Fleaflyfloflum

Although my circumstances are different to yours, I am in a similar situation in that to all intents and purposes, the UK thinks I have been living back there for nearly 2yrs already.
I made my first attempt at resettling nearly 2yrs ago and registered on the electoral register. I also opened a bank account etc, and had a job even though it was an extremely short time.
My second attempt at returning was mid last year and I was hospitalised, claimed benefits due to this too, so like you, I am wondering how they would know you havent been there all that time?

By the time i would complete the access course, which is private fees of £40 per month, my 3yrs would be up, so i am thinking I would be ok for uni by that point.

Heljinder

You're fortunate, my access course will be eight months to a year in duration, so my time wouldn't be up. I hope this three year rule isn't going to be a hindrance because I really want to get going on a social work degree course as soon as I can, as I feel time is clocking on for me in my mid forties!

A thought...surely this rule would apply to 'gap year' students then as well. But, I have a feeling that because we've maintained a UK 'existence' then it should be fine. I'll check it out though and let you know.

By the way, your husband's line of work sounds so interesting.

Fleaflyfloflum

OU courses are only available for this if you are already working in the healthcare system.

It will be sometime before i am fit enough to work, which is another reason i have decided now is the best time to do the study seeing as i cant go out to work.

Heljinder, my access course is the same length as yours, but as i said before, That will take me to around about the 3yr mark fingers crossed!!
I do hope you get sorted ok. I am 47 at the end of this month, so like you, time is not on my side either

OH always says about his job that the exciting moments are interspersed with extended long periods of humdrum lol

Sue

I really don't know, may be worth doing some checking just in case. Perhaps call the university you hope to attend and ask them.

brightonbelle

Hi,

I have just qualified as a nurse...for the second time around lol.

I was an enrolled nurse years ago, but not worked in the field for many years. Up until a few years ago an E.N could do a conversion course (academic study to top up to R.N). However, conversion courses have ceased to be offered by most uni's....including the only one I could attend (within commuting distance). This is due in part to a declining number of ENs wanting to convert...and to convert you need to have existing NMC registration and a line manager willing to employ you full time but release you two days a week to attend study/practice sessions......snowballs chance in hell lol.

Therefore, allthough there are jobs out there for experienced L2 nurses..for someone like myself who had been out of nursing for a while..the only option was to retrain as an R.N. For the poster from the states...the NMC will only re register existing working E.N.s and will not register old E.Ns or LPNs etc.....but if you did your RN training inthe US then you can apply to register with NMC, do 20 days overseas nursing programme at a cost of around £500

http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/ho.../overseas.html

(It is worth pointing out that a british citizen with an overseas qualification will find it easier to gain a job than an overseas nurse due to current employment restrictions)


I got into uni with my OU qualifications. I studied two courses with the OU as an independant learner (understanding health and social care, and human biology and health). These gave me a total of 90 points which is considered the equivalent of three A levels. Its only the specific nursing access course which ties you into being a NHS employee....some of the OU courses are restricted but most of them are not....as long as you study appropirate courses related to health or nursing then quite a few (but not all) unis accept the points for their entry criteria.


My uni accepted this as they would have done if I had done an access course. I did both courses together in nine months. You can apply to a nursing uni whilst still gaining your qualifications and can be offered a conditional place pending your results.

One thing posters may need to consider. Unis will offer a place dependant on you qualifying for a NHS bursary. The R.N course is unlike other uni courses. This means your tuition fees are paid for and you get a monthly non repayable bursary for living expenses. If you have been out of the UK/EEC area for more than 3 years you will not be granted a bursary. No bursary means no uni place as you are not allowed to self fund and pay your own tuition fees (unlike other uni courses where its an option to pay home or international fees depending on your status)

The uni dont check up that much on proof of your residency but NHS unit does. They look for a continious line of address' and income relating to the whole 36 month period. The onus is on the applicant to prove they have been here...not for them to prove you havent.

I cant suggest to anyone what they should do, and I dont know if there is a minimum amount of time in each year where someone might be regarded as resident here even if the majority of time they were in Aus....but its important to note that a student nurse has to have a yearly enhanced crb check done detailing your addresses for at least five years.

Between filling in the bursary forms and the crb forms, your filling in a lot of legal documentation. Should it ever be found out that a person shouldnt have got their bursary...then if still a student you would lose your place. If qualified
then the NMC can take away your registration and right to practise. Allthough I dont know her, a failry newly qualified nurse from my uni appeared on the NMC fitness to practise website where she lost registration due to committing fraud (she had lied about her qualfications to gain entry to uni).

For me, it was a bummer having to get the qualifications to do the training...and then do the training again. But I have peace of mind knowing that registration is mine...and can only be taken away from me if I cock up! also, I shall be turning 46 shortly and have been offered three jobs on qualifying (yay)...and I'm not the oldest in my cohort. plenty of women in their 50s have just qualified and got jobs ....so if it takes a while to get your uni place it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck to you all, I hope it all works out well in the end!!

Tracey

ps some info

form you would have to fill in for nhs bursary http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Students/Do...w_Dip)V2.0.pdf

info re crb checks (from education site but applies to social work and nursing too) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/itt/pgce/crb/

http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/prospectivestu...ents/hsc.shtml

brightonbelle

oh and forgot to add that there are some exceptions to the three year residency rule.....so for example,

1- as a partner of/ dependant of or being a serving member of the armed forces you spent some or all of the three year period out of the EU zone

2- as dependant of parents working outside of the EU zone for temporary contract

3- as requirement of EU based job you were temporarily transfered out of the zone (but vague on specifics)

T.

Mummy in the foothills

Brightonbelle, Thank you you are a wealth of knowledge and have answered a lot of questions for me.
I had no idea the conversion courses were no longer offered, darn it!
I should have done it in 93 when I had the chance before coming back to US.
Now I wonder if the NMC would re register me as an L2, seeing I have a working active license here with proof of all my continuing education credits, with all my license renewals every two years and have been working and am an experienced home visit nurse here.
Although I want to move into the local doctors offices, I need to persuade them to give me a try, I've been looking after their patients under their supervision for a lot of years.
It's all very interesting.
I think I'll look up transferring here to RN and see what the hellish costs are, we have one kid in Uni and are pretty strapped for cash. But if all I'd need is a 20hr course when I get home, it may be worth it.

Fleaflyfloflum

Thanks for the great post. Very helpful to me and probably a lot of others!

From what you say, I think i might just have myself covered! I have either had income from jobs there, benefit claim or money transfers from my husbands bank account on a regular basis which would qualify as income to live on. Double that with me being on the electoral register at my daughters address since 2007 and a couple of credit accounts for items bought and left at my daughters place, i think i should be ok, but will look into it further.
If not, i'll just have to do the course and sit it out longer before applying to the uni.

Chrissywissy100

Havent read the whole thread so this may have already been covered, but the RCN has very useful information on becoming a nurse (from scratch), or transfering into the profession from another country... http://www.rcn.org.uk/nursing/becomenurse

brightonbelle

To M.I.T.F.

If you maintained E.N registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council during your time abroad, then its not too much of a problem. You just complete either a return to nursing programme or overseas programme. After obtaining employment, there are still some conversion courses out there....but getting few and far between hence not many unis offer them.......but there are a few out there.....as long as you have current N.MC registration.

If E.N registration with the N.M.C lapsed then thats a problem (sorry to be bearer of bad news). The N.M.C will not accept new applications for second level nurses (E.N or L.P.N etc ) as part two of the register is closed (all current registered E.Ns moved to a "holding" port on part one of the register). A website for advice...http://www.skillclear.co.uk/nmc.asp

But, if you have been out of the country less than three years you could apply to do your R.N training here....would be free...so better option than doing it in the states? or even getting back home and waiting it out till you can start the course could be cheaper in the long run?



To Flea,

If you tell your prospective uni/NHS bursary your life history (they do probe lol) and they are satisfied that you have been back home for residency purposes...then fantastic! should anyone in the future query anything it wont matter, your covered and it would be the unis fault if they got anything wrong about the residency requirements. In other words, if your upfront your covered.


I just wanted everyone to be aware that in any dealing with nursing uni, and the N.M.C they make their checks....and sometimes things dont show up on a first check but on subsequent ones...and it could come back and bite yer! especially as you have to show uni your passport and they do data share with benefits people, inland revenue, and immigration.....every year your a student and not just at application stage.
Should anyone not be in Fleas position where she did return and have a recordable financial/employment history....being on electoral register or owning a property here wont be enough to satisify residency criteria. They want proof of your "life" for three years.



Personally, I think its bloody crazy that a British born subject has to jump through hoops and fulfill criteria when they return home. If a person and their kids are British they should be able to return and be classed as "home" students.....and they or their teenagers should be able to go to uni like normal.

On my nursing course we had european students who had no intention of ever working here. They were going back home on graduation, and the uni is like "well, its ok, its all the E.U". Ok I get it, but what about British returnees or even overseas nationals who intend to live here, work for the NHS, pay tax, give something back.....nah they cant get on the course. Ohhhh it gets me hackles up!!

ok rant over! hopefully anyone interested in coming home and nursing will make it...even if not straight away then soon. And I am more than happy to supply advice on anything I can....applying to uni, interviews, assignments etc....

Tracey

Heljinder

Thank you so much, Brigtonbelle!

Millie11

Hi Tracy

When I (Danish - married to a Brit) got accepted into a UK uni I still had to prove that I had lived in UK for 3 years prior. If I had done the degree I could have left right after to work in another country but so could all the true Brits Lots of english newly qualified nurses and midwives leave UK to work in Oz.

brightonbelle

a very good valid point....

a British person may study here leave for Australia and therefore not "pay back" the public funding. And I suppose if the NHS was bothered about things (its them that provide the funding) I guess they would slap on a working committment of a fixed length of time after qualifying)



Its not that I have a problem where a person works after qualifying...I have no idea where I will be a year from now (not in Aus, me dads in Darwin..no thanks!). I just wanted to contrast the opportunities available for someone to train here and leave against lack of opportunities for those who want to come here, train and stay.

I just think that if a committment to living in this country for three years prior to commencing nurse education is sufficient for a British or EU person regardless of where they will work afterwards......then why cant a returning Brit or EU national come here to train and have their past years in this country counted...or if they lack that a three year committment to the NHS in return for public funding.

ok, I'll get off me soap box now, sorry didnt mean to offend any EU students out there....

Ty

Millie11

I understand and finds it strange that a Brit can't return and study without having to pay. I can return to Denmark and study and get the state grant without having to live there for 3 year prior because I have a Danish passport. It should be the same in UK.

bithbheo

I am British but did my RN at uni here in Australia.....have been qualified for 8 years now and working all that time......Now we have decided to go home and so I applied to NMC for registration and after numerous packages of qualifications and letters from employers being sent to them they have knocked back my registration as I have never worked in Maternity or done any study in it .....Letter I got back said I need "exposure" to maternity....but did not tell me just what exposure they would accept despite numerous phone calls......they said new EU rules they now have to follow means to get registration in General nursing ALL areas have to be studied and worked in .......do not want to do a year full time post grad in Midwifery so am at a loss now what to do .......friends who did their UK registration 2 years ago did not have this trouble...all happened around the middle of last year it seems.......

oops sorry gone on a bit there am just a bit p***ed off with it all that study and cannot work as RN in the UK !!!!!

Moral of the story study and become a RN in UK to begin with.........