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I'm not really sure about that. I would think that any degree that is reconized here would be also fine there, but that is actually a valid point. The only thing I could actually find out about that is that if you were to persue further education (masters, for example) it is harder to be accepted into good, prestigious programs without the BSN. BTW, I wanted to ask about the taxes break. So we can claim our high cost (almost crying) international tuition? I am doing my taxes right now and it would be great to include what was paid last year, but all I got from humber was the canadian form and a "talk with your tax advisor" line. I called IRS via Skype and after 40 min. wait was disconnected and havent got the courage to try again yet so it would be great if you could give me a tip on what it is that i should do. Finally, thanks!! The fall semester @ humber was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but I'm glad it's over and now the fun is just starting. we'll see if I can get my Open Work Permit so I can try landing that PSW job. Thanks again!!

I actually called CNO last week as well about this and the info I got was very similar to what your last post says Kamae: That once we graduate and have a work permit, we should submit that instead of the citzenship/residency status documents and that would be reviewed by the board and once a decision is made, they could or could not allow us to get certification, but she did say that the decision is made based on the type of work permit we get, so just make sure we get an open work permit that allows us to work with healthcare. I wanted to ask at my school as well before posting here, but didn have time. Anyway, once i check with Humber about any prior international graduates and if there was ever any issues with CNO, I will post again and let you know.

Hi Kamae. You know I still dont have the answer to this question and as you can tell by this thread, I have been looking into that for about a year, even before coming here. I hope that it will be fine, that once we get our work permits and graduate CNO would allow us to take the exam. I had actually completely forgotten all about all this and I will be asking at the school and see. If I find out anything important I'll let you know here!

WOW, it really has been almost a year since this thread first started it!! It is good to know of other people on the same boat as me. I have been in Toronto since late August and it has been quite the adjustment. After an excrutiating Fall Prep Semester, I was able to pull it through and am now officially on the 2nd entry nursing program of UNB, Humber site. @ Kinina, I feel your pain...I tought I was good, that I had saved enough, but am also running out of money like hemorrhage, who would have ever know that cost of life in Toronto could beat Southern California?? Insane! Especially daycare, it makes me want to cry. @ Kamae, which school you are going to? (if you dont mind saying it, of course). I was planning to work as a PSW also as soon as I am able to apply for a work permit. I dont have experience though, so I think it would be a great way to build that up. Best of luck to you!

@ Knina Thanks for all the info!! Are u already in Calgary? If so, hope you're liking it. It's also good to hear about career prospects there, I have heard a lot of pessimist talk on how hard it is to get a job as a nurse grad in Canada, due to province budgets, etc. Well, I guess some things you can just really know once you experience first hand. Thanks again!!

Thank you so much for all the replies! @ loriangel14: thanks for all the input and welcoming words! @ CarribRN: that makes so much more sense and is exactly what I needed to hear! I am very excited and looking foward for life in toronto and Canada in general. I think it will be a great experience also for my kids to live abroad. I really hope we could stay in Canada after graduation, but I dont want to expect that because it might not happen and if we do have to come back, I just wanted to be sure I would still be able to practice nursing here in the US. Thanks again and I will now be joining other forums about good neighborhoods to settle, school districts, etc. :)

yeah I'm aware of the canadian experience class, thank you for that. I also went into the CNO website and it says right there that in order to obtain the license I would need to prove citizenship or permanent residency, it is definitely one of their 7 criterias. It says that if you get a temporary work permit you MAY be able to get a license, your application would have to be submitted to the registration comitee for review. Maybe I'm mixing up the licenses. That would be a second career to me who's coming from a non medical field and I am really clueless about all these boards and such. I read on another older thread here someone saying how if you get you bachelor of nursing in canada as a foreign student and later cant change status to permanent resident with immigration, you would never be issued a license on ontario, consequentely not being able to get a license back in the states later either. It seems absurd, but I really couldnt find any more info and I freaked out a little. I will be contacting the California nursing board to ask about that & hopefully can talk with someone over @ humber college to make sure that is NOT the case.

Again sorry if I offended anyone. The only reason why I even brought it up being able to pay for tuition is because that seemed to be the first thing people usually mentioned when someone talks about coming from the US in other posts. Look, I dont think I should have any advantage over anyone simply because Im from the US, if anyone has a tough immigration procces and make very hard rules for peolpe to come here that would be US (literally). All I want is to be able to work after getting my hard earned degree. If I could be allowed to work in Canada great, if not I would come back home right away and take with me the good years that I hopeffuly had there... I just want to know how can I get my license, exactly because I cant count on changing my status from visiting student to permanent resident just because of where I'm from.

@ Loriangel14 Thank you for your repply. I dont expect to be treated any diferently and I completely understand all the reasons why I would have to make my degree valid there if I had a nursing degree from the US or any other country, but the thing is I would be graduating from a Canadian Educational insitution, one that is recognized by the canadian board of education and good enough for everyone else. I dont have any concerns about immigration issues, I know what I would need to do with them, even to apply for a temp work permit after graduation, my concern is that if I cant get my license in Ontario (province where I would be) how would I be able to get a license anywhere else? My understanding is that the NCLEX alone would not mean anything and I'm not sure if, just like in Canada, for me to validate my license in the US after, I would need to have gotten one in the first place. It seems strange that you can apply to even immigrate to canada permanantly and practice eventually with a nursing degree from someplace else, but not with one that you got right there!

Hello everone, I'm brand new here & would greatly appreciate any input. I apologize if this is a repeat topic, I have searched a lot before posting and there are a number of topics about nurses looking for work in the US or international nurses coming to CA, but that's about it. I am a US citizen who would love a career change & to go live in Canada for a while. I'm fortunate to be able to pay foreign tuition and, after much online search, I've applied for the 2nd degree entry bachelor of nursing program @ Humber College. I found out that I was accepted by the end of February and I've been very excited about it, filling out immigration forms, selling furniture, etc so I can be there this coming Fall. To my great surprise, it seems like I would not be able to get my nursing license after completion of the program because, even though I AM NOT a foreign nurse (I would become a nurse there in ON, Canada on a student visa) the nursing board in Ontario requires one to be a canadian citizen, permanent resident or refugee. How would I be able to practice, then? Can a get my license back in the US, even though all my nursing education was done in Canada and I would have no working experience? I'm not even sure if this is correct, maybe I misunderstood what I read because why even go to the trouble of moving to another country, paying foreign tuition, etc if I would be unable to pratctice later. Does anyone knows how this actually works? Nothing at all was mentioned @ Humber College while I was applying as an international student there. Please help! I dont want to find out about something like this halfway through getting my degree.