Which country is better to work in U.S. or U.K?

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I am a surgical ICU nurse in the US at an university hospital and I love it, but wanted to venture outside of the country. My first option is the U.K. but after reading about nursing in the U.K., I have having second thoughts.

Does anyone have any preferences on which country is better to work for? To get my license there has been an annoying process, and wondering if it is all worth it.

Thank you.

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Why the UK?

Why not head north? We sort of speak the same language

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I really want to live in Europe and like that it would be relatively easy to visit near by countries.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Without an EU passport or the specialized training like a U.K your chances are slim.

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Specializes in ER.
Without an EU passport or the specialized training like a U.K your chances are slim.

UK is leaving th EU, remember?

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Why do you say that? It should be based on me passing the test and my credentials rather than me not being from the U.K.

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Specializes in ER.
Why do you say that? It should be based on me passing the test and my credentials rather than me not being from the U.K.

No, you are not a British citizen, therefore you haven't the same rights to work in Great Britain.

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Why do you say that? It should be based on me passing the test and my credentials rather than me not being from the U.K.

Any nation has the right to restrict who may move and/or work there.

The National Health Service is the main employer of nurses in the UK. Therefore priority rightly should be given to UK nationals.

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I've heard from ex pats that UK nurses have more autonomy and a wider scope of practice, is that accurate?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

I think it is more of a different scope. I find in Canada I need physician orders for everything where in the UK some stuff we didn't need orders we could just use our judgement and do it.

To the OP it all depends on what you want out of life. Having worked in Both UK and Canada I find pay and union support much better in Canada to the UK. Saying that I find the stress similar and the UK used more care workers in hospitals but there was less trained staff on the acute wards

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Any nation has the right to restrict who may move and/or work there.

The National Health Service is the main employer of nurses in the UK. Therefore priority rightly should be given to UK nationals.

If that is the case, why bother allowing me to take the exam? Also, the registration process is different for me and others trained outside of the U.K. Which includes the exam. And from what I read, they are having an issue with keeping their nurses and that is why there is an influx of nurses from other countries such as the Filipinnes. So sure, they can restrict who they want, but it doesn't make sense that they would based on the fact that the exams an outsider would take is not the same as a person a U.K. Citizen would take and the fact that they allow us to take the exam and aknowledge they need help. Unless it's all a huge scam, but I have more faith in this nursing council than that.

And from what you're saying, during one of these exams, the proctors pick and chose who they want to pass based on if they want a national or not? That seems completely unethical and a waste of time. And In that case, if they find this person isn't a national (which they will because this process is only for non-nationals) why bother letting take the exam in the first place. Because of they didn't want someone from another country, this whole process and their job as a prototype wouldn't exist. And i could see possibly if a person got their license but could not get hired anywhere because of the fact they were foreign, but then again, that is also called discrimination.

I really appreciate the time you took to respond to my post, but I disagree with you.

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Have you looked into the hoops nurses have to jump through to move to your country?

Your government is attempting to legislate Mexican and Canadian nurses out of jobs many have held for decades. You have a President who is saying America first and keep American jobs for Americans. The Phillipines won't even issue non-national the right to take their registration exam

Yet you seem to expect the rest of the world to put out the Welcome mat.

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