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If you want to work now, I'd say your best bet is to find work with a pharmaceutical company or a private company where you are not technically working as a registered nurse. As far as I know, the only way to work as a registered nurse in canada is to sit for the CRNE and register with the province, obtain a medical from an approved physician and wait for immigration to enter you into their system, and procure a job offer. The entire process has taken me about 10 months. You can get a temp work permit pending the CRNE but the medical and a job offer are requirements regardless and the wheels of immigration are slow. If time is of the essence I suggest you start now. Good luck, I hope your dream comes true! Canada is a wonderful country!

Ghost I moved from Tennessee to Calgary because I love it here, the people are friendly and intelligent and I love the canadian rockies. :chuckle Don't mess around with the medical, it's required before you can start working, permit or not, and it could take up to 3 months!

Ghost, you are right, if you can get a work permit with a temp liscense you can work. I'm just too cheap to pay for both. The medical has been the most time consuming thing for me. The exam was different from the NCLEX, the questions were more along the lines of therapuetic communication and not so much about procedure and pharmacy. Of course safety is a major area for both tests. I suggest you get the CRNE prep guide. I have been out of school a long time but I did fine. Hope it goes well for you, good luck!

I absolutely agree Schroeder, hospital standards in the US vary from facility to facility, just like the pay. I have worked at some excellent hospitals like Vanderbilt and one particulary poor facility at a US Army post.

Ghostcat, perhaps things are different in Alberta. I am a registered nurse moving to Canada and the process has gone like this for me. First I had to register with the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses. This entailed coming to canada to write the CRNE (comprable to the US NCLEX) once they reviewed my application and approved me. Then I had to wait 3 months for the results and a permit to work as an RN in the province. In order to get a work permit I must have the registration, pass a medical and have a job offer. Currently I am waiting on the medical to be entered into the system in Ottawa, that could take 10-12 weeks. In the meantime I came to Calgary, had several job interviews and obtained the job offer. Thus far it has taken me 10 months. It's a long process but it is possible. Oh yea, I forgot, you have to pay the fees for the CRNE, the Registration as an RN and the work permit as well as cash for the medical as it can only be done by apporved physicians. About $1000 in all.

I'm from the USA, registered in Alberta and have multiple job offers, the problem is the medical required of all foreign nurses working in the Canadian health system It takes up to 3 months for processing. spots