uk nurses who have come to the usa

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I am in the usvi, and have been here nearly a year, maybe all the nurses who have posted their news about immigration, can now post about the differences in the us hospitals. I dont think that american doctors and nurses fully understand where we come from, and the working environment of the nhs, its only when we get here that we can understand the differences. I am sure that stateside hospitals are different even from here. and that they also vary from state to state, but maybe nurses who are waiting to come will be able to pick up some tips and know more than us what to expect.

christine....from wales to scotland to united states virgin islands, and then to the states, in january.

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
good questions kay and myself can't wait to read some of the answers

(ps are you always out or just don't want to speak to me when I ring :bluecry1: )

My dear Anna I sent you email to say i will phone 2nite lol

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Hi Am happy that you are all settling in Well, reading through the post I can see that you all left Nursing Scholl like ages ago and hence do not have the problem of the amount of credit hours you need before being allowed to work in the US, can anybody tell me why it's so difficult now for new nurses and what I need to do to be able to migrate after my degree which should be july/august 2006.

Thanks

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Hi Am happy that you are all settling in Well, reading through the post I can see that you all left Nursing Scholl like ages ago and hence do not have the problem of the amount of credit hours you need before being allowed to work in the US, can anybody tell me why it's so difficult now for new nurses and what I need to do to be able to migrate after my degree which should be july/august 2006.

Thanks

The US and Canada require nurses be trained as generalists, not specialists. So, you need to have theory and clinical hours in med-surg, psych, peds and OB before you will be allowed to write the nursing exam and become lisenced. Apparently one of the other members found a school in Vancouver Canada that will let you make up those hours. It's called Douglas College. You can probably google it.

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I have some very important questions to ask the UK nurses who have emigrated to the US.

1. Do you intend to stay in US and try to become an US citizen or do you intend to return to UK one day?

2. Is the quality of life better out there than in UK?

3. As an NHS nurse I get 8 weeks holidays and the full sickness package here in UK. I know when I live in US I wont get any of this at least for the first 20 months. Will i struggle with lack of holidays or more to the point have you struggled?

4. Is there such an insurance as critical illness so if you go off sick your bills are paid?

5. Is the banking system as difficult as it seems and do you all get paid by cheque?

Sorry lots of questions but very important ones for me.

Kay

I can answer some of your questions.

The banking system is not hard at all. Only difference from the uK seems to be that there is more banks to choose from. You do need a Social Security number to open a bank account (and to do pretty much everyhting else). I got mine 15 years ago when I went to Boston with O'Grady Peyton.

Becoming a citizen takes a lot of time. I don't know how long you have to live here before you can start the process. My husband is American, so I only had to wait 3 years. But, the actual process took another 2 (and a fair bit of cash).

The lack of holidays is killing and Americans look at you as though you are mad when you moan about it. I had to work for a 6 months before I could take anything and then got 1 week a year. You needed to have 3 years seniority to ger more. I am in the process of returning to work (post kids) and plan to work per diem so this won't be a problem. Just for a point of reference - my husband is in a senoir management position and gets 4 weeks a year.

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hi kay and kay and everyone else, yes life is good here, and as you know I started work on 1st july last year and will finish in january, after 6 months O'Ggrady will give you a weeks paid holiday, and if you work the early part of the week before you take it and the end of the week after it, that gives you 2 weeks. I havent used my vacation time yet so at the end of my 18 months I will have 2 weeks owed to me. dont forget you will be in a place that will have loads of things to see and do, and doing these things on your weekend off, it will seem like one long vacation with work days in-between.

we intend to stay in the states, and at the moment have no plans to become citizens, mainly because we think that if you do and want to return to the uk to live, you have to go back thru' the immigration process to stay there. we may be wrong as we have never looked into it.

we get paid every 2 weeks, originally by cheque, which arrived by fed-ex on payday, until our bank account was up and running and now direct deposit.

the quality of life is definitely better out here, especially for us being in the carribean at the resent time, but we are planning on arizona in january and we are looking forward to being there as well.

the banks are mostly the same but they dont accept payments for bills, and not everyone that we deal with have online banking, so actually have to go to the telephone company, and the power company to pay them. we pay for banking here, but I think thats not the same for some other banks.

dont know anything about insurances for being off work, we just have what OGP provide, but I am sure that there must be something stateside.

I dont miss my time off work for holidays that I had in the UK, over here you get paid well for the work that you do, and the lifestyle is so different that you feel like its all an adventure for everyone involved. not just the usual boring work, sleep, eat' cycle, that we all have felt back in the uk, especially in the winter with the miserable weather.

nice to , maybe see you in arizona!!!!!!!!!!!!

christine

hear from you all

I have some very important questions to ask the UK nurses who have emigrated to the US.

1. Do you intend to stay in US and try to become an US citizen or do you intend to return to UK one day?

2. Is the quality of life better out there than in UK?

3. As an NHS nurse I get 8 weeks holidays and the full sickness package here in UK. I know when I live in US I wont get any of this at least for the first 20 months. Will i struggle with lack of holidays or more to the point have you struggled?

4. Is there such an insurance as critical illness so if you go off sick your bills are paid?

5. Is the banking system as difficult as it seems and do you all get paid by cheque?

Sorry lots of questions but very important ones for me.

Kay

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Hi All,

I have been in California for the last five weeks.I don't plan to take US citizenship at present - a bit scary to give up British citizenship and I don't think the US allows dual citizenship.

OGP do offer a scheme here to enable you to receive some money if you are off sick, I think up to six months.You can decide how much cover you need. The info came with the pack my meet and greet person had for me.Maybe this is a new thing if Christine wasn't offered it.

Also, here I can pay my bills online using my banks website.The payments take two days to arrive.My bank account was set up a few days after I arrived and my wages are deposited weekly straight into my bank account.

Regarding the lack of holidays, obviously its too soon for me to know really, but in the UK I worked 5 days per week, so working 3 days feels like a holiday.

Janet

I have some very important questions to ask the UK nurses who have emigrated to the US.

1. Do you intend to stay in US and try to become an US citizen or do you intend to return to UK one day?

2. Is the quality of life better out there than in UK?

3. As an NHS nurse I get 8 weeks holidays and the full sickness package here in UK. I know when I live in US I wont get any of this at least for the first 20 months. Will i struggle with lack of holidays or more to the point have you struggled?

4. Is there such an insurance as critical illness so if you go off sick your bills are paid?

5. Is the banking system as difficult as it seems and do you all get paid by cheque?

Sorry lots of questions but very important ones for me.

Kay

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Thanks for all your great replies, it is so helpful for me to read them, especially as I have a sensible head at the moment :rolleyes:. I dont know about others but recently people have been like staring at me like I am mad when I say i am emigrating and asking WHY? So been getting a few jitters. Of course I know why and I am committed but I feel it is normal to have some aprehension :idea:. Christine, I am sure it will be great to meet up in Arizona, there will be quite a few of us there by next year.

Jan OGP said at about 6 weeks the dream gets a bit fuzzy around the edges and then it is full swing ahead, what do you think? That sounds good re the sickness thing, because you just never know. Yes 3 nights a week does sound good. I just want to get going now, i feel my life is on 'get ready' and I am raring to go but the starter gun hasn't got off :chuckle

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi All,

I have been in California for the last five weeks.I don't plan to take US citizenship at present - a bit scary to give up British citizenship and I don't think the US allows dual citizenship.

OGP do offer a scheme here to enable you to receive some money if you are off sick, I think up to six months.You can decide how much cover you need. The info came with the pack my meet and greet person had for me.Maybe this is a new thing if Christine wasn't offered it.

Also, here I can pay my bills online using my banks website.The payments take two days to arrive.My bank account was set up a few days after I arrived and my wages are deposited weekly straight into my bank account.

Regarding the lack of holidays, obviously its too soon for me to know really, but in the UK I worked 5 days per week, so working 3 days feels like a holiday.

Janet

just to let you know if you get US citizenship you do not loose your british citizenship many have dual citizenship Great for when u visit UK use UK passport and US use US passport

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Specializes in L&D.

Yes to what she said ^

My husband is welsh and when he is able to he will apply for dual citizenship.

He says it will make it easy to travel back and forth obviously having both.

Good luck to you!!

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[Hi. I am a Brit but married to a US serviceman and just wondered if you knew the answer to this question. Can you be employed for a Government service position without being a US citizen?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
[Hi. I am a Brit but married to a US serviceman and just wondered if you knew the answer to this question. Can you be employed for a Government service position without being a US citizen?

depends on type of job and criteria but I would have thought you would need to be a citizen

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[Hi. I am a Brit but married to a US serviceman and just wondered if you knew the answer to this question. Can you be employed for a Government service position without being a US citizen?

I think you have to be a citien to hold any Federal job. Thay includes being a postman! Don't know about State jobs.

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