U.K. nurse migration to USA

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What is the easiest way to move from UK to USA as a nurse

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There are way too many variables to that question. I'd say start by looking the board of nursing website for the state you're interested in and see what their requirements are for international candidates.

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Thank you for you contribution.

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

There is no "easy' way. I did it 15 years ago and it took a total of 3 years to get here. I finally became a US citizen last week. It's now way more difficult than it was when I moved here and I believe the waiting times are longer too. You can look into a company called O'Grady-Peyton International who will assist you applying, taking your NCLEX and relocating you to a state of their choice. You will have little choice as to where you end up but if you're comfortable committing to a 2 year contract in any part of the USA then that's the way to go. They will guide you through the process of immigration which is a minefield. You would definitely benefit from having guidance through the process because it is a long, difficult and laborious process. I'm not sure what the deal is these days but I think you can now only get an H1-B visa and not a green card. In my day I was lucky enough to get a green card right away. OGP can let you know all that. In the meantime you will need to get transcripts from your school of nursing or university. From my understanding it is now common for UK nurses to not have enough credit hours in certain areas to be eligible to take the NCLEX so you'd need to get your transcripts translated by a company that specializes in "Americanizing" your education so that it can be determined you have the right amount of classes and hours. If you don't, you will have to find some way of making up those classes and that's a hurdle.

Another good site to get information on emigrating to the USA is the BritishExpats.com forum. I joined it 17 years ago and am still an active member. I have gained a lot of information on there just from reading and asking questions. If you decide to follow this path, I wish you much luck. It's not easy and it's not quick, but I'm proof it can be done.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
There is no "easy' way. I did it 15 years ago and it took a total of 3 years to get here. I finally became a US citizen last week. It's now way more difficult than it was when I moved here and I believe the waiting times are longer too. You can look into a company called O'Grady-Peyton International who will assist you applying, taking your NCLEX and relocating you to a state of their choice. You will have little choice as to where you end up but if you're comfortable committing to a 2 year contract in any part of the USA then that's the way to go. They will guide you through the process of immigration which is a minefield. You would definitely benefit from having guidance through the process because it is a long, difficult and laborious process. I'm not sure what the deal is these days but I think you can now only get an H1-B visa and not a green card. In my day I was lucky enough to get a green card right away. OGP can let you know all that. In the meantime you will need to get transcripts from your school of nursing or university. From my understanding it is now common for UK nurses to not have enough credit hours in certain areas to be eligible to take the NCLEX so you'd need to get your transcripts translated by a company that specializes in "Americanizing" your education so that it can be determined you have the right amount of classes and hours. If you don't, you will have to find some way of making up those classes and that's a hurdle.

Another good site to get information on emigrating to the USA is the BritishExpats.com forum. I joined it 17 years ago and am still an active member. I have gained a lot of information on there just from reading and asking questions. If you decide to follow this path, I wish you much luck. It's not easy and it's not quick, but I'm proof it can be done.

Only seems like 2 minutes since we was all deciding on moving to various places. I ended up in Canada instead of Phoenix and love it. So much has changed now with most states requiring CES report from CGFNS and although retrogression isn't as bad as it went for some countries there is still a long wait before getting a green card. Not many emplyers will use the H1b route as that is still a bit of a lottery and the last few years the demand for using them has picked up again with other occupations

Congratulations on getting your US citizenship, I did see on the other website that you had applied :)

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

My daughter's fiance is emigrating from UK to US. He's not a nurse. Is the BritishExpats.com site going to be useful to him or is it nurse specific?

And add my congrats on the citizenship!

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.
Only seems like 2 minutes since we was all deciding on moving to various places. I ended up in Canada instead of Phoenix and love it. So much has changed now with most states requiring CES report from CGFNS and although retrogression isn't as bad as it went for some countries there is still a long wait before getting a green card. Not many emplyers will use the H1b route as that is still a bit of a lottery and the last few years the demand for using them has picked up again with other occupations

Congratulations on getting your US citizenship, I did see on the other website that you had applied :)

Thanks Silverdragon! It's a long road isn't it? I haven't kept on top of things as far as nurse immigration goes these days, but I seem to be reading a lot about people waiting for a very long time. I feel like I was given a gift all those years ago and was incredibly lucky to get my foot in the door before things changed. Yes, I finally had my oath ceremony last Thursday. I cried during the oath because it was the hardest thing I've ever done...to get this far. Realizing that it's finally over was incredibly emotional. Glad to here you're happy in Canada!

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.
My daughter's fiance is emigrating from UK to US. He's not a nurse. Is the BritishExpats.com site going to be useful to him or is it nurse specific?

And add my congrats on the citizenship!

It's not nurse specific at all...it's for everyone in every circumstance. The people there are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful and he should be able to get all the information he needs on there.

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Thank you RockNurse, congratulations on your American citizenship. l will surely look into BritishExpat site. It take nerves of steel to even talk about going to USA its hoop after hoop, minefield after minefield.

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