Canada Nursing

Hi all,

I am alicia, fairly new here, hoping to get some answers to my queries. Thanks for your help.

okay, here is the deal: I am an international student,currently going to school in US for my bachelors degree in Biology and chemistry. I will be done with my BS in May 2007, and I am planning on going for an accelerated bachelor's degree in nursing after May 2007.

I was looking at accelerated nursing schools in US, almost all of them were very expensive, However it wasnt the case in Canada. The accelerated program is fairly cheaper in canada ( atleast to my understanding, I am not sure if thats the case!). So, then my question is: Should I choose to go to Canada for my accelerated degree, and get my RN from there, what will be my procedure to come to US (to work) upon completion of my Accelerated Nursing Degree in Canada?

( I might be a Canadian Resident by 2008(??) , so say in two cases: 1. what is the procedure to come to US if (I am a Canadian resident), and (If I am an International student))

Thank you so much!

I'm not too sure about the latter questions in your post, but I believe that tuition should roughly be identical after you take into consideration that you are a international student. From my knowledge I believe Canada only has TWO accelerated BScN programs.. one at UBC and one at UofT (maybe UofA too..)

One thing about doing the nursing program in Canada that you might want to look into first is if you will be able to get a licence to practice at the end of your program. I have not looked into this myself, but was told this by an international nsg student several years ago:

To recieve a licence in Canada you need to prove permanent resident status or citizenship. College of Nurses of Ontario As a student you would have a student visa, not permanent resident status. You would need to go through the extra hoop to get this. Then, to write your NCLEX (and get an American licence) you have licensure in the country you educated in--ie Canada. No Canadian licence (with a Canadian education) = no American licence.

Again, I'm not sure if this actually the way it works, but definitely something to look into before you commit to the education here.

Many schools in Ontario are starting accelerated programs. I know York, Trent and Western have them now. Trent is a 3 yr program, York is 2 or 3 (I can't remember) and Western is 1.5 yrs.

I am a Canadian RN working in the States. I would suggest that when you pass your Canadian Nursing exams you take your American exams. In order to do this you will have to go the the CGFNS.org site for them to approve your schooling (Good Luck). Once you write their exam and pass it, you can proceed to write the NCLEX in any State. When you pass the NCLEX and you want to work in the US ,you must find a hospital that will hire you(before you leave Canada). From there you go through the US INS to obtain a Work Visa. INS will not issue a work visa unless you have a job waiting for you. Lately though they will require you also to apply for your Green Card. It took me five years to obtain that through a bad immigration lawyer.Truly, the hardest part was the CGFNS people.

RADONC-RN

What visa were you on when you apply for work visa in the US?

I'm an international student and I'm graduating this month, I'm in Texas BTW. I plan to move to Canada after I pass my NCLEX because I can't get OPT here.

I think most universities now offer accelerated programs. All of them in Atlantic Canada do. If you are an international student, tuition is somewhere around $15,000/year I think; obviously that varies university to university.