USA RN to relocate to Canada

World Immigration

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Hi there! I'm wondering if any nurses who have immigrated from the US to Canada can share any of their experiences with the immigration process and getting your license transferred over. I've already submitted my paperwork to the NNAS and it is currently undergoing "final review."

Have any USA RNs who have gotten the 'comparable,' from the NNAS have still been forced to take the competency assessment from the NCAS?

And if you were successful in immigrating to Canada, what was applying for a hospital job like? Or any RN job like? Currently I work for a major hospital (3 yrs experience) in med surg here in Oregon.

Any experience / advice / thoughts are welcomed!

On 6/23/2020 at 3:35 AM, gardengrower92 said:

Hey, thanks for your response!

I'm not looking forward to having to do both day and night shift (that must be awful, switching back and forth). Working with LPNs sounds like it could be nice though!

Good news is that my NNAS did come back as comparable (it is possible!), so now I've moved on to applying with the BC College of nursing. They say it takes about 3 weeks for that process, but with covid I'm sure it may take longer. Still crossing my fingers I don't have to take the NCAS!

Hey there, I’m resurrecting this older thread in hopes of getting some insight from you. Can you please tell me what you included in your NNAS application that helped you get comparable. I am a citizen of Both Canada and the United States. All of my nurse training (ASN and BSN) and work experience is from the states but I am considering applying for my Canadian license in case I move back to my hometown in Ontario. I saved all of my syllabuses from my BSN classes in preparation of submitting this application. Any insight that you could give me in How o should organize all of the supporting documents in my application would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Specializes in Surgical RN.
5 hours ago, weiny4089 said:

Hey there, I’m resurrecting this older thread in hopes of getting some insight from you. Can you please tell me what you included in your NNAS application that helped you get comparable. I am a citizen of Both Canada and the United States. All of my nurse training (ASN and BSN) and work experience is from the states but I am considering applying for my Canadian license in case I move back to my hometown in Ontario. I saved all of my syllabuses from my BSN classes in preparation of submitting this application. Any insight that you could give me in How o should organize all of the supporting documents in my application would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there,

I was fortunate that my university where I got my BSN did most of my work for me… they sent the course syllabi, in addition to the learning objectives and whatever else the NNAS said they required for their application… my school said they ended up sending over 300 pages of material! Per the NNAS, the more detail the better. 

Getting a comparable really comes down to how similar your school’s curricula is to Canada’s. Everyone school’s curricula will be different, so it’s kind of a guessing game as to whether your’s will be more similar to Canada’s than someone else’s. That being said, the US and Canada are pretty similar overall, so your chances are pretty good. 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, gardengrower92 said:

Hi there,

I was fortunate that my university where I got my BSN did most of my work for me… they sent the course syllabi, in addition to the learning objectives and whatever else the NNAS said they required for their application… my school said they ended up sending over 300 pages of material! Per the NNAS, the more detail the better. 

Getting a comparable really comes down to how similar your school’s curricula is to Canada’s. Everyone school’s curricula will be different, so it’s kind of a guessing game as to whether your’s will be more similar to Canada’s than someone else’s. That being said, the US and Canada are pretty similar overall, so your chances are pretty good. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it. Like you eluded to, I figure it’s best to send as much information in the most organized fashion as possible. It would be a whole lot easier if the Provincial CONs would just accept that any degree deemed accredited in the USA would be fit for practice in the Canada…but that’s asking for too much from a Country who loves over-regulation ?

In the end, I may decide against moving back for that reason. Thanks again for your info.

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