U.S. RN-would like info on working in B.C.

suzanne4, RN · Apr 28, 2007

There is already a thread on this forum listing the contact sources for each province. Suggest that you start with that. Each province does their own licensing and has their own requirements.

sister2rn · Apr 29, 2007

There is already a thread on this forum listing the contact sources for each province. Suggest that you start with that. Each province does their own licensing and has their own requirements.

Thank you for your reply. As suggested, I have read through many of the posts on this subject, but I have found conflicting information regarding whether B.C. recognizes the 2 year degree or not. Someone said that they do and then somebody else said you now need the 4 year program. In any case, I have sent a query in to the CRNBC, so hopefully they will get back to me on this. Thanks again.

RNGrad2006 · May 28, 2007

Hi everyone,
I am writing on behalf of my sister who is an RN in the U.S. and is thinking about relocating to B.C. to be close to family. She is a Canadian citizen, but has been a landed U.S. imigrant and has lived and worked as an RN in the states for over 20 years mostly as a psychiatric nurse. She has a 2 year associate's degree. We are wondering what steps/educational upgrades, etc. would be needed for her to be able to work as a nurse here in B.C. or if anyone knows of anyone we could contact to find out this information. Thanks in advance for any replies.

I agree with you. There is information on websites but it is somewhat difficult to assess exactly what the requirements are at times so think your question was very valid. I am also a Canadian citizen but currently working in the US due a variety of reasons. I applied to take the exam in BC as I wanted to have licenses in both countries to have my options open. I was told that even though BC doesnt technically have a 4 year requirement they are leaning that way but that they look at each case on an individual basis but certainly would consider work experience also not just education (at least that is what they told me). I also obtained my education in the US and provided a lot of information about the courses I took etc... and faxed everything I could think of when my application was being assessed and brought up the fact that the prerequisite requirements and the 2 year degree is much more than a 2 year education and they agreed with me and granted me the equivalency of a new grad in BC but where the problem lies in BC now is with a reference. Even as a new grad with no experience which was my argument I did not know how I could provide a reference but in your sisters case they definitely would want one. But this is where it gets tricky. Apparently due to liability US employers do not want to give personal references but BC wants it so they have a system whereby you have to go through a 8 week (250 hour) supervised practice and then have a Canadian employer fill out the reference. After that has been completed you can continue with a temporary licence until the exam has been taken and passed. But they won't allow you to take the exam until the supervised practice has been completed. It is a fairly long process even for the application review. I applied in April 2006 and did not get my results until October 2006. I want to continue to work in the US for now so it does not give me the option of taking the exam in Canada since I am not able to commit to doing the supervised practice. It is a fairly long process and also a costly one. Just to get your education assessed and the cost of transcripts etc... is over $200 and then you have to pay for your temporary licence, pay for the cost of the criminal background check and the exam if over $400 just for starters. Not as easy as taking NCLEX by any means. But then I guess in the US you have to get the Visascreen so that is not cheap either. If you want the name of the contact I have talked to in BC I could provide it for you as she was very helpful. She was the one who suggested providing additional information when having my application assessed. You can PM me if you have any further questions since it is a fairly long process. I originally took my first year nursing courses in an LPN program and then transitioned into a RN program and did my LPN in both the US and Canada. So understand the process from personal experience. Hope this helps.