luilui_604

i went through the same walk through process....once you recieve your TN visa, you can easily go to any security office at the state you plan to work in and apply for the SSN (you can also apply for it in a different state). you must show all the appropriate documents that prove you are legally entitled to work in the U.S. This includes your passport, visa screen certificate and your TN visa that you received. once you get your SSN (usually within a week- depending on the city), you can apply for the endorsement at the BON. hope this helps!

Hi, I'm from Vancouver, and nursing in California is great because they have 5:1 patient to nurse ratio, which helps promote safe nursing care. This doesn't apply to L&D because our patient ratio is usually 1:1 care. I think i had more confidence as an RN with the extra work experience in Canada. But since I entered into a specialty grad program in the US, they provided me with 3 months preceptorship experience. In terms of differences in the medical systems, there were a couple things that I needed to get used to...for example, charging patients on the pxis for medical supplies. In Canada, you could just grab and go with the supplies :) These are little things that i found apparent...but otherwise, the hospital i work at has high standards of nursing care and ethics. So to answer your question, I had an easy transition. Which state do you plan to work in?

I've been a labor and delivery nurse for 14 months, and prior to that, i worked in neurosciences for 9 months in canada :) I absolutely love san francisco, but i've been feeling homesick for the past week. I am ready to go back home to my family and fiance next year :) Where in Canada are you from?

My hourly rate includes the shift differential for working night shifts. I work for the reputable California Pacific Medical Center (Sutterhealth Affiliate) in San Francisco.

HI! i'm a Canadian Nurse =) Congrats on your NCLEX! I'm not in Torrance but in San Francisco....sorry, i can't give you any information but i just wanted to say HELLO =)

I am working at the most competitive paying hospital in San Francisco, and I started at $47/hr as a GN last year. Since then, i have had 3 raises and now making $51/ hr. $30/hr is definately not a competitive rate -- keep looking!

i just wanted to mention that my hospital has an epidural rate of 80% for laboring patients! although this is an unusual and heartbreaking case, none of my patients have ever complained or regret the fact of having an epidural! there are definately risks of infection, but many times the benefits outweigh the risks........i feel so bad the family had to go through such an ordeal :crying2:

nurses wife, i just read your post....nurses in the bay area usually make $35+ even as a new grad....what the agency is offering your husband seems incredibly low especially in northern california....just my thoughts

the last i heard from my manager, she told me we are not hiring anymore. i'm not sure how long this hiring freeze may last, but we are definately overstaffed here. we also work 8 hour shifts, not 12's. good luck.

hi there i know for a fact that our L&D manager aren't hiring anytime soon because we are getting overstaffed here....i talked to a few coworkers and they are also wanting to switch to per diem ... candidates are choosen by seniority here...i think the best way to find out is to contact our manager directly. If u would like her name, feel free to PM me.

hey jellie, im curious if you've heard back from CC? i've been reading through your thread because i'm also interested to work as a travelling nurse in NY...when the time comes, i'll be relocating from San Francisco to NY! i wonder if there are many L&D positions available in NY?

i work at the L&D Cal campus at CPMC....i entered their new grad training program in July 2005 and it's simply the BEST because of the great teamwork and work environment among the coworkers....even all the docs are supportive and encouraging!

Suzanne is absolutely right, it will take aprrox. 7 months from start to finish....while i was getting all the legwork done to process my Visascreen certificate, i gained 8 months of invaluable work experience during that time...in reality, it is very unlikely that you will be able to work in the U.S. right after you graduate because of all the paperwork and politics that is required in the processing of your applications during my last months of nursing school, i also contacted a canadian nurse recruiter to find out what kinds of opportunities were out there....in the end, the recruiter couldn't offer me what i had hoped for. i wanted to move to SF by a certain time, and i was tired of waiting for the recruiter to find my "best match"....also, the only hospitals with positions that she offered me were areas outside of SF city, which wasn't want i wanted...i decided to do some research and found my current position :) of course there are pro's and con's to using nursing agencies....the upside is that recruiters will often find you job opportunities with relocation benefits and sign on bonuses....but there's a catch, you have to sign a contract that is usually 1 or 2 years.... in my case, the hospital that i work for didn't provide any benefit packages because it receives enough local applicants that they dont' need to hire foreign nurses, another good thing was that i did NOT sign a contract to work X amount of years...one of my fears was to sign a contract and to later find out that i would dispise my job, the working conditions and staff--yet i would be legally binded to stay if i didn't want to pay back the costs of recruitment (ie. relocation costs to fly you to that city and etc)......these are all the things that i considered, and my ultimate decision was to go on my own, which i could never regret! to answer your other question, i knew from the start that if i were to move to SF, it would be more of a learning experience than to save any money....the cost of living in SF city is extremely high, which is reflected by the salary that i am earning.......if you go out a little less and dont' mind being frugal sometimes, than i'm sure you can save money! i'm just trying to balance my quality of life and to save at the same time! feel free to ask any more questions! PS. im from vancouver, BC

here's a recent post that i wrote a few days ago! I just moved to SF city a little over four months ago from Canada as a new grad with 8 months prior experience in med/surg....so far, my experience to live and work in this city has only been the best! As the other poster mentioned, i found www.craigslist.org to be a fantastic website, which i used to find my studio apartment that is just 3 blocks away from the hospital that i work at! my rent is $975 with garage parking, a very reasonable price in the city it literally takes me 3-4 minutes to walk to work :rotfl: as a nursing student 2 years ago, i made a personal visit to SF and fell in love with the city....i knew i wanted to find a job there after i graduated. during my visit, i was proactive in calling different hospitals in order to talk to nurse recruiters. the recruiter from California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC, a Sutter Affiliate) was incredibly nice and helfpul, she even gave me a tour of the hospital and spent 1 hour answering all my questions! to make a long story short, i am now a proud L&D nurse working for CPMC.....the staff is amazing, friendly and very supportive to our learning. I couldn't have made a better choice to move to SF and work for this hospital. my hourly wage as a new grad nurse is $39/hr on days. I entered the L&D training program at this particular hospital, and it offered 12 weeks of preceptorship with classroom studies....like every nurse in a new specialty area, i was nervous and scared to start on my own..but i felt prepared with the training that i received what area of nursing do you intend to work in after you graduate?

hello! that is exactly the route that i followed to get my cali licence! i applied for the nclex in november 2004, got my att and took my nclex by january 2005. received my minnesota licence, then made a trip to sacramento by march 2005 to endorse my licence for a cali licence. finally moved to san francisco by july 2005 (there was a slight problem with my visascreen application that delayed the process by a month or two). here's a list of steps and websites in the order that i went through : 1)[color=#003399]http://www.cgfns.org/sections/faqs/visascreen.shtml -start filling out the application for ur cgfns visascreen, it is the most lengthy application process 2)[color=#003399]http://www.state.mn.us/portal/mn/jsp/home.do?agency=nursingboard -u need approval from mn to take ur nclex -fill out an application downloaded from this website, then have your provincial nurse association verify to mn that you have your canadian rn licence (call them to find out the cost of rn licensure verification...u will also need to do this for ur visascreen application) -when mn verifies ur canadian school education and rn licensure, they will send u an att ("authorization to test" for ur nclex) 2)[color=#003399]http://pearsonvue.com/nclex/ -when u receive ur att, you have to register to take ur nclex on this website for the date, time and location u want -once u pass ur nclex, you will receive ur rn licensure from mn 3)[color=#003399]http://www.rn.ca.gov/ -now u need to apply to cali bon to endorse ur mn licensure....more application and fees involved... 4)[color=#003399]https://www.nursys.com/common.asp?pt=nurserequirement -register ur mn licensure on nursys, which is a third party that cali bon can access online to verify your mn rn licence for endorsement hope this helps, if it's another state other than california that you're trying to get a licence, then just contact that particular state board of nursing! cheers!