Satahjayne88

Hello I am new here so I hope I am posting in the right place! I am currently a band 6 rmn in UK with 5 years experience. I was wondering if Canadian employers take into account uk experience for salary or if you have to start on new graduate pay? Many thanks 😊

Siouxie

Hello and welcome to BE!

You will need to be prepared to start from scratch, once you have your Provincial Certification to enable you to work as a Mental Health Nurse.. generally speaking.
These threads may be of help to you - a quick search for 'nurse' will bring up more.. select 'Titles only' for what to search and 'Threads' then 'Canada' then tick child forums.. you can leave the username blank..
Mental Health Nurse (RMN, BSc) working in British Columbia (while it's for BC, the same applies to most Provinces)
UK nurse moving to Canada a long thread, you may want to make a cuppa

Do you have an application or route in mind for Permanent Residence or is this an exploratory question?

Satahjayne88

Hello and thank you for your reply!! I have just applied to nnas to compare my qualifications and then will apply through express entry. The starting salary in Canada for new graduates is lower than what I am earning in the UK so I was hoping they would take into account the 5 years experience I have in the UK

christmasoompa

What's your CRS score for EE? Might be worth applying sooner rather than later depending on what it is, once you've got PR you have nearly 3 years before you have to move, so plenty of time to get the nursing side of things sorted afterwards.

Best of luck.

Satahjayne88

Hello thankyou I will apply for ee now. I did a free assessment of my score and it was 459 which I don't think is that high

christmasoompa

That's pretty good, borderline for getting an invite. Are you young enough to not need to worry about losing points for age anytime soon?

Satahjayne88

I am 33 so not too young lol. My partner is 38 and her first language is Spanish and she does not hold a degree or diploma so I was thinking I would score higher if I applied on my own and added her as a dependent? I wasn't sure whether I should apply for nnas or express entry first so I went with nnas. Thank you for your advice

christmasoompa

The NNAS process will take a heck of a lot longer (even with visa processing times backed up thanks to Covid), but once you've got the visas you have a while to move.

You'll lose some points when you turn 34 & 35, so could be worth looking at applying sooner rather than later.

Best of luck.

Silverdragon102

It is up to the employer whether they accept experience or not. I was fortunate mine did but not all do

Satahjayne88

OK great thanks. Do you know how I apply to take the IELT? Do I Do this through express entry or do I need to apply separately? So far I have applied to NNAS and have paid WES to verify my education and I am just about to apply to express entry but have heard I need to arrange to take IELT as well. Is there any thing I am forgetting to do? Thank you for advice much appreciated

christmasoompa

Your ECA (from WES) and your IELTs result are all you need to apply under EE. The rest of your documents (police certs, employment evidence, proof of funds, etc) will come later if you're invited to apply for PR.

You take your IELTS at an exam centre, click the link on this page to find your nearest and to book it - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...e-testing.html

HTH.

Satahjayne88

OK thanks. Do I have to take IELT if my first language is English? I am English and studied in English

christmasoompa

Yes, it's mandatory for all FSW applicants.

HTH.

7InBC

I retrained in Canada as an RPN and the starting hourly wage in Interior Health Authority BC is $36.23 p/h, around $70K p/a before deductions, but also before shift differentials for nights, weekends and stat holidays etc. By my calculation that's $3.5K more than an AFC band 6, pay point 3 - though it is of course relative to the cost of living in your chosen town/province. If the employer does take into account your experience, step 5 pays $41.82 p/h or $81.5k p/a.

Colleagues immigrated 10 or so years ago and stated better wages here in BC were a huge bonus. O/T and stat holiday pay is also loads better than I received working for the Ambulance Service in the UK.

Perhaps it's not as grim as you thought?

All the best, Clare