UK nurses in Canada

Hi there. Can anyone please tell me how easy/difficult it is to work in Canada if you are a UK RN? Thanks :)

[fergus51]

We have TONS of UK nurses here, including many midwives who work in L&D. There is a fair amount of paperwork, but UK credentials are generally recognized and their nurses are hot commodities.

[Gailsimpson]

You need to contact the College of Nurses in the province where you want to work. Then you have to go through a long process of being assessed as to whether your course is acceptable for temporary registration or to sit their exam - you need transcripts of your basis course and any post-basic courses, employment references. If your course and experience are good enough you can take the Canadian RN exam. Some hospitals will give you temporary registration for a year as long as you pass the exam within that time.

I have been in this process for 6 months and am eligible for temporary registration, but it has taken a long time. You really need to have an offer of employment and they are quite restricted as to which areas you can work in - the Canadians are paranoid that you might take their jobs, and all hospitals have to apply to the government dept to get a "Labour Market Opinion" before they can employ you.

What area of nursing are you experienced in - a few months ago they were only taking ICU, A&E, psych, midwives and oncology nurses.

If you check out the CIC website at http://www.cic.gc.ca you can get the info on work permits/immigration.

Good luck if you decide to go for it as it is a drawn out and frustrating process. When I think of how easily nurses get to work over here - and they don't even have to take our exam!!

[Sarah, RNBScN]

Also,

try these sites

http://www.ona.org

http://www.nursingindex.com

Hope these help.

[adrienurse, LPN]

I have worked with many nurses from the UK, but id you want to kknow for sure if your credentials are transferrable, check out this link to Citizenship and Immigration Canada:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.html

College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba web site:

http://www.crnm.mb.ca