UK to US nurse/study advice needed

[Charis Elliott]

I'm currently studying the Nursing Associate Foundation Degree in the UK and I will qualify early 2025. My parents live in the US and are in the process of getting a green card and my partner and I would very much like to move over to join them. However, it will take many years for them to sponsor me to do this, so nursing seems like a better option.

After I have completed the foundation degree I am wanting to top up to become a qualified children's RN. In the UK I can do this as an 18 month degree top up to have a bachelors of science and be an RN. 
The nursing associate degree is much more generalised and focuses on the 4 fields of nursing, like general nursing used to be before it became specialised in the UK, so I do receive training hours in all the areas which is required for US nursing. I'm unsure if the hours are enough though in comparison. Then when I top up it will just be specialised in one area.

Is there any similar top up degree, or a shortened course in the US to be able to become an RN that I would be able to do with my degree and experience? I have also worked in the NHS as a healthcare assistant in childrens and adults for 6 years. Should I top up first and become an RN in the UK? And would it be better to do this in childrens or adults? And then try do the NCLEX and get sponsorship.

I'm just at a loss and everything I read says it is near enough impossible to transfer, but I don't want to start a 4 year degree in the US from the start with my prior experience and I just want to live and work closer to my family.

Thanks in advance for any advice at all!! 
 

[skylark, BSN, RN]

The UK training was modified around 25 years ago, and the generalist RN qualification was replaced by the four separate branches.

One of the key reasons this was done was to block the huge exodus of nurses who trained in the UK and left.  My own set who qualified in 92 all left, just three of 22 remained in the UK.

The US expects all four branches, adult, peds, Psych and OB, and I "think" there is one university in the UK that offers each of these branches as top-ups if you already have one, each one is 14 months if I remember correctly.

I'm having trouble recalling which uni it is, I have a feeling its one on the south coast, maybe you could Google courses at Brighton, Southampton, etc. If I can find the link for the courses I will post it here, but I haven't seen anything about it for a couple of years, so it might take a while to find.