GeoffM

Highly specialised I think. Wasn't the number in the high 10s or low 100s last year / year before?

Not necessarily: just experienced and flexible. Wifey's cousin easily gets that, yes she's senior, does post-op, cardiac, ICU etc, but sometimes gets paid $25/hr just to sit at home on-call - and lives within walking distance of the hospital. Not Cedars-Sinai either but Providence, your average hospital chain.

christmasoompa

Blimey! I didn't criticise you, I didn't say that you should have worked or got a job, so not sure why you feel the need to be so defensive. I was simply saying that you made an assumption which may have been incorrect.

It's a public forum. You therefore have to expect all sorts of responses, thread drift and opinions. You've already learnt the flaws in your plan, and now know that you either need to plan to go to another country, or work towards becoming eligible for a visa. I'd say that's been pretty helpful advice personally. If you just want answers without any chat, then an immigration lawyer is the person to go to.

I guess it depends, I wouldn't assume anything from that post either way. My point was just that she could well have funded her gap year herself (she wouldn't have been a minor for if it was post A levels), I travelled straight from college after working during studying, so perhaps she did the same. Iirc, my parents gave me a guide book towards my travels.

Englishmum

Yep - my daughter took a job in a cafe-bakery for a few months to fund her trip to India. She lived at my mum's house (she had an L2 visa to live with us in the States but she's never had the desire to live in the USA).

Ironically it was cheaper for her to spend a few months in India (she went with this gap year company: http://www.ventureco-worldwide.com/asia/india/ )

....and including all her flights, food, accommodation etc. was cheaper than it was for her younger brother to stay on a 6 week Summer camp in a wooden hut in the Berkshires, Massachusetts! (Camp Half Moon). Ironically his 'camp counselor' was a student on a BUNAC placement from my home town in England lol!

I doubt that the O/P will be back after her hissy-fit, but if she is tempted to come back to see if any more posts have been made on this thread, perhaps she could apply for a BUNAC placement either this Summer (if she's quick and applies before the end of this month she could go in June) or in 2016:

Work America | BUNAC | Work Experience Abroad

Dreamanddoit

Peoples travels aren't exactly relevant to the original post anyway, and again as said before suggesting I do the NGO isnt going to help me with regards to getting into the states.

There was no 'hissy-fit' I was just stating that there has been information provided that may not have been relevant and information that in no way helps. Again, the trouble with this site is you don't know the tone in which things would have been said. I just wanted to thank those who had actually been helpful and disregard those that hadn't.

Which regards to your suggestion of a BUNAC placement, as a student nurse I work throughout the summer, I get 7 weeks off a year, 2 at christmas, 2 at easter and 3 in the summer. During this time I'm revising for my exams or reading the reading list for the next academic year and hence wouldn't be able to do this. But thanks for the suggestion.

christmasoompa

I think you're missing the point of a forum. Think of it as a pub, you might wander in and ask a question, but 10 minutes later the conversation will have shifted to another subject. That's the nature of a forum, threads drift and that's perfectly normal.

No, but as you've been made aware now, nursing won't help you get to the States either. I think people were just suggesting things in case you wanted to live abroad elsewhere, rather than changing your career path. No need to pooh pooh their ideas or suggestions, again think of it as a pub where everybody is chatting and throwing ideas out there.

I don't know how long a BUNAC placement is for, so perhaps it wouldn't coincide with your holidays, but studying/reading shouldn't stop you doing it. Plenty of people study whilst in a full-time job - Dorothy included, above, and my husband, who is currently studying for an MBA. He's studying until 1am most nights before leaving for work at 6.15am. If you can make it work in terms of your vacation time, it would be a great way to try out life in the US and see if you want to work towards it.

HTH.

AdobePinon

Seriously? You weren't exactly helpful in that regard.

DebzinUS

Every thing that Silverdragon has stated is accurate. It is highly unlikely that the UK nursing degree will be adequate for US registration without additional hours(clinical and didactic) in OB/Peds and Psych nursing. Go check out a thread by flyingnurse123. She has been living in the US for 9 months now and still can't find the courses she needs to sit for the NCLEX

scrubbedexpat099

To be fair once it became clear she had no visa route the thread was over.

Bob

Everyone seems to have done it all very sensibly. My mate who took a gap year after uni funded it by being a bit of a slag and shagged his way across Australia as a gigolo, doing the personal trainer thing to older, wealthy birds. One bird even paid for his return flight home.

I've no idea if he did it all on the dodge, or if he got a WHV thingy or not, but knowing him, it was probably dodgy

Englishmum

OMG - that's hysterical! (I wonder if he shagged any of my Aussie mates? )

tht

Just to put your dream in context, I had a similar desire at age 21, to move to NYC, At that point I only had an undergraduate degree an no real work experience. I am here now, but it took me over 10 years and I work in Finance (where there are more visa options).

In that time I also went and lived in NZ (I had friends who had moved there with their parents).

If I was in the same position today I would probably look at Brisbane / Gold Coast Australia if I was looking for warm beach living.

While what your looking to do may be doable with a lot of hard work, realistically you have to thing long term.