Ms. Muffintop

Hi, I can probably answer some of your questions but I cannot promise they're 100% accurate since I am an international student and our cases may be different. 1. I believe you wouldn't have a problem with your credentials since you will take your last 2 years here in US. Nursing programs here are usually about 2 years if not 3. The first 2 years are for taking prerequisites (anatomy & physiology, etc.) which can be taken from any college/university. I took mine in a community college. After this, you take an entrance exam to get into the actual nursing program in a uni or somewhere. Hope that makes sense. As long as you did your clinicals and actual nursing classes here, you should be good. The board of nursing only checks for those and don't really care for the prerequisites. And yes, you can just go ahead and take your NCLEX after graduating since by then, you would be considered a US grad RN. Schools usually help with the NCLEX processing. 2. After graduating on a student visa, you have an option to apply for a work permit (OPT). You would still be under student visa with this but you will be allowed to work for a year. You can use this time to look for employers to sponsor you with green card. 3. You can take the NCLEX anywhere but the challenging part is the board of nursing. You can only apply for the ATT (authorization to test) from your state of residency. Since you will be staying in VA, I'm assuming it will be your state of residency. The thing is, even if you take your NCLEX in CA, your nursing license will still show a VA license if you applied in the VA board of nursing. If you want to work in CA, you will have to do another application in CA board of nursing and apply for a license by endorsement. This is only applicable to the states that are not part of the compact state btw. 4. In terms of good countries to work for, I would say US, Canada, and Australia. UK is a popular choice too but nurses there do not get paid as much as the other 3 do I believe. Also, the credentials that they check in Canada and US are almost the same so moving there should not be tedious. I'm just not sure about Australia. the pay are also similar as well as the scope of practice. Lastly, I think it is a better idea to pursue a US RN as compared to a local one since it will save you more time and stress. It will also open up opportunities and you can pretty much go anywhere from here. The only problem is that it can be costly. International students pay out of state tuition. If you decide to take this route, make sure to keep an eye out for scholarships and ways to save your money. Hope that helps. Good luck!

Thank you so much!

Okay, thank you! My only problem is not that I am not sure whether I want to stay there or not but rather the immigration process and which type of visa is best for my situation. I'm getting my BSN this coming May but even with the degree, I would still not qualify for the express entry since I don't have an actual RN experience. I plan on applying within this year and hopefully move by Summer next year since by then, I will have a year of experience. Thank you again!

If you are an international student in the U.S. who is applying to work in Canada, do you have to go back to your country to receive the work visa there or can you come from the U.S.? Thanks!