Canadian Psychiatric Nurse moving to the states

[K23]

I am possibly going to be moving to the states, will my Psychiatric nursing from British Columbia, Canada be valid in being a Psychiatric nurse in the USA??

[verene, MSN]

In the U.S. nursing is a generalist degree and license (RN) and so it would depend on how your training and experience equates to the RN that matters. My guess is that you may need to take some additional course work (e.g. OB/maternity) before being able to gain RN. Once you have the RN though, psychiatric nursing background will definitely help you if you want to work in psych in the U.S.!

I'd recommend reaching out to the board of nursing in whatever state you are planning on moving to and asking them what you need to do in order to apply for a license in that state given your current credentials. It happens often enough in border states (e.g. Washington) that I'm sure there is a process that some one can walk you through.

You might also try asking in the International Forum (https://allnurses.com/international-nursing-c211/) for more responses from other Canadians who've gone this route.