UK nurse hoping to move to Canada

[loopylou1987]

Hello!

Im a newly qualified nurse,I will have been qualified a year come October. I am currently working in the Operating theatres and have experience in many surgical specialities ( Ortho, General, ENT, Plastics ). I have been looking to move to Canada for a while now but I dont really know how to go about it. I was interested in moving to the Rocky Mountains and work but I see that an exam has to be passed before I can get a job? But is it essential to pass it before work or can I do the exam after starting work? I was also wondering if nursing over there is much different from the Uk? Any information at all on working as a nurse in Canada would be much appreciated!!:)

Thanks for any help guys,

L

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

First you need to be aware that your training may not meet Canadian training. Their training is generalist where UK training is specialist. You will need to apply to the nursing college of the province you want to work in and meet their requirements for International educated nurses (IEN). Once they have given you the go ahead for sitting CRNE you can approach employers for work, they will give you a LMO (labour market opinion) and you need to submit it along with your application to the Canadian embassy in London. After a medical and approval they will issue you a letter which you show when landing in Canada and they will issue a temp work permit(TWP) You can do this before you sit the exam. You can also go the PNP route but each province has different requirements.

Check out the Canadian forum regarding working in Canada, and check out the Canadian thread in this forum as that gives ideas on immigration

Hope this gives you a starting point

There are a few UK nurses who have made the move and working with no problems. Although I am in Canada and am still waiting for my province to process my application but dh has the TWP and I must say we are absolutely loving it here even when the temps are -20 :)

[RGN1]

I 2nd what SD has said re hours etc but you can make them up in some Provinces - check out their websites. No 2 provinces are the same in theor requirements.

I also 2nd what she said re living in Canada, we made the move August 08 & are very happy we did. We have experienced temps as low as -39, with wind chill but a current Chinook (warm wind) which is a feature of Calgary, has us +7 today with a promise of +15 on Sunday - coupled with bright sun that'll make us way warmer (& drier) than London UK!!

I love nursing here, not everyday - here too we have our probs with staffing etc, but on the whole it's better & the kids are really happy in school.