I need some help.

Think you will find it hard to get anywhere abroad to accept US credits, same as if someone moving from abroad to the US. Some may take them but you have to do your own searching asking questions and coming to agreements. Also depends on how the nurse training is done in the country you move to. You could do your training in Italy but would be classed as an International student so will be expensive and when you return to the US you will always have to declare your training as foreign and meet their requirements. Also as a LPN I find it hard that you will be able to find work unless in a US military hospital as usually immigration/work requires RN.

sigh that sounds like a really tough call and lengthy process. Thanks so much for the info.

your welcome. Any immigration to any place tends to be lengthy as you must meet that country's requirements. Hope you sort something out

What about distance learning? It seems that anywhere you have web access you could complete online courses.

Well I can ask some of my relatives over in Italy what the whole nursing "set-up" is like over there. On the other hand, I can just teach you how to cook all that really good Italian food, like that stromboli I made for the 3rd term class party,.......:redpinkhe

As far as completing training there for your RN, it will be almost impossible in their program. They require that you are completely fluent in Italian first of all and can pass their language exams. Then add onto it the fact that they will not give credit for your LPN courses in most cases.

You will be better off if you can find a distance learning program that will get you the RN license but make sure that you select one that will be able to get you a license in the state that you wish to work in when you will return to the US. Not all programs are accepted for licensure in all states.

Also be aware that you may have issues getting a visa to live there for any length of time. As an American, you do not need a visa to visit there, but in terms of living there, then a visa is required. You will not be able to work there in most cases so will need to prove that you will have the funds to support yourself while you are there.

Best of luck to you.

Suzanne- where did this information come from? I am not sure it is entirely correct. It is fairly easy to go to Italy to go to school as I have has a few do this for art and art history majors. This does not require you to be fluent in Italian at all and there are even schools over there that teach in English.

It also is not that difficult to get a work visa. My daughter went to Italy and ended up working at a vineyard for the harvest and loved it. You just have to get all the documents in place and make sure you apply for the right visas and permissions, etc.

At the very least, the OP can pair up with an American school and do a study abroad type set up. There are tons of schools that do this and funds available as well.

Italian is not a hard language to learn at all if you ask me. I am actually learning it now from tapes at home and in my car. I got the idea from a friend who learned this way. His reasoning was if you can learn terrible songs by heart from hearing them so much on the raido, why not listen to a language and learn something beneficial. By golly it works!!

http://www.usembassy.it/acs/general-visiting.asp

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4033.htm

http://www.conncoll.edu/academics/departments/italian/studyaway.html

http://www.wellesley.edu/Italian/Italian-old/bologna.html

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/nurses/2000-study/nurses_italy_en.pdf

Found this on nurse training in Italy. What you need to remember is clinical placement will be within hospitals and other health settings and some knowledge of language will be required as not everyone understands English. The same happens when a nurse wants to work in the US, if English is not their native language and/or their nurse training was not done with English text books then they have to sit and pass English exams

Also countries always charge more for International students

They do have a language test in some cases. I can't even imagine how much it would cost to pay international rates.

I can imagine a learning curve besides the language would be learning the new med names as they are different in most countries.

I think the best option if the OP can still go would be to do the online education. But gosh, I would love to attend some schooling in another country just for the expereince and to see how they do things.

Even if the OP can figure out a way to attend there, when he comes back to the US there is the whole process of gaining licensure for foreign trained Nurses.....

Wait Suzanne. We are on the same page here.

I was just wanting the information you posted to be accurrate as many others will be looking at it and there are some things in there that are not entirely correct. My very first post mentions that distance learning would be his best bet and in my subsequent posts give examples of why.

To recap- not only will he face difficulty and a bunch of red tape with education there in Italy, he will face difficulty when he returns for being a foreign trained nurse and have another million hoops to jump through which may be worse than trying to attend nursing school there in Italy. I stand by my assertion that an online LPN-RN course through a US school is the best option and that is what you are saying as well.

The OP was asking about attending school in Italy, not working there. I have provided links for information on both from consular websites. I also provided links to schools with exchange programs in case he is interested- note none are for Nursing, rather for studies in ITALIAN.

I never said learning Italian on tape can prepare you for their language test, just that it is possible to learn it that way. It is not a hard language to learn at all. Speaking and writing a language can be quite different. The very best way to learn any language is to jump headfirst- go there and socialize.

So, from what I see, it would be best for him to go the online route and get a work visa (even if it is unskilled) so he can live there longer than 90 days as a US citizen.

I spoke to my aunt there in Italy and she says that the university system has been ever changing at a rapid pace with a complete overhaul in the last few years and still somewhat in a flux. Many kinks to be worked out still. It can be confusing for a citizen to navigate, never mind a foreigner. Their schooling is quite different than the US for everything, not just nursing.

She also said that in parts of Italy there is a high unemployment rate and something about having to already having a job there to get a work visa, and it is hard to get one once you arrive or can take a long period of time- she was talking too fast. Evidently when you plan on staying anywhere for more than a week or so the law says you must register with the local police and get permission, which would allow you to stay up to 90 days but most don't unless they are bringing in a car or furniture, etc. This is on top of the work visa. You also have to go again to get permission to leave once you do this. But she also said that they are not as tight about hiring foreigners without a visa and this is done frequently until an employee can secure the visa. She hires a lot of people on a seasonal basis for the harvests and it works out well. She said despite the high unemployment rate it can be hard to find enough people to work the harvests the past few years.