to meet the requirements.

Canada as well as all of the states in the US require these hours before they will permit one to test, they cannot be made up later on.

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Anytime that one uses an agency to handle these exams, they lose control of things, and the preparation is never done for free. You are looking at about $10,000 US for each year of your contract.

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Specializes in Surgical, Oncology, Primary Care.

Is there any advantage in having an immigration lawyer to assist?

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Specializes in Surgical, Oncology, Primary Care.

sorry, just realised that i said further back that i obtained my diploma in 2005. it is actually 1995!!! so i was actually one of the first intakes to complete the new rn diploma in the uk. hopefully it will be sufficient!:jester:

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