U.S. Citizen - Wants to go to School/Work in Aus

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Hi. I'm a U.S. citizen wanting to become an NP and live/work in Australia. I have a Bachelor's of Business Administration, but no experience or degree in nursing; though I've recently taken some courses in Bio, Chem, Nutrition and (soon) Anatomy/Physiology. Since I have no previous nursing experience, I figure the best way to get a job in Aussie is simply to go to school there and then apply for a Skilled Work Visa after graduating.

The only university I've seen with a graduate-entry Master of Nursing program is the University of Sydney. It says it's a 2-year program, which seems a little short considering most direct-entry programs in the U.S. are at least 2.5 to 3 years. Does anyone have any info or advice on this program?

My other option is to do a graduate-entry at an Aussie uni and have a bachelor's of nursing in 2 years. Then I can hopefully start working as an RN and eventually get my master's. Either way, I'll want to remain in Australia to work. Will it be fairly easy to obtain a Work Visa as either an RN or MSN? Has anyone out there gone to nursing school in Aus and then remained there?

Thanks!!

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are you still looking into this? i am in about the same situation and have been doing a lot of research into it. if you are still looking into this, please send me a message as i'd love to exchange info.

cheers.

Hi. I'm a U.S. citizen wanting to become an NP and live/work in Australia. I have a Bachelor's of Business Administration, but no experience or degree in nursing; though I've recently taken some courses in Bio, Chem, Nutrition and (soon) Anatomy/Physiology. Since I have no previous nursing experience, I figure the best way to get a job in Aussie is simply to go to school there and then apply for a Skilled Work Visa after graduating.

The only university I've seen with a graduate-entry Master of Nursing program is the University of Sydney. It says it's a 2-year program, which seems a little short considering most direct-entry programs in the U.S. are at least 2.5 to 3 years. Does anyone have any info or advice on this program?

My other option is to do a graduate-entry at an Aussie uni and have a bachelor's of nursing in 2 years. Then I can hopefully start working as an RN and eventually get my master's. Either way, I'll want to remain in Australia to work. Will it be fairly easy to obtain a Work Visa as either an RN or MSN? Has anyone out there gone to nursing school in Aus and then remained there?

Thanks!!

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Australia does not have a 2 year nursing course. All Registered Nurses do a 3 year degree. The Master of Nursing is not a direct entry course, you first must have a degree.

You also need to be aware you will be considered an International Student which is extremely costly both in terms of course fees and living costs.

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Hello,

I'm a US citizen and going to Uni in Australia with 3 months left . I have started my application for permanent residency, although I can not lodge it till the day I'm finished.

Here are some bits and pieces about being an international student....

Its true that Uni fees are expensive, but the program is not impacted so you do not have to go on a waiting list or point system (thats how it was 4 years ago in Orange County, CA). The BSN program is only three years instead of 5 or 6 so the money paid is made up in wages.

As a international student you can only work 20 hours a week when class is in session and 40 hours when class is out. Family members can only work 20 hours a week.

Cost of living is almost the same as the states except food is quite a bit more. You can buy real estate, most agents will tell you that it has to be vacant property or a brand new house, or a house under 300,000.....thats not true....they are not trying to be dishonest, they just do not know any better.

I to took the A & P, microbiology, chemistry and all of the other pre-required courses in the states. They did not count towards any credit points here. The course is set up differently here.

Let me know if there is any thing else you would like to know

Sunny

...do I regret doing my BSN here....not a chance this was the best decision we have ever made!

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Hey Guys,

I live in California and haven't started my LVN program yet, but soon.

I have considered Australia for a while, and hear they have a program for foreign doctors/nurses to immigrate? I lived in the UK for a while and watched a lot of migrate to Australia tv shows, that got me pumped. I'm also a big fan of Kath & Kim (Lol). Anyways, I'm excited that I may actually have a chance of moving there legally once I'm a nurse. If you have any info or advice please let me know.

Thanks.

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Australia does not have a 2 year nursing course. All Registered Nurses do a 3 year degree. The Master of Nursing is not a direct entry course, you first must have a degree.

You also need to be aware you will be considered an International Student which is extremely costly both in terms of course fees and living costs.

you are definitely WRONG. there are many 2 year bachelor nursing courses in australia for those who aleady have a bachelor degree (flinders, victoria, curtin, queensland uni of tech, uni of tech-sydney, james cook, uni of western sydney, uni of sunshine coast, la trobe...). there are also 2 year programs in which you need no previous degree that incorporate 2 summers of study (uni of tasmania, uni of southern queensland, etc..)

there are also 2 entry to practice masters degrees of 2 years duration (uniMelb, USyd). entry-to-practice is the same as direct entry. we just call it something different in the US (though a US masters is definitely different than those offered by the aus schools). basiclly, in the US, you generally need a bsn before doing an msn, but there a many program that offer direct entry- that is admission to an msn program without already having a nursing qualification. you spend the first year in accelerated study preparing to become eligible for registration followed by 2 years of the masters curriculum (or 1.5 years of preregistration curriculum, followed by 1.5 years masters curriculum- both being accelerated).

you should be mindful of the accuracy of your statements when posting.

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Australia does not have a 2 year nursing course. All Registered Nurses do a 3 year degree. The Master of Nursing is not a direct entry course, you first must have a degree.

You also need to be aware you will be considered an International Student which is extremely costly both in terms of course fees and living costs.

by the way, you should know that even international student fees are reasonable at many aussie uni's compared to the US. and the cost of living can definitely be cheaper than the US depending on where you study.

i work in a research lab at the harvard uni school of public health. the only public uni in my state is uni of massachusetts. for in-state students, the tuition and and fees for their accelerated bsn program (those for individuals already holding a non-nursing bachelors) is less than 2k USD more than that of james cooks grad entry program. and townsville is cheaper than MA! there are cheaper options in MA for a BSN, but they are at public state colleges and not universities. private and out-of-state uni programs are mostly more expensive than aus programs. even the uniMelb and USyd masters programs are cheaper than most out-of-state/private accelerated bsn programs here.

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Hey Guys,

I live in California and haven't started my LVN program yet, but soon.

I have considered Australia for a while, and hear they have a program for foreign doctors/nurses to immigrate? I lived in the UK for a while and watched a lot of migrate to Australia tv shows, that got me pumped. I'm also a big fan of Kath & Kim (Lol). Anyways, I'm excited that I may actually have a chance of moving there legally once I'm a nurse. If you have any info or advice please let me know.

Thanks.

yeah, you can migrate to aus as a doctor but you will be stuck working in a rural area for 10 years because of the moratorium placed on overseas doctors. so, no, they do not have a a great migration program for doctors. prospects for nursing would be much better though. no moratorium. you could probably work wherever the hell you want considering its a national priority.

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by the way, you should know that even international student fees are reasonable at many aussie uni's compared to the US. and the cost of living can definitely be cheaper than the US depending on where you study.

My husband has lived in both Maine and Florida and he is constantly shocked at the cost of living here in Australia. Maybe other places have a high cost of living in the US but overall the cost of housing, food and goods is a lot more expensive here. When I was in Miami I was amazed how cheap clothes and shoes were compared to Australia.

International fees may be comparable but they are cash-up-front as opposed to being eligible for a loan or scholarship/grant. I've never been an international student of course but when my husband was looking into studying Radiography he wasn't eligible for anything.

And thanks for correcting me on the availability of 2 year nursing degrees, I wasn't aware they were offered here.

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My husband has lived in both Maine and Florida and he is constantly shocked at the cost of living here in Australia. Maybe other places have a high cost of living in the US but overall the cost of housing, food and goods is a lot more expensive here. When I was in Miami I was amazed how cheap clothes and shoes were compared to Australia.

International fees may be comparable but they are cash-up-front as opposed to being eligible for a loan or scholarship/grant. I've never been an international student of course but when my husband was looking into studying Radiography he wasn't eligible for anything.

And thanks for correcting me on the availability of 2 year nursing degrees, I wasn't aware they were offered here.

i have lived in australia. granted it was in one of the cheaper capital cities and in 2001 when 1.00AUD was worth 0.55USD. things were definitely very cheap for me. i lived like a king. of course some things costs more there like certain clothing brands. and i have heard housing can cost more in aus as well, but i think it depends largely on where in aus you are. here in boston, housing is ridiculously expensive. i'm sure australian costs dont come close to boston. you mentioned your husband lived in maine, but i dont think you can use maine for comparisons as it is probably one of the cheaper states in the US since there are no large cities there.

and many of the aus uni's administer US federal loans, so there is no difference between going to an aus school and a US school. the loan pays the tuition up-front, same as if one were to go to a US school. the only way your husband would not have been able to get US federal loans for an aus school were if the school is not approved to administer the loans. but it doesnt matter because private loans are available too. many US students go to aus schools which dont administer US loans so take private loans. many will have to supplement federal loans with private loans as well since federal loans can have low limits. it is easily possibly. many do it.

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You are really argumentative aren't you. I will bow out of this thread graciously before I start getting annoyed with your tone and manner.

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