honeymommy

Wow.. You have been waiting 2 years!!! Thats an awful long time.... From the info you are giving I take it that you are being employed by the agency primarily with UCLA having the option to sponsor after a period of time... Is that the case?
I know nurses that only took 6 months start to finish, so I have no idea why it's allready taken 2 years......

The rent I quoted was for basic accomodation.. If you want a bit of nice/luxury... meaning well kept surrounds, nice pool, and perhaps a gym, you are looking at the £1100 mark..... Obviously security will be better, but from experience... If someone wants to get in somewhere they will.... I used to visit friends and could allways get in to the complex's very easily without having to buzz up for them to let me in.... That was in my car!!!!! Oh and they were paying around £1500 a month for a studio appt....

Taxes.... Hmmmm... Around a third for us, but hubby was able to claim exemptions for 4 kids and myself who wasn't working.... So more than a third for you....

£28 an hour sounds low to be honest..... but if it was 2 yrs ago it should be higher now.... Once established in the USA you can earn a lot more... Then you will definately be better off than in the UK.....

Have you thought about trying other avenues to sponsorship and employment in a USA hospital..... I would take a look... You will be supprised at your options......

Have you taken the Tests yet to have you skills assessed? CGFNS? NCLEX ?
Visa screen? Anything?

I would take more than £4000 to be honest... Nearer to £6000, more if you can... What about transport? You need to buy a car and insure it..... Rental deposit, 1st month rent, furniture etc etc....

The first couple months will be expensive till you get to know your way around... Plus you will want to get out and about to see the area which will cost you...

First I would find out how much longer the agency thinks all this is going to take....... 2 yrs is a very long time....

MightBe

2 years is about correct at this time. many others are taking this long.

honeymommy

Do you know why? I know of 3 UK nurses that took 6 months start to finish. They started last year in California....

MightBe

Quite amazing since the I-140 are taking just on the year to get thru Cali SC
and longer still elsewhere.

Bob

To be fair, Readings a dump *l*

Bob

Aye, good enough reasons to shoot things and drive big stupid muscle cars *l*

pickle967

hello honeymommy.

yes i have taken the nclex and passed .they agency thinks it is going to be another 4mnths at the least.i just received DS230 part 1 today to sign. i hope this means i am moving foward 6000pounds my God i have to start working extra bank shifts. Driving in London is one of my biggest nightmares .i can not imagine myself driving in Los angeles Will you be going back or are you back for good.
Pickles

USBound

Driving around here is a NIGHTMARE... total. Pretty much everyone I speak to says LA is the worst. I avoid it by living close to work and NEVER going on the freeways; they are like the M1 with no rules and an idiot every second car. Oh... and when it rains... EVERYONE thinks it a reason to speed, late brake and thus crash; back in Feb it rained hard for about 2 hours and on my 2.5 mile drive home... 6 crashes.

Oh.. and its been raining here for 5 days straight now...

honeymommy

4mths they said... Thats almost there then... Great!!!!!

Driving.... Again I have to say it.... I thought LA driving was a nightmare, and was terrified to drive freeways etc.... The thing is once I started to basically as the kids needed taking places, I found it was pretty similar to the UK.. Yes there are idiots out there that do the OMG rain!!! I am gonna melt, so drive faster to get home. I wasn't an experienced driver but with the UK driver training I was a dam site better than anything I saw on the road near me... LOL... Never had an accident, other than two people going into the back of me, because they forgot to stop... LOL No real damage to my truck except a scratch.... (The 2 cars that hit me suffered bigtime damage) I loved my truck with the tow bar..
I would compare LA driving to London.... You will be fine...... Just go for it, it will become second nature in no time..... my hubby took 3 lessons to get used to the roads which helped him greatly...

As far as your budget... I would save as much as you can and if your unsure if you have enough just take it very easy for the first month....

Oh and one thing..... Once you are established, save..... They say having 6 mths wage in savings is better.. (If possible... LOL) Allways make sure you have enough money to get back to the UK and get established... Keep it aside.....

As to going back ourselves..... No.....

honeymommy

Hey USBound... Good to see you.... Sorry to hear about the weather... Bet Topanga Canyon with be ripe for a nice fire next year then... How's the flooding holding up? Any suprise mudslides so far?
If this makes you happy, I will let you know that it's cold and raining here, with worse weather on the way... LOL The computer stores compared to Best Buy and Fry's are like the early learning center... Mr Honeymommy is not impressed so has dissapeared into his 'computer online shopping zone'... LOL

Just think.. your rain will soon stop and you will have that wonderful 100 degree weather again...

immunise

$28 is pretty average for LA, I know Cedars-Sinai pay CNII's about $28 and CNIII's about $32. I worked in LA and got $27.75 at Cedars, I moved to UCSF (San Francisco) for a rate of $36.56 for a CNII with 5 years exp, my wife, also a CNII but with 10 years gets $41.17 but as a CNIII in LA only got $28.13!!!

I don't get it! ...or care now that we got out of 'HELL-A'