nurse practitioner question

I am assuming you mean Newcastle in the UK, correct? If so, yes. You would need to apply for licensure in the state of California. If you look at the board of nursing website for the state of California, there should be a section on obtaining licensure for foreign-educated nurses & nurse practitioners. Just be prepared to discover that your current education may not meet the U.S. standards and that you may have to go back to school to receive the appropriate certifications.

If you want to work in a hospital setting, look at the qualifications for ACNP. If you want an urgent care or office setting, look at FNP.

Just an FYI, California is an incredibly expensive state to live in, unless you're in the more rural areas.

One of the biggest hurdles for UK trained nurses is that the education at the Bachelor's level is not the same as in the US. From my understanding, nurses in the UK are trained in a specific specialty from the start (i.e., Peds vs Adult vs Psych vs OB) unlike here in the US where the BS in Nursing prepares a generalist nurse who can work with patients across the lifespan and in all possible nursing specialties including Psych and OB.

Getting an NP license in California requires that you qualify to take and pass the NCLEX-RN first before even being considered for an NP license. Many foreign trained nurses realize that their education is lacking some of the specific requirements in California and that more educational credits are required. Unfortunately, it is hard to reach the Board of Registered Nursing by phone or email for your questions. I recommend you look around in the International Nursing Forum and seek advice from those who have gone through the process.

Moved to Nurse Registration.