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Any US-RNs successful at getting a job in Canada?

qimenglan

Newbie
Mar 17, 2016
1
0
Hi guys, I'm new here, but have been reading lots of posts for a while on this topic, but rarely see any situation that matches mine or that is recent enough. I am curious if any US-EDUCATED RNs with a BSN have successfully immigrated to Canada RECENTLY, in the past 2 years since NNAS started evaluating nursing credentials. I keep seeing a LOT of foreign nurses being deemed non-comparable in education to Canadian nurses via NNAS, however, all of them were either from the Phillipines, Jamaica or India. I have yet to see any US nurse post experience with this process. I was hoping to see some good news from a US nurse who might not have had such roadblocks.

I attended an ADN program here in the States and then bridged to my BSN at the University of Maryland. I have 6 years of experience working in psychiatric nursing, both inpatient and outpatient, and am ANCC board certified in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing (I am an RN-BC after sitting the ANCC psych nursing exam).

Do US BSN nurses have an easier time at this process than some other countries? My husband and I are in process of doing all of the legwork. My NNAS stuff is in transit, WES is in transit, taking the IELTS this weekend, etc. I'm just eager to have some insight into the process between our 2 border nations, b/c I'm getting very discouraged about this, especially given how much money we have invested thus far into this process.

Also, any insight on getting a job, b/c I've seen a lot of people saying that w/o Canadian work experience, you can't get a job, but how do you get a job w/o Canadian experience as an immigrant? I'm just hoping that b/c my nursing specialty is one that is usually in high demand (and I have so much varied experience) that perhaps I will have a leg up on some other candidates. However, I would like to be practical and not delude myself that my American education is a free pass to making this process less of a headache. I would appreciate any advice, experience, or stories about US nurses coming to Canada. We are hoping to immigrate there within the year (if this process can go that quickly), and to eventually become citizens. We are planning to move to Vancouver, BC. Of note, I am already familiar with nursevancouver.com and the CIC process. Thanx!
 

RN_0001

Hero Member
Oct 18, 2016
505
119
qimenglan said:
I was hoping to see some good news from a US nurse who might not have had such roadblocks.

I am in the same situation as you. Did you receive your NNAS Advisory Report? Mine said "non-comparable" and I am US BSN, NCLEX-RN passer with license in the state where I currently work.
 

Cate596

Newbie
Feb 16, 2017
2
0
Well THIS is very discouraging. How can a U.S. educated, NCLEX passing nurse NOT be comparable?! I don't know what we're going to do if that happens. Appeal, I suppose. I'm always reading about a nursing shortage in Canada, why do they make it so impossible to do? Especially when you want to move to Nova Scotia, who NEEDS immigrants. Consider me worried.
 

RN_0001

Hero Member
Oct 18, 2016
505
119
Cate596 said:
Well THIS is very discouraging. How can a U.S. educated, NCLEX passing nurse NOT be comparable?! I don't know what we're going to do if that happens. Appeal, I suppose...
It's happening to so many US educated BSN's. It's because of the way the new NNAS process assesses education. It's just a glorified word search, looking in syllabi for words/concepts that are in Canadian syllabi. The assessment to see if it compares to Canadian education is done by Americans who are not nurses. Have you begun the NNAS process yet?

If you are considered non-comparable, don't appeal to NNAS. The appeals process with them costs $500 and is a total money grab. They will just argue that your school didn't send enough documentation or something. I don't think anyone has had a successful appeal with them. So save yourself the money! The licensing body in Nova Scotia will likely ask you to do some sort of exam, which will also cost money, but has more of a chance of letting you prove your skill and knowledge than an appeal with NNAS would. Often the exams consist of a written portion and some sort of scenario portion where you have acting patients to assess and interact with.