ken-6

I am a British/Australian citizen trying to move over to Orlando. I am a neonatal intensive care nurse and am finding the whole process very confusing. I need my license and exam but dont really want to go for them unless I know that I will get a visa but I cant get a visa without a job sponsorship.
The visa we are looking at is an E3.

Has anyone got any advice or know of any good agencies who can help.

Thanks

Emma

JAJ

Do you want the move to be permanent? If so, have you also looked into how difficult it will be to get a green card?

ken-6

Weve been told a green card can take anything up to 8 years which is why we are going to try for a working visa

Dogbyte

Firstly I do speak with experience on this. Forget Orlando, or Florida for Nursing of any kind. Pay not too good, locals dont like foreigners, very clickish and whilst the areas are OK but once the novelty wears off ...............
Secondly to gain sponsorship of any kind is extremely difficult currently and has been for the past few years.If you check out Nursing agencies who specialise in bringing in outside Nurses you will find that not many are recruiting,if at all. Recruitment from hospitals is limited due to everyone tightening their purse strings and prefer to recruit locally as its cheaper and a lot less hassle plus they can hire and fire at will for no reason,and they do. Its very cut thoat. I can't speak for other States for recruitment but overall it is a problem throughout the States for ex pats in general.
Many have tried and have decided to look elsewhere. Sorry to be negative but have to be truthful so as not raise false hopes.
I wish you well in your quest.

GeoffM

Be careful with the agencies. If they somehow succeed in getting you sponsorship then you'll be tied in to them for a couple of years at least, with them pocketing a good third of your pay packet.

Problem with not going for the NCLEX/CGFNS (as appropriate) is that your application would probably be thrown away as soon as they see you don't have it. As you probably realise, neither are trivial so I can understand not wanting to do them until you have a job.

Are you married to someone of the opposite gender with in-demand skills?

NICU is better than a "standard" RN, a very small ray of light in a chasm of darkness I'm afraid! Nursing retrogression is a phrase to look up.

Redwing

I can echo what Dogbyte has said. I have a daughter who is a nurse in a hospital in the south, and a daughter who is in a hospital pharmacy in the north. They both tell me that hospitals, or medical centers as they are now called, are cutting back, and not always replacing those who leave. Instead, medical personnel are being asked to work half shifts to cover. I wish you the best in your efforts.

Awesome Welles

My wife is an MDS Co-ordinator in a Central FL Hospital System. In the UK, she was a Sister on an acute surgical ward - lots of experience and lots of responsibility for piss-all salary.
She works with what she says are a lively and disperate group of people from all over the USA and beyond, who are friendly, welcoming, supportive and appreciative of what she brings to the team. She works 5 days, 40 hours, no weekends and earns just shy of $70k.
Downside - you have to study hard for the NCLEX and MDS qualifications, which are a stretch for some (my smart-assed wife aced them both, of course) and - there are no visas for nurses currently - nor have been for some time (she's an LPR). So it's not all crap, if you know what to aim for.

JAJ

Out of interest why are you so interested to exist for years in the USA on a working visa? You're British/Australian which means you can live in a variety of countries with permanent resident rights, and a route to citizenship, and if you really want to work in North America, Canada probably offers you more options than the USA does.

NoodleNoo

Hi Awesome Welles,
I understand the studying part for the NCLEX and MDS qualifications.
But, what about the clinical practice side of it?
How did your wife achieve this or has she experience in paediatrics, mental health and obstetrics etc already?
I'm a staff nurse and qualified in Adult Nursing and am wondering if I do the exams how I go about getting the clinical practice in the other areas when my job is post-operative orthopaedic elective nursing care?
I'd very much appreciate some advice

Dogbyte

Hi N.N

Advice from the 'boss' !
Whichever University/ or your Hospital you achieved your degree from, you would have to contact them with a view to seeing if they would take you back to cover the required specialised requirements and give you the credits. Working for them(the hours) would I'm told, not be paid.
O'Grady Peyton, a Nursing Agency did at one stage offer to assist by putting people/nurses in touch with a 'Uni', Brighton I think/no too sure with a view to getting the required hours on a special programme.not sure if its still going though.
Suggestions ... look at the AllNurses website and see the comments on that site and also contact your Uni'.
My wife had her hours from initial training back in 68-72 ( she getting on now )
The reason for the lack of these requirements which used to be standard nursing practise in training stems from the NMC realising too many English nurses were getting better paid jobs abroad.They then stopped the 'hours' as routine as in, to prevent more from leaving.
About the time the Project 2000 came into being the local Nursing hospital training reverted to student pupils going to University to be trained.This effectively stopped Nurses gaining the hours in the required areas which you now seek.
Since then the USA has just stopped recruiting and few visa's if any have been issued since 2008/9.
Sorry to be negative but....

There seems little movement currently and all indications are that nothing will change in the forseeable future. Sorry.
Hope this helps a little. DB

gjy06

Are you sure that you need to do extra hours in those specialties? Visa issues aside, check with your nursing school and obtain a 'transcript of hours' which should break down what you completed. I trained in 1995-98 (project 2000) and moved to Boston in 2004 through OGP. I had enough hours from my initial training, and did not have to do any further uk based training to sit the NCLEX. Of course this may vary between universities. My post registration speciality was ICU (adult).
Of course this doesn't help with the retrogression....

NoodleNoo

Thanks for your reply DB and yes, although its a tad negative its also realistic and you gave me some info I didn't know regarding the NMC specificity (is that the right word?) on nursing in the UK.
I'm resigning myself to the fact that I probably won't get a job as a nurse in the USA.....but hey-ho, their loss

augigi

Best thing to do initially to see if you are even going to be eligible is to get the CES assessment from CGFNS. This evaluates your clinical and theory hours and advises what US degree/diploma your education equates to. I didn't think I had enough paeds/psych hours but when the report came back I did.

I work on an E3 and have for 4+ years, and it's not the same kind of problem working visa as the H1B etc if you're eligible. It's cheap and easy to get and doesn't scare the hospitals because they don't need to "sponsor" you but merely get an LCA and offer prevailing wage. You do need to find a position that requires a minimum of a bachelor degree, so you'd either want to get certified as NICU RN or go to a Magnet hospital that requires nurses to have bachelor degrees (as many in the US just have a 2yr associates degree).

I agree check allnurses first.

Ar1anne

Hi all,
new to this...so please bear with me

I have been reading through the above conversation and I was wanting to ask some questions.

I have been trying for the last 9months to try and attempt the confusing process of CES/NCLEX and hoping for a move to Florida.
After reading some of the comments above I can see that this is highly unlikely....
The process is very confusing and I have been using an agency that I feel has been spinning me lies and leading me on...
My CES report was rejected for not having enough clinical/theoretical hours and my university has provided them with a more indepth detail and im hoping the re report comes back successful...but it seems that this is not the hard bit but finding a job and a sponsor is...I am currently a qualified adult nurse working in Glasgow, Scotland.

I was just wondering if anyone who has managed or failed could give me some advice on whether this is possible or whether i am just wasting my money, time and emotions??

Thanks in advance
Ari x

Noorah101

Search "nursing visa retrogression".

Rene