Has anyone licenced in the US moved over seas to live and work?

ann945n, RN · Mar 8, 2008

Socialized medicine sounds good on paper but living the dream is far from it. I would sugest you research what people pay in taxes in the UK and see if you still like it. As well research for yourself the wait times people must endure to get medical treatment. No fun at all.....

suzanne4, RN · Mar 8, 2008

In order to get citizenship in a different country, you must be living there for a certain number of years as a legal resident there. Be aware that the UK has had hiring freeze in place for sometime, and unless you have significant experience in a needed area such as NICU or PICU it is going to be quite impossible to get a visa that will permit you to live and work over there.

Moving this thread to the International Forum since it is specific to working in another country.

There is already much that can be found on this forum concerning working overseas.

suzanne4, RN · Mar 8, 2008

Also be aware that living and working in another country is not the same as getting citizenship there. And most Americans prefer to keep their citizenship here and just get residency in another country.

And as mentioned above, suggest that you check out the taxes that they pay to cover their health insurance, and you may wish to check out to see how things are in Canada as well.

scattycarrot, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2008

Socialized medicine sounds good on paper but living the dream is far from it. I would sugest you research what people pay in taxes in the UK and see if you still like it. As well research for yourself the wait times people must endure to get medical treatment. No fun at all.....

Despite the high taxes, if you ask the average jo if they would want to exchange it for the US model, my bet is they would say no, thanks! I know I would. The socialist model might not be perfect but neither is the healthcare system in the US and at least, no-one in the UK will lose their home trying to get treatment and/or have to make a choice between food or health insurance.

prettylittlenurse2b · Mar 9, 2008

I researched living and working in spain, and even though it is a different country than you are interested in, I would think that the requirements would be similar. I was told I had to get a residency visa, then pass a NCLEX type of exam over there.

lilmisslee84 · Mar 9, 2008

Hiya,

I am about to qualify in the Uk and have yet to watch sicko. What I can tell you tho is that the grass is not necessarily greener here. In fact most uk people believe we are heading for an 'american' way of healthcare. The NHS is a great ideal, but its not working anymore, there are HUGE freezes for jobs over here,and there were many redundancies in the last year as the hospitals were millions (if not billions) in debt so they r constantly shutting wards down adn making nurses redundant.

- wages over here start at £19,000 - £23,000 (Approx $38,000 - $46,000)

and rises very slightly unless you go right to the top which i think is still only £50,000 ($90,000)

- housing prices are really high here, a 2-3 bedroom would cost approx £250,000 ($500,000) and our houses are not like american ones, majority only have one bathroom with toilet and there isn't much cupboard space

-Taxes over here are 22% of your wages, and if you have a 2nd job or work for an agency you will be taxed even more from those wages, about 40%

-theres is no nurse:patient ratio here (only on hdu and icu), many wards have 1 nurse per 8 to 12 patients, on nightshift there will be just 2nurses and an assistant to 30+patients,

-study days have to be done in your own time

-there is a high MRSA and CDiff levels here,

-nursing here has taken a lot of work the doctors used to do but it is not reflected in the pay

-you have to pay housing and car tax aswell on top of everything else your paying out

Its not all bad tho, i do luv the nhs, but the government has messed it up :angryfire and it aint gonna get any better soon, a lot of uk nurses are moving to usa or australia

If you do really wanna move look jobs are mainly advertised here:

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/ go the nhs jobs section to search for a job

alternatively check out the following agencies (these are mainly London ones)

http://www.pulsestaffing.co.uk/

http://www.nhsprofessionals.nhs.uk/

You don't need to sit an exam to get into the uk (like the nclex), as long as you are trained and have a little bit of expierence, a lot of australia nurses come here and join agencies without any problems so im sure it'd be the same for america nurses.

our nursing is governed by the Nursing & midwifery Council http://www.nmc-uk.org/

and one of the more popular unions is the royal college of nursing (RCN)

http://www.rcn.org.uk/ which was run by an american nurse not too long ago,

Hope that helps

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 9, 2008

Would also like to point out the currently if not from the EU you will find it very hard to find an employer willing to assist with work permit. You will not have to pass a nursing exam to work in the UK but will have to meet NMC requirements of which English language exam and ONP course. If high experience in certain areas you may have a chance as mentioned in the short occupation list but employer will have to prove that they can not find anyone within the UK or EU. Many many UK nurses are struggling to find work at the moment and many are leaving in droves but in general are not being replaced

ZippyGBR, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2008

Socialized medicine sounds good on paper but living the dream is far from it. I would sugest you research what people pay in taxes in the UK and see if you still like it. As well research for yourself the wait times people must endure to get medical treatment. No fun at all.....

that would be less than third of income in direct taxation

and before anyone plays the VAT card =consider what is zero rated and 5 % rated rather than 17.5 % rated.

waiting times that would seen treated and discharged / admitted from the emergency department in under 4 hours ( ED holds are expressedly forbidden and attract large fines for trusts)

primary care appointments within 48 hours at your own primary care provider / walk in service at walk in centres, 24/7/365 primary care provision mandated.

suspected cardiac problems or conditionswhere there is a possibbilty of a malignancy as a cause - specialist consultantions within 2 weeks

the whole system moving to all treatments being within 18 weeks from referral ( so including all consultatiosn diagnostics and treatment ... )

as for the costs in the Uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_insurance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_income_tax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UK_Tax_%28percent%29.svg

tax take is less than 30 % until you are uearning around 50K gbp and through careful use of various accounting methods pension contributions, and earnings from savings and investments can be sheltered from tax.

ZippyGBR, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2008

Hiya,
I am about to qualify in the Uk and have yet to watch sicko. What I can tell you tho is that the grass is not necessarily greener here. In fact most uk people believe we are heading for an 'american' way of healthcare. The NHS is a great ideal, but its not working anymore, there are HUGE freezes for jobs over here,and there were many redundancies in the last year as the hospitals were millions (if not billions) in debt so they r constantly shutting wards down adn making nurses redundant.

no job freezes here anymore ... also a great deal of the 'redundancies' in the NHS have been paper ones ... that would be the people whose jobs disappeared but weren't actually made redundant as they were redeployed into vacant posts ...

that would be the peopel who were made redundant by one trust , because the service moved to another trust or to a contractor funded by another trust ( e.g. acute trust based elderly long stay and slow stream rehabwards closed, and the PCTs commission the service from a private contractor or from the local authority through partnership working creating job opportunities for displaced staff... )

the trust i work for cut several hundred jobs from the payroll, but no one was actually made redundant although a small proportion resigned and moved elsewhere rather than be redeployed...

people seem to think there is still a 'jobs freeze' because the classifieds in NT and NS are still pretty bare - the rates charged for advertising in those alledged journals vs the rates NHSjobs charge for advertising on the website and handling a significant part of the application process via their on line applications system make it a no-brainer who to use

- wages over here start at £19,000 - £23,000 (Approx $38,000 - $46,000)

incorrect the basic wage of a new entrant o band 5 is 19 454 GBP EXCLUDING unsocial hours payments.

the basic salary at the top of band 5 is 25 175 again EXLCUDING unsocial hours payments

I work as a Staff Nurse on an Acute Assessment Unit i am current paid as a band 5 redeployed from a band 6 Emergency department Senior Staff Nurse role ( and on transitional points becasue the role was a whitley E that 'erroneously' ( in the eyes of senior management ) got banded as 6 so was covered by the transitional points) and earn 21 971 GBP basic pay protected to 22 315 GBP (band 6 transitional point) this year i will earn over 27 000 gbp working a rotating shift pattern including roughly 3 in 8 weekends and 1 in 5 point something nights with insignificant contribution to unsocial hours payments from weekday non-night shifts ( as we finsih day shift at at 2010hrs) , no 'twilght' or 'half -night' shifts and little or no overtiem or bank working

I will also have had over 7 weeks of paid annual leave ( 29'days' *7.5 hrs A/L and 8 'days' * 7.5 hrs public holidays)

when i work nights and on saturday i get 1.3 * my basic hourly rate , if i were to do a twilight shift and more than half the shift was after 2000 hours i get paid the whole sihft at 1.3 * basic ( for instance a 1430 - 0230 twilight with an unpaid 20 min or 30 min break taken before 2000 hours would attract the whole shift being paid at 1.3 * basic)

when i work on a sunday or a public holiday i get paid 1.6 * m,y basic rate

and rises very slightly unless you go right to the top which i think is still only £50,000 ($90,000)

band 6 BASIC salaries for team leaders or the lower end of Nurse practitioner / nurse specialist roles are 23 230 to 31469 gbp

band 7 Basic salairies for unit nurse managers, nurse specialists are 28 036 to 36 962

band 8a which is the typical salaries for Nurse Manager / Matron , Service Manager or some Specialist Nurse / Nurse clinician roles are 35 760 to 42 912 , above that are senior management roles although there are some Consultant Nurse roles advertied in 8b/ 8c

the top point in AFC band 9 is 89 723 GBP - Board levle Directors of Nursing may be paid more as executive director salaries within the NHS are outside AFC

- housing prices are really high here, a 2-3 bedroom would cost approx £250,000 ($500,000)

3 bedroom hourse for well under 100 000 in Yorkshire and the Northwest , really nice three bedroom houses somewhere between 120 - 160 000

and our houses are not like american ones, majority only have one bathroom

incorrect . many 3 bed houses built in the past 15 or so years have had 2 bathrooms and the building regulations mandate a toilet on each loor of a 2 level house and on 2 of 3 for 3 levle houses 9 although many are built with toilets on all three ( usually bathrooms on 1st and 2nd floors and a toilet on the ground )

the house my parents brought 30 years ago have a toilet on the ground floor and bathroom upstairs ...

if we are talking aobut the older housing stock you have to remember that most pre WW2 houses in the Uk are fully brick or stone built including interior walls which makes significant interior alteration extremely expensive vs the studwork contruction methods used in the USA.

with toilet and there isn't much cupboard space

define isn't much cupboard space, the house i live in at present is a relatively small 2 1/2 - 3 bedroom sei detatched and has a large under stairs cupboard, a large tank cupboard/ drying room and built in wardrobes in the largest bedroom

-Taxes over here are 22% of your wages,

see above, remember you tax free allowance, any tax credits etc, NI rebate and tax offset on pension contributions, tax offest on childcare schemes funded through salary sacrifice ...

and if you have a 2nd job or work for an agency you will be taxed even more from those wages, about 40%

incorrect

-theres is no nurse:patient ratio here (only on hdu and icu), many wards have 1 nurse per 8 to 12 patients, on nightshift there will be just 2nurses and an assistant to 30+patients,

plus of course the Site practitioner any support team s/he has resident full shift memdicla cover upto Specialist registrar ( many of whom have more experience that newly board certified attendings i nthe US)

-study days have to be done in your own time

incorrect

-there is a high MRSA and CDiff levels here,

define 'high' ...

-nursing here has taken a lot of work the doctors used to do but it is not reflected in the pay

in what sense - those nurse who have a role which has specifically replaced medical reoles are paid for the role , other 'doctor's jobs that nurses now do' are things which US nurses may well consider to be core nursing roles such as gaining IV access

-you have to pay housing

no you don't - or do you mean 'council tax' which is the local authorieis s directly collected tax and is generally around 1000 gbp /year and pays for roadside rubbish collection, paid professional Fire services ... as well as roads and public works stuff, social services , schools, libraries, sports facilities, community facilities etc...

and car tax aswell on top of everything else your paying out

top rate less than 300 gbp / year - most peopel are paying 100 - 200 gbp yr dpending on the engine size emissions rating

Katie91 · Mar 9, 2008

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your replies!!

I scanned through all of them, but I want to take more time to really absorb what you've said and click on the links you have so generously provided.

One thing really stuck out, though, and I must respond. The MRSA and C-Diff issue as well as other monsters like VRE are out of control over here. I hold certification as an ID nurse (maybe this will help in the UK?) which is rewarding and frustrating at the same time.

Thanks to all of you again and please, keep your replies coming. I'm certain I am not the only one who needs this info.

:flowersfo

Silverdragon102, BSN · Mar 9, 2008

I would disagree on saying incorrect to study time as in the hospitals I have worked unless it was mandatory training we was told if we wanted to do any courses we had to do it in our own time and in some cases had to pay for it ourselves.

Even in Yorkshire I have seen house prices go up something silly and when I was on my own there was no way I could afford a house over £100,000