Understanding differences between US and UK

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jan 7, 2009

Welcome

As a International student you will find it very expensive and may find it hard to find a university willing to offer places to overseas people. If you are successful I would suggest you discuss with the university so that you get training both theory and practical in all areas which in turn should assist you when returning back to the US. London will be very expensive to live and if London is the only option would suggest looking at the various universities in London to see who offer nursing courses

If you have gotten this far and completed training you will need to meet the state board of nursing requirements for foreign trained nurse and look at an average of 4-8 months (depending on state and requirements) before you will be able to work as a RN saying you pass NCLEX of course

Hope this helps

MandaAnda · Jan 8, 2009

I think you'd have trouble finding a university that accepts you. While most universities accept international students (and the higher fees they bring) on almost everything else, nursing is a different animal. Most universities want you to qualify for the bursary before they'll consider you. As a non-UK/EU resident, you wouldn't qualify for the bursary. When I last looked 6+ years ago, there were only a handful of universities in the entire of the UK that allowed you to pay sky high international fees and didn't care whether you qualified for the bursary (one was the University of the West of England in Bristol).

Also, it's probably not a very good idea to come to the UK to study nursing if your intention is to practice in the US, as I'm learning there's a whole lot of drama to go through (I'm American and did my nurse training in the UK, although I always planned to stay in the UK; however, my fiance wants to try the US - and I think I have my work cut out for me!). In the UK, we have a "common foundation programme," which is the first year of nurse training (although I found it still leans strongly towards your chosen branch anyway), where you're supposed to get exposure to all the nursing branches. Then the second and third year are branch specific, i.e. adult, child, mental health or learning disability nursing.

pollymurro · Jan 10, 2009

Hello, yes I agree with all the above comments. If your intention is to return to the USA one day, I would advise that you undertake your nurse education in the USA. The reason for this is that as discribed above, the USA is very strict on the amount of hours you have to have completed in each area of nursing. Moreover, there is no certainty that your nurse education programme in the UK would cover the required hours in all feilds gievn the fact that we undertake a specialist training here.

Further, if you did have the required hours, you would still have to sit the NCLEX exam before you could practice as a nurse in the USA. I'm in the position of trying to revise for this now having completed my nurse education here in the UK. However, I'm finding this very challenging as the exam is very difficult if you did not do a generic training (I followed the mental health nursing pathway). If you did your nurse education in the USA the whole of the focus of the BSN would ultimately be on passing the NCLEX.

I would look into how easy it would be to transfer your RN licience (once you hvae it) into the NMC (UK nurses regulatory body) to practice here as an RN if you really want to live here - it may be easier that way....

Hope this helps

suzanne4, RN · Jan 13, 2009

The UK is actually quite tight in granting of visas to work there at this time. One must be a specialist in a field where they have a shortage to be able to get the license as well as the visa for working there. Most definitely not going to be easy and attending school there will not guarantee a visa afterwards for working; same as attending school in the US if foreign, a visa is not guaranteed afterwards any longer.

Add in the high costs associated with training as a foreign nurse in the UK and the fact that most loans if available in the first place do not cover training overseas.

Quennofswords · Jan 14, 2009

I got my RN in the US and moved to UK 7 years ago, I was lucky there was a shortage of nurses in the UK then and within three months, I got my UK RN license a work permit and a job. It then took six years before I received my permanent visa. During that period I could not move jobs because each hospital has to apply for a work permit individually.

Things have changed since and getting a work permit may be much harder as in the UK there is currently no great shortage of nurses.

My view is that their is no clear way and up to your finances and your wishes.

good luck

MandaAnda · Jan 19, 2009

The UK is actually quite tight in granting of visas to work there at this time. One must be a specialist in a field where they have a shortage to be able to get the license as well as the visa for working there. Most definitely not going to be easy and attending school there will not guarantee a visa afterwards for working; same as attending school in the US if foreign, a visa is not guaranteed afterwards any longer.
Add in the high costs associated with training as a foreign nurse in the UK and the fact that most loans if available in the first place do not cover training overseas.

As far as the visa info goes, spot on. However, many US government loans do cover training overseas if it is at a university that the US government recognises. When I first came to the UK to study, I was eligible for plenty from the US government. The problem is the UK university accepting foreign students on a nursing programme, as I stated earlier.