US RN moving to London UK

C. Southern, ADN, ASN · May 19, 2020

On 4/22/2020 at 9:48 AM, jordanecc311 said:
Hey!
Sorry, I know this wasn't addressed to me, but I found this forum and loved seeing the helpful replies since I couldn't find anything like this when I went through the process.
I am a nurse from Dallas who's been working for the NHS in London since September 2019. I went through an overseas recruiting agency that I'd absolutely reccomend if you want the name. They were very professional, made the stressful process a lot smoother, and they still check in on me from time to time to see how I am doing here. I was only their 2nd US nurse to recruit. They work mostly with Filipino, Indian, and African nurses and so glad I learned about them because the first agency I tried to work with was very unorganized and unhelpful.
The only downside I can see for working with an agency is contracts. For example, I am under a 3 year contract with the NHS Trust I work for because that's the agreement between the Trust and agency. Not sure how other agencies might be. So a plus side of finding a job yourself would be the freedom of not being under contract. If I wanted to quit or change Trusts before the 3 years, I would owe back the price of the OSCE, my visa, and my one way flight here which was all paid for.
I personally didn't change my resume/CV and it didn't seem to matter.
If you've taken and passed the NCLEX, the CBT is not nearly as much to worry about in my opinion. I studied going through the Royal Marsden manual and basically just looking at and answering the questions at the end of each chapter and taking practice questions where I could find them online. It's set at 120 questions and its ABCD only. Also a LOT of questions at the end of the Royal Marsden manual chapters were in my CBT! Not sure if that happens for others, but it certainly helped me having already seen a lot of the questions.
Best of luck to anyone persuing their NMC registration and licensure! It is a stressful process, but the other side exists!

@jordanecc311 Thank you for sharing this! I am from Denton, TX, but now living in the UK. I have yet to registered with the NMC though. I got married and have lived here for 2 years now. I am looking to register though, as I have been working in the NHS for 6 months and I am ready for new opportunities. Would you mind sharing the name of your agency? I wonder if they would be interested in me, a even though I am already living here. Thanks for the tips about the CBT. I have mine booked for end of June and I am nervous. My background in nursing is in Med/Surge and ICU.

Vivian Yue · May 19, 2020

18 hours ago, heyred823 said:
Hey @Vivian Yue !
I just went looking for this PDF booklet that NMC had on registering if you trained outside the EU/EEA, but I can’t seem to find it...I remember around the time they took away the requirement to have 1 year of experience in your home country, they changed the wording of the 3-year degree requirement to something like “3-year blah blah or equivalent that would lead to registration in the home country” or something like that.

Now the website says:
“We need to know that your qualification will or has allowed you to register in the country you trained in.
The easiest way to show this is to provide evidence you registered using your qualification in your country of training.
If you do not hold a qualification that meets this eligibility criteria, we won’t be able to consider your application and it will be closed.
We’ll also use the information you provide about your qualification to determine whether it is comparable to a qualification we’d approve. If it isn’t, but you meet our eligibility criteria, we’ll ask you to take the test of competence.” https://www.nmc.org.uk/registration/joining-the-register/register-nurse-midwife/trained-outside-the-eueea/new-application/how-to-guide/eligibility-and-qualification-application/qualification-and-registration/
This would lead me to believe that an accelerated BSN would qualify, but! I’ll be trying to register within the next year and I have an accelerated BSN, so I can report back on how it goes. ?

Hi Heyered823,

A further reply and hope this does not upset. I sent an enquiry email about the acceptance of an American Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing in the UK by NMC. Surprisingly I got a long reply from NMC. Based on their reply, I don’t think an Accelerated Bachelor of nursing will meet their education requirement. Below is their reply:

‘In order to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council you need an eligible qualification. By eligible we mean that:

· The training course was 3 years long or the equivalent of 3 years

· The course was a programme approved by the appropriate regulatory authority

· The training was focussed solely on nursing or midwifery

· The qualification gained led to registration in your country of training’

I cannot send a private message due to my right of limit.

heyred823, BSN, RN · May 19, 2020

35 minutes ago, Vivian Yue said:
Hi Heyered823,
A further reply and hope this does not upset. I sent an enquiry email about the acceptance of an American Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing in the UK by NMC. Surprisingly I got a long reply from NMC. Based on their reply, I don’t think an Accelerated Bachelor of nursing will meet their education requirement. Below is their reply:
‘In order to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council you need an eligible qualification. By eligible we mean that:
· The training course was 3 years long or the equivalent of 3 years
· The course was a programme approved by the appropriate regulatory authority
· The training was focussed solely on nursing or midwifery
· The qualification gained led to registration in your country of training’
I cannot send a private message due to my right of limit.

Hey @Vivian Yue

Thanks for the follow-up! I really appreciate it. :) In my opinion, they didn’t really answer your question (depending on what you actually asked), they just gave you a general, blanket response in the form of quoting their website to you. You were trying to ask if a US accelerated BSN is “equivalent of 3 years” in their eyes. For example, accelerated BSNs are equivalent to a 4-year BSN here in the US (and are approved programs by the appropriate regulatory authority, do focus solely on nursing, and do lead to registration in our country). We just need to know what the NMC’s definition of “equivalent” is. Would you be willing to reply back to them for clarification? I can email as well and be very specific and see if I get anywhere with an answer.

To answer your earlier post, I have already graduated from an accelerated BSN and I’m working as an oncology nurse now at a big university hospital. I lived in the UK for two years in my early 20’s and loved it, so it is my hope to move back for at least a few years to be with friends and travel a bit. If registering and finding a nursing job in the UK doesn’t pan out, I plan to travel nurse in the US and take off a few months off here and there between contracts to try to see the world.

I’m more than happy to help in anyway I can! :)

taynobis, BSN, RN · May 20, 2020

Hi @kaitfinder and anyone else who can help! First, I am very thankful for this discussion, as I am just starting out in the process of (hopefully) moving my nursing career to the UK! I have been a nurse in the US for just over a year now (working in a university hospital on a medical ICU floor), and I am struggling on knowing what search terms I should use when looking up agencies to go through to make the move to the UK. I am interested in being in the London area, but would not be opposed to other surrounding cities. I have looked into the NEU agency and really liked what I saw, but wanted to explore my other options before fully committing to them. Would you be able to name some other agencies you found reputable, or point me in the right direction regarding how to find names of other agencies that help American/ foreign nurses who would like to work in the UK? Thanks so much in advance, you guys are all super helpful!

heyred823, BSN, RN · May 20, 2020

Oh! @Vivian Yue

I just remembered too, if you look at what they require you to submit regarding your degree under the "Provide qualification and registration information" section, it doesn't say anything about providing transcripts and asking your institution to report clinical hours/classroom hours, etc. like it used to a few years ago before they changed the process/a few of the requirements. Now it just says you have to provide:

"1. Upload a copy of your qualification certificate

You'll need to upload a copy of the original qualification certificate you were given when you completed your course.

This should be the certificate for the qualification you're relying on to register with us.

Your name, the name of the qualification and the date you were awarded the qualification should be clearly visible on the certificate.

2. Tell us your education institution's details (if you have never been registered)

You’ll need to provide the name, address and contact email address for your education institution.

You must confirm you have consent to share their details with us.

Your education institution will need to:

-check the information you’ve provided about your qualification

-confirm if it matches their records or if it does not

-if they’re able to, let us know whether it would allow you to register with the relevant professional regulator

If you have been registered:

If you are or were previously registered in your country of training, we’ll also ask you for the name of your regulator and a copy of your registration certificate.

We’ll then contact your regulator to confirm the details you have provided and to check if you meet our eligibility criteria."

Based on this, it looks like you submit your diploma/certificate (which would just say you have a BSN, not specifically an accelerated one) and your institution details so they can confirm you actually went there and the qualification qualifies you to register in the US, not how many years it was, etc. But, I'm not sure on this as I haven't applied yet. I will research around the internet and see if I can find info on the sorts of details they ask about your qualification in the application. ?

C. Southern, ADN, ASN · May 20, 2020

Hi All,

Not sure if this will help, but here is goes. I have an ADN, which meant 2 years of nursing school with 1 year of pre requisites. I have asked the same question the the NMC, and go the same kind of vague answer. But I went ahead and applied because I had my college degree, my nursing license and have practiced and registered in the States, which is what they require ultimately. I applied and received my authorisation to test. So despite the fact I didn’t have 3 years of nursing school, I can still apply. But I have to take the CBT, since our standard 2 year nursing programme doesn’t match up equivalently to their standard 3 year nursing programme here in the UK. I would imagine it would be the same for the accelerated BSN, as long as you have been able to register in your home country.

Hope this helps!

Vivian Yue · May 20, 2020

19 minutes ago, C. Southern said:
Hi All,
Not sure if this will help, but here is goes. I have an ADN, which meant 2 years of nursing school with 1 year of pre requisites. I have asked the same question the the NMC, and go the same kind of vague answer. But I went ahead and applied because I had my college degree, my nursing license and have practiced and registered in the States, which is what they require ultimately. I applied and received my authorisation to test. So despite the fact I didn’t have 3 years of nursing school, I can still apply. But I have to take the CBT, since our standard 2 year nursing programme doesn’t match up equivalently to their standard 3 year nursing programme here in the UK. I would imagine it would be the same for the accelerated BSN, as long as you have been able to register in your home country.
Hope this helps!

Hi, this really helped. That’s great news I bet. Apart from CBT, did you also take OSBE? Thank you soo much!

C. Southern, ADN, ASN · May 20, 2020

I am glad it helped clear up things a bit. No, I have not yet. I am due to take my CBT in June.

Vivian Yue · May 20, 2020

29 minutes ago, C. Southern said:
I am glad it helped clear up things a bit. No, I have not yet. I am due to take my CBT in June.

So you have to take Both? OSBE and CBT? Thank you! So are you actually doing a nurse associate job at the moment based on your previous reply?

Cassandra Kristina · May 21, 2020

On 5/20/2020 at 5:34 AM, C. Southern said:
Hi All,
Not sure if this will help, but here is goes. I have an ADN, which meant 2 years of nursing school with 1 year of pre requisites. I have asked the same question the the NMC, and go the same kind of vague answer. But I went ahead and applied because I had my college degree, my nursing license and have practiced and registered in the States, which is what they require ultimately. I applied and received my authorisation to test. So despite the fact I didn’t have 3 years of nursing school, I can still apply. But I have to take the CBT, since our standard 2 year nursing programme doesn’t match up equivalently to their standard 3 year nursing programme here in the UK. I would imagine it would be the same for the accelerated BSN, as long as you have been able to register in your home country.
Hope this helps!

Now I'm hopeful because, I also have a ADN and I'm registered with my states board of nursing. But, I thought I didn't have a chance at being accepted.

heyred823, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2020

@kaitfinder and anyone who might have had the same situation...

My state also doesn't issue a paper nursing license. They refer you to nursys.com for an online verification. For the evidence that I registered and have a nursing license, what did you submit? And for the contact details of your regulator, did you just call up your state board of nursing and say "Hey, I'm doing this thing, you might get some calls." ? LOL

I'm getting my docs ready for the first part of the process! ?

Thank you all!

jordanecc311 · Jun 14, 2020

23 minutes ago, heyred823 said:
@kaitfinder and anyone who might have had the same situation...
My state also doesn't issue a paper nursing license. They refer you to nursys.com for an online verification. For the evidence that I registered and have a nursing license, what did you submit? And for the contact details of your regulator, did you just call up your state board of nursing and say "Hey, I'm doing this thing, you might get some calls." ? LOL
I'm getting my docs ready for the first part of the process! ?
Thank you all!

I just went onto the Texas board of nursing website and printed out the certificate from the website. I also printed and attached a letter explaining that we do not get hard copies of our license.
the NMC, fortunately, is aware that nurses in the states generally do not get hard copies ?