South Africa

suzanne4, RN · Oct 20, 2006

I am planning on moving to South Africa (most likely Cape Town) in about 6 months. I am an oncology RN practicing in New York and I'm currently looking for employment in SA. Does anyone know of a travel agency that places nurses in SA? What you have to do to have a valid license there? Any recommendations for job searching as I have had no luck with responses so far? Thank you.
Emily

First thing that comes to mind, do you have a four year degree or a two year degree? If you do not have the four year degree, you will find it quite a hard to get a license to practise there for immigration purposes.

You need to contact their equivalent of the Board of Nursing and go thru their process for licensure. I can tell you for a fact that you will be unable to get licensed and get a valid visa to work there in six months. Impossible.

piley · Oct 20, 2006

Thank you for your response. Yes, I do in fact have a 4 year Bachelor's Degree and am a RN, OCN. I will be going to SA with my spouse who is a South African citizen. So in that regard, I do not believe I will need a work visa to enter the country. But I would like to start working on this as soon as possible. Do you have any insight as to reciprocity in licensing or the availabilty of private RN positions. It is my understanding that SA has a signifcant nursing shortage.

Thank you.

suzanne4, RN · Oct 20, 2006

You will still need a visa to work there, same thing that happens to foreigners that wish to work here and are married to Americans. You still need to apply for a visa that will permit you to work............be very careful with that, do not assmume anything. It is not automatically granted with marriage.

Suggest that you contact the Consul or Embassy from there in the US to find out exactly what you will need to do.

Geena, BSN, RN · Oct 20, 2006

Thank you for your response. Yes, I do in fact have a 4 year Bachelor's Degree and am a RN, OCN. I will be going to SA with my spouse who is a South African citizen. So in that regard, I do not believe I will need a work visa to enter the country. But I would like to start working on this as soon as possible. Do you have any insight as to reciprocity in licensing or the availabilty of private RN positions. It is my understanding that SA has a signifcant nursing shortage.
Thank you.

I was in a similar situation and received a three month visa at one time, needed to go to the immigrations office every three months to get a new stamp. You can get a license to practice which you apply from the BON. They will require the school transcripts to be sent and then you had to sit an exam, which was regarding ethics and code of conduct issues. This was five years ago. The wages are really low there, quite a change from what you're used to.

Geena, BSN, RN · Oct 20, 2006

Oh I forgot, the immigration office is called *home affairs*, visiting them is another trip...