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

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Hi all,

I finally watched Michael Moore's "Sicko" yesterday and it had a profound effect on me, to say the least.

I would like to begin researching how to obtain citizenship in the UK and I was curious to see if anyone on this forum has actually taken the plunge across the Pond.

Any advise given and experience sharing would be very much appreciated!

:bow:

Specializes in ITU/Emergency.
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.

It depends where you work, I think. My last place of work didn't pay for my BSC (which I actually think is fair enough) but they did 'give me' one 12 hour shift a month. So, I worked 12 12 hour shifts instead of 13. Also, they did pay for and give study time to 2 nurses a year in the department to do a specialist BSC. And, if we did the ALS or PTLS, etc... they were paind for and we got the study time.

Now, my memory is failing me here so please help me out but aren't employees obliged to give you study time to meet some sort of guidelines? Thats why I got a day a month. I can't recall the details??????

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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.

Spain has their own licensure exam that is nothing similar to the NCLEX exam which is only for the US. They also require that you pass their language exams before you can sit for their RN exam.

Then add on to it that they are part of the EU so essentially have a hiring freeze in place. Jobs go first to those that are citizens there, and then next to those that hold a EU passport. So unless you have significany experience in an area that they need, you will find it most difficult to get a visa that will permit you to live and work there.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
It depends where you work, I think. My last place of work didn't pay for my BSC (which I actually think is fair enough) but they did 'give me' one 12 hour shift a month. So, I worked 12 12 hour shifts instead of 13. Also, they did pay for and give study time to 2 nurses a year in the department to do a specialist BSC. And, if we did the ALS or PTLS, etc... they were paind for and we got the study time.

Now, my memory is failing me here so please help me out but aren't employees obliged to give you study time to meet some sort of guidelines? Thats why I got a day a month. I can't recall the details??????

My previous employers used the excuse staffing levels and mandatory training was enough

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What about Australia? Or Canada? Anyone have any info on those two countries?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ID, Oncology, Ortho.
Spain has their own licensure exam that is nothing similar to the NCLEX exam which is only for the US. They also require that you pass their language exams before you can sit for their RN exam.

Then add on to it that they are part of the EU so essentially have a hiring freeze in place. Jobs go first to those that are citizens there, and then next to those that hold a EU passport. So unless you have significany experience in an area that they need, you will find it most difficult to get a visa that will permit you to live and work there.

Oh Suzanne, whoops, there you are again :p

I truly appreciate your input, but I fear it is a bit negative and redundant.

Did you Naturalize to Spain? If so, would you please share the steps you had to take to get you there?

Time spent? Money spent?

Thank you for taking the time to post!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ID, Oncology, Ortho.
It depends where you work, I think. My last place of work didn't pay for my BSC (which I actually think is fair enough) but they did 'give me' one 12 hour shift a month. So, I worked 12 12 hour shifts instead of 13. Also, they did pay for and give study time to 2 nurses a year in the department to do a specialist BSC. And, if we did the ALS or PTLS, etc... they were paind for and we got the study time.

Now, my memory is failing me here so please help me out but aren't employees obliged to give you study time to meet some sort of guidelines? Thats why I got a day a month. I can't recall the details??????

Scatty, did you mean employers?

Where I used to work, they did have mandatory courses they required you to take yearly, prior to your yearly review. If they were not completed within a certain time frame, the consequences could be not getting your annual raise, suspension and even termination.

These were very basic courses, Nursing School 101, if you can imagine, but hey ~ we got CEU's for them to be used toward our license renewal CEU requirement.

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Different countries do not follow all of the rules that are in place here in the US. Everything can be different.

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Specializes in ITU/Emergency.

Oops...yep, I meant employers. Though, now you mention it, as employees we were required to attend certain updates and if we hadn't, at our annual performance reviews, the employers could discipline you.

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Oh Suzanne, whoops, there you are again :p

I truly appreciate your input, but I fear it is a bit negative and redundant.

Did you Naturalize to Spain? If so, would you please share the steps you had to take to get you there?

Time spent? Money spent?

Thank you for taking the time to post!!

It is not redundant information but what is happening over there right now, and I used to visit there all of the time, actually three trips in one year over there so very familiar with how they do things there.

If you take the time to do some reading here on this forum about working in the EU, you will see what we are talking about. Many that post here about working in EU countries already hold a EU passport.

Unless you have skills that they are short of such as PICU and NICU, you are going to find it hard to get a job there and get a visa to work there.

You may wish to look into working on a military base there and then you do not have to go thru their licensing processes that are in place.

And yes, I have lived overseas and worked in the other countries.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ID, Oncology, Ortho.
...You may wish to look into working on a military base there and then you do not have to go thru their licensing processes that are in place.

That's a great idea! I hadn't thought of that. I will have to look into it, as I would imagine my years of prior USN service should be taken into consideration.

Thank You!!

And please, don't take what I said personally. I truly didn't mean to hurt your feelings, and if I did, I am very sorry.

:icon_hug:

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