Registered Psychiatric Nurse in Canada wants to work in US

elkpark · Mar 23, 2008

The US nursing education system trains and licenses all nurses as generalists (educated in all major areas of practice), so the specialized psychiatric nurses from Canada and the UK aren't eligible for licensure in the US (in any state) without "making up," somehow, the areas of education that you are missing (by US standards, that is :)).

The NCLEX-PN is the licensure exam for practical nursing (LPNs); they are also educated as generalists in the US, and I don't believe that you would be eligible/qualified to write the NCLEX-PN, either -- although the best source of info about that would be the Board of Nursing in whatever state you're interested in moving to.

suzanne4, RN · Mar 23, 2008

Even if you are permitted to write the PN exam, the issue is that there are no visas available with that licensure. To be able to work in the US as a nurse, there are only visas for the RN. Even the Nafta TN Visa requires the RN after your name.

You are required to be trained as a generalist, the same way that you would need to do to get the RN license in Canada as well. Same requirements here.

Some of the UK trained mental health nurses get approved as their training is 18 months general and then 18 months of specialty and as long as they have had clinical and theory training in all of the required areas, then they are okay.

Will depend on the type of general training that you had in school. You may wish to get a credentials review done thru CGFNS called the CES before you start with anything else.

www.cgfns.org

RPNinBC · Mar 23, 2008

Thank you all for your help. Even if I was able to write the NClex-PN exam, that would be more helpful as I could return to school in the US with those credentials and bridge into a program. If any of you come up with any more thoughts, please let me know. I wouldn't necessarily need a Visa as an RN to get into the US, as I could get a fiance visa, but then we would have to get married within 90 days, which really isn't something I want to rush.....

suzanne4, RN · Mar 23, 2008

If you do not have the required hours in both peds and maternal health for one and do not meet the requirements for the RN exam, then you will not meet it for the PN exam.

You are unable to challenge an exam here as you call it. You need to have met the requirements for the training here. Only exception to that is someone that was a medic or corpsman in the military and only for a very limited number of states. When you see RNs or nursing students here take the PN exam, it means that they have completed the necessary clinical hours to be able to test.

If your training does not permit you to get licensed as an RN in your country, then your training will not be accepted here either.

The visa is secondary at this point, the issue is that your training does not meet the requirements for licensure here unless you had the necessary hours with surgical patients, OB, peds, etc. Licensure and immigration are two very separate things here. Getting the K-1 visa will not get you a license here if you do not meet the requirements. That is the point that I am trying to make to you.

You asked what you would need to do, and my suggestion would be to go thru CGFNS for the CES if you think that you had the required courses in your program. Otherwise, even the bridge program will not help you as you will be unable to write the NCLEX-PN exam as well.

This is one thing that both of our countries are quite strict about.