Valadin

Hello all,

My wife frequents this forum often and, as is the case, we're looking to emigrate from the USA and head to New Zealand. At the moment the way we're looking at it is sort of straightforward, but some basic background information.

I currently hold a BSc in Psychology with Counseling from the UK. I received this in 2011, and since then have immigrated to the USA (Oct 2011) to be with my wife on the west coast. I'm a permanent resident, looking for work with my father in law acting as my sponsor.

With the economy looking unlikely to give me any sort of break, I've entertained the thought of going back to school. Namely medical school, looking to transfer my Psy into some Psychiatry. Now, this is where the issues start.

Foremost is, do I have a better range of options if I were to seek out a medical school in New Zealand and immigrate from within the country (legally, naturally) or would it be better to get my MD in the USA and emigrate once I'm fully qualified. I'll be sending out emails to the university and medical council as well, but I thought I'd ask here.

Are there any recommendations or advice people would give regarding this?

Also, is anyone aware of whether there are differences between the certification requirements in NZ and the USA, and whether there are any particular courses I should take to make it up. The course includes experience working with minorities, but since the minorities in this area would be native American and Mexican, I feel it wouldn't transfer well to the Aboriginal culture and I'd need to learn it separately.

As I'm going to need to have my British degree transferred into the USA system, is there a translation service that anyone has used that would be recommended?

All help is greatly appreciated!
And I hope you're having great weather there. My wife tells me you guys have nothing but high praise for the climate!

clairesw

Hello!

I'm not particularly qualified to answer most of your questions, but I was talking to someone yesterday hoping to start medical school in NZ. There are only two I believe...Auckland and Dunedin and apparently competition for places is really high this year.

I'm sure others with more experience will be along soon, in the meantime welcome and good luck!

Persephone

I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to answer your questions. Not sure if anyone on here has experience of medical schools in the USA and NZ
I think having a look at whether the Medical Council over here accepts USA degrees for registration would be your first step. Also have a look at the potential costs between studying in either country, I would think you would be paying international fees over here. As Clairsw has said competition for places is high so the likelihood of you getting in is also an issue.

Would you be planning to return to the USA at some point as your wife is from there? You also need to look at whether the USA accepts NZ qualifications for registration purposes as this could be a big problem if you specialise and then want to return. Though I do not know whether medical registration involves omniscience as my profession does. I have experience of this-Mr S is working in the USA for two years and that is where I currently am. My British veterinary degree is not recognised by the USA [no problem with NZ] and the process to become registered to legally work is lengthy and very expensive. I have decided it is not worth it since we are only here for two years.

So I don't think I can help very much

Valadin

Hmm, just realized that this topic was probably ill-chosen owing to it sounding like I was looking for information regarding medical stuff like immunizations. Sorry about that.

Thanks for the responses guys!

We're waiting to hear back from the schools and the medical council so still no progress on that front. I was wondering whether a psychology BSc by itself was going to be enough to get a job. Someone suggested getting work out there and worrying about Med School afterwards, though to my understanding the cost of living there is quite high. Any opinions on the job economy there at the moment?

My wife is looking to move to NZ with me, and we'll be coming back to the USA, though we're thinking I'd maybe get citizenship first just so that if something happens and we need to be back here than we don't have the immigration hassle. One option we're looking at is that I study there and she waits here, but I'm not fond of that one simply because it'll put stress on us apart, and neither of us want that.

From what I can tell, NZ is cheaper for schooling itself, but it's not as close. I guess it's going to just be one of those decisions where I'll never be able to make the 'right' answer.