Questions for UK nurses who have made the move to the USA

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Hi Guys

As you know Im at the beggining of this long and winding process and although have done a huge amount of research and got lots of useful information from here I ahve a couple of questions well really my hubby has a couple of qyuestions he wants me too ask you guys.

He is all for up and moving to the USA but his concern is that if our quality of life will not be the same over there as here he has a very good job and is the major bread winner and I also have a good job as have managed to work my way up to sister in just 5 years.

In the USA he will not have any qualifications and will be starting from scratch as he didnt even get any GCSE's when he left school.

Was anyone else in the same situation ? How long did it take your partners to find jobs ? Was it easy ? Do they take into account any of the qualifications from England or do they want High school diplomas etc

Any advise would be hugely appreciated

Love Clare

Hi Clair,Get across to OZ they are desperate for Toolmakers and Nurses, Having researched both countries OZ has more to offer both Parties.

Does your bubby really want to stack shelves in WalMart for $6.00 or £3.00 per hour!!!!!.

Start taping Wanted Down Under on BBC 1 weekdays at 09.15 the program showed a toolmaker last friday somebody must have a copy.

Rhode Island may sound good but if your Hubby is on that kind of ££ whats he gonna feel like??.

Toolmaker and Nurse are both on the Skills Shortage List of Employees and you could be in Oz within 3-4 month not 3-4 yrs.

Cheryl x

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All depends on what job he wants to do- also when living in the us the $ = pound as the cost of living is about the same- depeding on where you live. We are lucky two nurses so jobs are easy for us- he could take this oppotunity to take a complet different job and retrain- all depends on why you are making the move.

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Specializes in renal,peritoneal dialysis, medicine.
All depends on what job he wants to do- also when living in the us the $ = pound as the cost of living is about the same- depeding on where you live. We are lucky two nurses so jobs are easy for us- he could take this oppotunity to take a complet different job and retrain- all depends on why you are making the move.

speaking of jobs a little bird tells me that congratulations are in order yourself

no more lazing around for you mrs wales!!!

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Thankyou good news or is it bad gets around so quick

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Specializes in renal,peritoneal dialysis, medicine.
Thankyou good news or is it bad gets around so quick

there may be 4000 miles between us, but you have no secrets lol :lol2:

out of curiousity, what sort of questions did they ask you? did they want to know what sort of experiance you had in the UK?

i only ask as its often been said on here that midwifery experiance in the UK doesnt mean much in the USA, which i find hard to believe, i know that they tend to be obs and gyne nurses instead, but your years of experiance in midwifery must be very useful to them???

that being said, i assume its a obs/gyne post? for all i know it could be a completely different role:uhoh3:

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Obs R/N in L&D is what they offered me they were very intrested in my experiences as a UK midwife they did comment that the L&D Charge post would proberly be more suitable for me and have encouraged me to apply for it as soon as I feel ready. !!!! So answer to your question they took all of my prior experience in to account.

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Specializes in renal,peritoneal dialysis, medicine.

cool, you must have done well in the interview

congratulations again

so.......

by the time i get to AZ you will be charge nurse, i fancy working in obs/gyne myself.............

any chance of a job then??? :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

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Specializes in ICU, midwifery, Nurse Practitioner.

Hi Clare

Its always a hard descision moving to another country, Ive done it several times now. There are good bits and bad, it depends a lot on your expectations of the place I guess. Going on holiday there for a few weeks bears no relation whatsoever to trying to make a life there.

My husband gets really bored being a house husband and I guess that is one reason why he's not up for going back to the US. His salary over there as a driver is pretty poor, and combined with the fact that his hours would clash with mine and we would hardly ever see each other, it is really the only viable option, hence, amongst other reasons, we decided not to go back.

In Oz he has a job lined up, after a telephone interview, working in an animal shelter (which he loves) for 22 hours a week, flexible time and he will earn $21Au an hour, around £3 or $6US, more per hour for doing a job he hates in the US.

Quality of life in other countries isn't always better, in fact in my experience, I think a lot depends on how happy/unhappy, disatisfied/satisfied you are in your current position. If things are all fine and dandy then a move to another country can sometimes be a downward turn, as those first months are very difficult and you find yourself thinking youv'e made a big mistake when you think back to your old life. Even if your current situation isn't all that good, the grass isn't always greener on the other side, in fact it may be worse.

We have lived in Oz before and know how our life is there so its an easy step for us. My DH is American so obviously knows life there and from his point of view Oz gives us a better quality of life all round.

Off tomorrow, so next time I post will probably be from sunny Sydney. :balloons: ;)

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Specializes in ICU, Haemodialysis, acute medicine and s.

This is an interesting thread and something i have been thinking about too, my hubby is in retail management (pcworld business side) and he does have a bachelors degree and I'm hoping he can get something in the same field once we get out there. There does seem to be a lot of jobs in retail availble, do you think he will be able to find something?

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Specializes in General Medicine, Renal and Cardiology.

Thanks everyone for the honest replys - Moving to America is not a whim for us infact it is something we have both wanted to do for about 8 years now, Oz sounds great and when Im on an early I do watch the down under programme - I love it and everyone always decides to move LOL ! but I couldnt be that far away from my family Myself and my Mother are both terrible flyers and have to have valium in order to get on a plane lol so neither of us could fly to Oz atleast Rhode Island is only 7 hours away from the UK.

Thanks for the networking advice Madwife, Adam (DH) has been on careerbuilder.com looking at toolmaking jobs and there are alot in Rhode Island and the pay is good and he does have all the relevant qualifications so hopefully it wont be too hard for him, he has started emailing big companys over there with his CV and just trying to get some advice on his employability.

Anyway thanks again it has been so welcome to have such honest and indepth replys.

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Specializes in ICU, Haemodialysis, acute medicine and s.

Clare- moving to the states has always been a dream for us too, we starte looking into it serioulsy about 5 years ago and then found out i was expecting our first child, we haven't done anything about it since having the kids but it has always been at the back of our mind that we will do it and now the kids are older we have decided the time is right. Although hubby does have a 'good' job over here it actually pays very poorly and a nurses wage in the states is actually better than what he is getting at the moment (although i realise you cannot actually compare it like for like in reality) so I'm sure we will be fine if he does only earn a small amount and he is quite happy to take a back seat for a while and would be happy to be a sales assistant in somewhere like best buy or compusa.

Just out of interest, I know a couple of you have gone over with children in tow and I'm just wondering how you found living on just your nurses wage?, we will be renting for a couple of years so need to know basically how much things like rental, utitlities, car costs and living costs are so we know what to consider spending per month on a rental property

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Specializes in OR.

Just out of interest, I know a couple of you have gone over with children in tow and I'm just wondering how you found living on just your nurses wage?, we will be renting for a couple of years so need to know basically how much things like rental, utitlities, car costs and living costs are so we know what to consider spending per month on a rental property

In the States, a good rule of thumb is that 1/3 of your gross income (income before taxes) is the limit of affordability for housing costs.

Keep in mind if you're taking school-age children that which school you send them to usually depends on your address. You will find that housing costs reflect this, because some school districts are TERRIBLE and people will pay much more for housing in order to live in a better school district. If you look at a house and it seems like a fantastic deal for the money, double check to make sure it's in a school district you want!

Sam

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