Canadian New Grad to USA?

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Hello,

I am a Canadian new graduate RN (BScN) who has a job offer to obtain employment in the United States, specifically Florida on a Cardiac PCU unit full time. I am curious as to if anyone has any advice or tips in pursuing this career opportunity, and if you would recommend starting my practice in the USA over Canada?

Thank you.

I'm a Canadian nurse with less than 1 year experience who's in a nurse residency program in a hospital in the USA. I would take the career opportunity honestly. Its hard getting a new grad initiative program in Ontario I'd take advantage and work there plus in the USA depending on the hospital you work for they can pay for your tuition if you are interested in furthering your education and you're not gonna find that in any hospital in Canada. I worked a few months at the hospital in Ontario before taking the new grad position in the USA. Congrats on getting the job.

Congrats on your new position!! I am thrilled to have accepted the opportunitity for the residency (with a relocation bonus) and my hospital does offer incentive to obtain further education!!

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Congrats on your new position!! I am thrilled to have accepted the opportunitity for the residency (with a relocation bonus) and my hospital does offer incentive to obtain further education!!

Awesome lucky you. I didn't get a relocation bonus with the hospital I'm at but they do offer loan forgiveness for my student loans and they did reimbursed me for obtaining my State license. I'm envious that you got your position in Florida. Only thing I'll mention is going through CGFNS is a pain it took me 4 months to obtain my VisaScreen. So in the meanwhile I worked part-time at the hospital. Make sure to courier your stuff with CGFNS. Also I'm not sure what province you're with but with Ontario it took them forever to send my verification of nursing license(6 weeks). Just always keep in contact with your recruiter regarding this.

Otherwise best of luck!

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Awesome lucky you. I didn't get a relocation bonus with the hospital I'm at but they do offer loan forgiveness for my student loans and they did reimbursed me for obtaining my State license. I'm envious that you got your position in Florida. Only thing I'll mention is going through CGFNS is a pain it took me 4 months to obtain my VisaScreen. So in the meanwhile I worked part-time at the hospital. Make sure to courier your stuff with CGFNS. Also I'm not sure what province you're with but with Ontario it took them forever to send my verification of nursing license(6 weeks). Just always keep in contact with your recruiter regarding this.

Otherwise best of luck!

Would love if you have any additional advice on the process of obtaining licensing down south! Was the Visa Screen required when you went to obtain your TN Visa? Any idea on what took so long with that process??

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Would love if you have any additional advice on the process of obtaining licensing down south! Was the Visa Screen required when you went to obtain your TN Visa? Any idea on what took so long with that process??

Okay so in order to obtain the TN Visa you need the following items:

-Your Bachelor's Degree

-Visa Screen

-US State License

-Passport or Nexus Card

-TN Petition Job letter from your employer indicating your job description, salary, length of employment and info about the hospital itself. Your TN is valid for 3 years. Your recruiter will give you this.

-$56 USD cash to purchase the TN but I brought $60 USD cash to be on the safe side.

I got my TN Visa at the border crossing. You can only get your TN Visa no more than 2 weeks to your start date. You either get it at the border crossing or designated airports (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary I've heard issues TN Visas).

Now depending on the state you're getting your nursing license you may need a SSN prior to getting your license. The state I applied didn't require a SSN. I'm not sure how Florida works so you would need to contact the Florida BON.

Now with getting your Visa Screen you need to go with CFGNS. You would need to pay $540 USD for this. You need these documents:

-Valid Picture of yourself you can upload this on the website

-High School Diploma you can scan or send them a copy. I lost my diploma so I had to have the school board send my transcript on my behalf. I had FedEx send my documents to them. Now if you graduated high school more than 10 years ago you don't need to do this and will be exempt.

-University Transcript Validation- Your school has to send it on your behalf however with my school I had to send them a summary of my clinicals and what I did. It took my school 6 weeks to send my credentials.

-Verification of Nursing license: Have the nursing board of your province send a verification of nursing license and with they will send your NCLEX Score. I'm licensed in Ontario and they are notorious for being slow so this took 6 weeks to be processed.

-I went to school in Ontario so I got exempt from writing the English exam.

When CGFNS receives your documents it takes an additional 15-20 business days to process your documents as received.

Once you get your TN visa you can apply and get your SSN.

It's a long tedious process. Give yourself 4-6 months to get your Visa Screen. State license it took me 2 months. Feel free to ask me any questions.

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to get visa screen i would suggest to pay the extra $$ to get it quicker its a little bit much but its well worth i paid $500 and it was the best $500 i spent cause i got it real fast instead of waiting 4-5 months like i read for some people

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Okay so in order to obtain the TN Visa you need the following items:

-Your Bachelor's Degree

-Visa Screen

-US State License

-Passport or Nexus Card

-TN Petition Job letter from your employer indicating your job description, salary, length of employment and info about the hospital itself. Your TN is valid for 3 years. Your recruiter will give you this.

-$56 USD cash to purchase the TN but I brought $60 USD cash to be on the safe side.

I got my TN Visa at the border crossing. You can only get your TN Visa no more than 2 weeks to your start date. You either get it at the border crossing or designated airports (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary I've heard issues TN Visas).

Now depending on the state you're getting your nursing license you may need a SSN prior to getting your license. The state I applied didn't require a SSN. I'm not sure how Florida works so you would need to contact the Florida BON.

Now with getting your Visa Screen you need to go with CFGNS. You would need to pay $540 USD for this. You need these documents:

-Valid Picture of yourself you can upload this on the website

-High School Diploma you can scan or send them a copy. I lost my diploma so I had to have the school board send my transcript on my behalf. I had FedEx send my documents to them. Now if you graduated high school more than 10 years ago you don't need to do this and will be exempt.

-University Transcript Validation- Your school has to send it on your behalf however with my school I had to send them a summary of my clinicals and what I did. It took my school 6 weeks to send my credentials.

-Verification of Nursing license: Have the nursing board of your province send a verification of nursing license and with they will send your NCLEX Score. I'm licensed in Ontario and they are notorious for being slow so this took 6 weeks to be processed.

-I went to school in Ontario so I got exempt from writing the English exam.

When CGFNS receives your documents it takes an additional 15-20 business days to process your documents as received.

Once you get your TN visa you can apply and get your SSN.

It's a long tedious process. Give yourself 4-6 months to get your Visa Screen. State license it took me 2 months. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Thank you for all the GREAT information. I graduated in April of 2018 and will be writing the NCLEX on June 21st so although I have investigated the process, it has been slightly on the backburner until after the exam!!

One question reguarding obtaining an SSN, how does one go about doing this? That is what I have found so little information on!!

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Thank you for all the GREAT information. I graduated in April of 2018 and will be writing the NCLEX on June 21st so although I have investigated the process, it has been slightly on the backburner until after the exam!!

One question reguarding obtaining an SSN, how does one go about doing this? That is what I have found so little information on!!

I did the SSN application the same date I got my TN Visa. I went to the US Social Security Administration office close to my workplace. I brought my passport which had my TN Visa stapled inside. Filled out some paperwork and that was that. It took 4-5 weeks to receive my SSN in the mail. Since you're gonna be working in Florida it would be best getting your SSN at a local US Social Security Administration office in Florida.

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or what you can do is when you get your TN just go to a SSN office in buffalo and apply for one thats what i did

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hi! I just found this thread and am in the same boat as you! I just graduated nursing school this year and have been offered a position in the states! I have my visa screen and everything done! Now just needing to get my TN visa and SSN! i am going to be getting my license by endorsement from another state! I was wondering if anyone knows if you can expedite the SSN process or whats the fastest way to go about getting a SSN?

THANKS!

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Hi Sireeapk,

I had a question for you regarding the screening of your educational background by the BON in the Unites States. If you don't mind me asking, what school did you attend in Canada? Did you have any trouble having your school cirriculum checked?

Thanks :)

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hi! I went to the University of Saskatchewan! I went into my advisor and we filled out the forms together! She put my curriculum on a USB stick and we sent it that way! She had done it before so she was familiar with the process!

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Thank you for your response Sieraapk, that helps a lot! I'm just really worried about whether Ryerson Universities curriculum will meet the standards required by the California BON. I'm pretty sure I'll be missing some of the placements and clinical hours that are required.What state are you endorsing from? This is all getting so stressful because of the uknown. I'll be marrying my fiance next summer and moving to California because he works there. I don't want to move somewhere I won't be able to practice as an RN. Any tips would be really helpful!

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