Us lpn needs help

Fiona59 · Jun 3, 2007

As a working LPN in Canada, I would say stay home and do the bridge there. The bridge as it is set up in the province of Alberta take three plus years. A PN must have 1200 hours of paid employment and have completed roughly one year of university transfer Arts credits before acceptance into the bridge programme. Once accepted you are placed into year two of the four year BScN degree.

CLPNA assesses each applicants education on an individual basis and weighs the education against what the requirements are here. So basically its up to them. They usually work quite quickly in determing your eligibility for a licence.

While there is a shortage of workers in Alberta, I don't think that any of the health authorities will write a sponsorship letter for a PN. It seems that only RNs get those. There are a lot of positions available throughout the province and I think your friend needs to figure out where and which province she is interested in living. Alberta and Manitoba are two very different and very large places.

NURSE773 · Jun 5, 2007

thanks alot fiona for your help and time for writing this.

it looks like that she has to do the bridge program from US instead of here if she cant get the job as an lpn in alberta or manitoba. she has been waiting to come here from before she was a lpn. this is the second reason she wanted to go to lpn school so she could come here but looks like its not easy as it looked. she will prefer to live in alberta anywhere even in rural area they only think she wants is to be able to work here.

we applied about 6 weeks ago hopefully we will find out anytime she called yesterday they said they have not gotten the forn from school rest they have it so hopefully in few days they should be able to tell her if she qualifies or she needs more classes.

it is very disapointing to know that no employer will like to ger hrdc letter for lpn (specially someone who graduated from US)even though they have a shortage for it. i have also research this site and few other nursing site and i have not find out single lpn from US or from elsewhere have mentioned they have gotten visa to work in canada from the health athourities.

but i have found some recruitment agencies they have said they know few employers they are looking to hire lpn and will get letter from hrdc which looks too good to be true but they are not charging us anything and will provide even financial assitance in relocating too .and they have asked her to e mail her resume and when i told then she should be getting her license from albeta soon they were very excited and they said they have few jobs in alberta as an lpn.they also mentioned it could take anywhere from 3 to 6 months. from getting the job to getting the visa. they want to take a phone interview first and then the emplyer will do the same and then they will go about the process of getting the letter and then visa from canadain immigration . crossing out our fingers on that one . if its true then it will solve all of our problem . she can come right now instead of waiting to do her RN.

Anyone else with similar experiance are able to help or share their experience or research on all this? and anyone with comment on online courses in US if its possible for ehr to lvie in canada and study in states online RN so she dont ahve to go to states alot perhaps only for her clinical ?

thanks

Fiona59 · Jun 5, 2007

Have you read Jan's posting on moving to Alberta? We are experiencing a massive housing shortage in the cities and rural areas.

People are leaving and returning to their home provinces. Could find work, but living in a tent or a trailer wears thin, quickly.

Have you checked the websites for the different health authorities before you try an agency. Most of them have details for foreign workers. CLPNA has links.

NURSE773 · Jun 6, 2007

thanks again so its better to find emplyment on our own then a agency even though if they are willing to offer relocation help immigration help and the job. or it could be some kind of fraud sorry she is a newly graduate so not experienced in dealing with any agency

NURSE773 · Jun 8, 2007

i guess no one else have undergone same experiences or anymore suggestions. if anyone else :uhoh3: please post...............

RNGrad2006 · Jun 10, 2007

hi i am writing this for my girl friend who is a lpn recently graduate from state of alabama about 4 months ago and working as a charge nurse in a nursing home.and she in a process of getting her lpn registration from manitoba and alberta ( allready applied waiting for the provinces to recieve all the paper work). we have few question and hope someone can help us on this you may probaly gone through this proccess before. we like to thank you in advance for anytime you guys have taken to read this .
1: has anyone US lpn gone through getting a lpn license in alberta or manitoba? how long the whole process took did they simply gave you a license after you send them the paperwork they required or did you have to go for any further classes or sit for the exam in that province. and how long the whole procedure took?
2: has any US citizen who is also lpn from states have come to canada on temporary work visa ? how long did it take to go through the process and how smotohly it went (after getting there lpn license from the province they were moving to). how lond dd it take to find a employment and then the employer to obtain a lmo (letter from hrdc) and then the whole visa process.
3: if the temporary work visa option wont work for her she will like to go to school for her RN either in canada or US online. if anyone knows any US lpn to canadian RN bridge program or any US LPN to US RN bridge program perhaps online so she can stay in canada while studing online from US college? ( that will probably help her better if we take a study route cause she will qualify for US financial aid and US student loan as being a single mom and she is a US citizen)
please we will greatly appreciate any of your help in this if anyone has undergone any of this process. and answer some of the question.
thanks
kenny and nicole

I agree with Fiona. The Canadian bridge programs are much different than in the US. I transitioned into a RN program and the programs in the US are very comporable to studying in Canada since after getting my ADN (RN) my education was assessed and I was accepted into UBC in British Columbia for the RN to BSN program. However, with just your LPN that is not as well recognized towards a bachelors. There are very few diploma programs available in Canada now. I think Manitoba still does them but have read that Alberta is going to stop offering them in a few years. In Alberta they have been utilizing LPN's similar to the US but in other provinces (not sure about Manitoba) the LPN role is still evolving to what is comparable in the US. I am Canadian but studied nursing in the US. I did get my LPN licence in BC but it is a long and costly one and you definitely have to take the exam in order to get licenced which is only offered three times a year. Very different from the US. You can get a temporary permit to work while awaiting to take the exam but the assessment of your education takes several months which must be done before you can get the temporary permit. My experience was that employers were not as interested until I actually had my licence. But that was a few years ago. Things may have changed since then. If you have specific questions you can PM me.

NURSE773 · Jun 11, 2007

thanks for your input rngrad2006. yes you are right about alberta i read it somewhere also that they will require two years of study for lpn and for rn you have to have a bsn. i heard its either 2010 or 2012 but i could be wrong. i think british columbia toronto, quebec are the only province they require 2 year lpn and bsn to be rn other then that all other provinces are still the same way.the reason we chose alberta and manitoba cause i am in bc so alberta will be very close from bc , secondly growing economy there and easy to find jobs as i mentioned in my early post we have gotten a good response talking to few agencies in canada they said once we obtain the lpn license (they prfered in alberta) they will be able to help us with finding employer , letter for hrdc etc.

manitoba was the second choice. we are basically looking.for any possible way for her to move here quickly if possible. main hazard is immigration.

right now all we can do is wait for the license from alberta and manitoba to finalize both provinces told us once they get all the paper work they will be able to asses it in few days its been a week they have gotten it but have not heard from them yet i guess time crawls when you wanna be quick. hopefully this week we will hear from them and according to them allthough their assesmaent is based on individual bases they said its likely that she will be granted the license if not she might have to take a some quick class hope it is like that.

then second step we are thinking is going through

the agency and see if they can help is find work and letter from hrdc.

if this dont work then third step we will take the study route perhaps in states on some border states or may be online on the border state so its easier for us to see each other. and she can also qualify for financial assistance this is a long process but if no other choice we will do it.

anyways thanks for your help anymore input will be helpfull if anyone wanna share anything i will keep posted on any progress from our side. perhaps it might help someone else going though same route .

thanks

NURSE773 · Jun 16, 2007

jsut wanted to give a update alberta board called today and she will get a license once we pay for the registration she does not have to take anymore courses. and manitoba board will let her know in few days if she is qualified.

so next step si to cotact hospitals and recruiting companies and see if they can get her a job with letter from hrdc(lmo)

i will kepp posted incase someone else need the same info.

thanks

kenny

jahnurse · Jul 5, 2007

Hi good luck.

i am in the process of getting my Alberta LPN license too. Please let me know of employers who will help with the immigration paper work.

I am ready to move to canada ASAP.