Advice on temporarily moving from TX to AK as a new grad.

[paigeu]

Hello,

I am graduating from TCU with my BSN in December of 2017. My boyfriend is in the CNRA program at TCU and will be moving to Anchorage, Alaska for his clinicals from August of 2017 to December of 2018. We have been planning for me to move to AK with him after I graduate and work there for his last year of school, and then move back to Texas when he graduates (12/18).

I assume it would be best to get my license for AK initially, then transfer it to TX when we move back. Also, as far as I am aware, hospitals in DFW want you to sign a 2 year contract and go through their residency program, I'm assuming that it would be similar conditions in Anchorage. Now, I know you can break that contract (for a fine), but would rather not do that if there are other options. I am curious about how temp nursing agencies or travel nursing would work in this situation, or what my other options would be for gaining experience and not having a gap in work while I am living in Alaska after I graduate. Could I have a Texas license and work in Anchorage though a travel agency and save myself paying to transfer my license? Any advice or experience for what I should do to move from Texas after I graduate, live and work as a nurse in AK for a year, then move back home to Texas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Paige

[EllaBella1, BSN]

Travel nurses need to be licensed in each state that they work in too, regardless of where the agency is based. It's hard to say for sure without knowing what the market is like in AK, but I have a feeling that they hire new grads just due to the remoteness of the location. I would suggest reaching out to the HR departments at a few big hospitals there and asking them yourself if they hire new grads/what a typical contract with them entails.