Hi! I was wondering if anyone had any advice on being a travel nurse?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2008

Hi. I'll move your question to the International Nursing section of our website and hopefully someone can provide some answers.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 20, 2008

Travel nursing as you know it, or are thinking about, is pretty much in the US territories and the mainland of the US with housing and travel paid for.

Europe does not use travel nurses for the most part, we have heard of a few cases in the UK, but then nothing is ever posted later on once they have started, if they have. Europe actually has a hiring freeze in place, and if not a passport holder from at least the EU, it is almost impossible to get a visa that will permit you to work there. You also need to meet the licensing requirements for the country, and that measn passing their language exam as well as their licensing exam before doing anything else.

Asia also does not have travel nurses per se, and to work in any of the countries there is almost impossible as an RN as they require their local licensing exam to be written first and they restrict permission to those that hold a passport from their country. Salaries are also quite low there, so no travel companies for there either.

Australia and NZ have travel positions but they are usually for 6 month contract at the minimum and require that you already have some experience as an RN for usually two years for most companies before they will hire you.

There is an Aussie/NZ forum here, you may wish to check it out.

Hope that this helps.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 21, 2008

Most travel companies also require at least a years of experience and for the NGO organizations that operate in Asia and other countries, they will not consider anyone without at least two years of active experience as an RN.