Desperately seeking America

[studentnursebetty]

Dear all,

Hello, i'm new on here so please bare wih me. I have been trawling through all the posts regarding this topic but i am getting even more confused.

So i'll start at the begninning and please forgive m if you have been through all this before!!

I'm about to qualify as RGN from University of Leeds with a BSC in adult nursing and all i want to do is move to Florida. Tampa or St Pete's area, but where do i start?

I'm 35 years old and have one 5 year old little boy who obviously will be coming with me. I have learnt from these posts that i'll probably be down on hours however i did do a 6 week placement with the health visitor and a module on mental health so i may be ok. Will i most definitely need to get a few years experience in the UK before i apply for the Nclex or can i do it straight away? Shall i regiser with an agency or do it myself but how do i go about finding a job, a place to live, schools etc? Or could i go as a student, and do my nclex exam out there?

Basically i want to get there the quickest way possible.

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give.

xx

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the International forum

You have a very long process ahead of you as retrogression is affecting many nurses so look at several years waiting. There are many UK nurses in the queue. You do not need an agency and most require nursing experience in acute setting. You apply to the state board of nursing (BON) and link can be found at the bottom of the page, look for requirements for foreign trained nurse on the BON site. You will need to get either CES or ERES once you have completed your training and sent to the BON. They will not look at your application without it. Much has been written here about the US suggest a good cup of coffee and sit back for a good read

[LiverpoolJane]

As SD says this look grim at the moment. I passed NCLEX and have been approved for my greencard and I am sitting in what looks like a very long queue. What I would advise is that you get the ball rolling sooner rather than later in regard to your BON application and get your transcripts reviewed by them ASAP. While you are still a student it may be a bit more straight forward for you but mine took a year to be approved and in the end I had to go through the CGFNS CES route. The good thing about this is it was pretty straight forward when it came to my visa screen.

I have gone with an agency that I am happy with but as SD says you can go it alone. This agency doesn't hire you but arranges interviews with direct hire hospitals so I am not indebted to them when I do get there.

I have noticed that the US is not being advertised in journals like it used to and I believe people are reconsidering and choosing other destinations - Canada, Oz & NZ and Saudi etc.

I am looking at this positively though as I have been around the NHS long enough to remember the changes from one minute having job freezes to then looking overseas to try and off set the nurse shortage. I do feel that things will improve for those wishing to go to the US, I also hope that if/when the tide does turn there possibly may not be as many seeking the US as they have settled elsewhere??? Or that may be just my wishful thinking