Using Travel Nursing to get back home?

[AugustRN501, ASN, RN]

Hi,

I work at a home care agency on the West Coast that uses travelers. They are all very happy and really enjoy travel nursing.

I will be moving back home to the East Coast in the next few months and people have suggested I look into travel nursing so I have the option of coming back to my West Coast haunts if I desired.

Can I use travel nursing to get back to the East Coast? If I am going there with the intention of actually living there and leaving my West Coast address, am I still a traveler? I see travel positions in my East Coast City...can I take an assignment there, rent an apartment, then bounce back to the West Coast when I want for 13 weeks?

I have heard you have to live 50 or 100 miles from an assignment to be a traveler. At least for my very first assignment I would be as I would be applying for it from the West Coast...although I would have no address here once I left.

I should add that I don't have to be employed every second. With the money I make on the West Coast assignments I would gladly take some time off in between. Will that reflect on me negatively in getting work?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[NedRN]

Some hospitals have a rule about distance, the IRS and agencies do not. There are tax benefits from traveling away from home but you will be at home for that first assignment (you have moved), so no tax benefits for working at home. Don't let that stop you, but you should read up on tax homes on sites like PanTravelers and TravelTax.

Any factor can affect your employability but many travelers take time off. It just isn't as important for temp jobs as it might be in considering how reliable you will be for a staff job.