Dear Friends,
My PR status is in process since July 31, 2009. I am an internationally educated and experienced nurse. Though I am a Registered Nurse from my home country and has the license as well to practice from the country where I am currently working, I was aware that these licenses are not accredited in Canada and my educational credentials may not have the equivalency to that of Canadian Standards. I am also aware that nursing profession is a regulated profession in Canada and that I cannot practice as a nurse without passing first the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination. To get the eligibility to sit for the CRNE you got to have your education assessed if indeed it has the Canadian standards equivalence.
These were the 2 things which I did after submitting my PR application. I made a research and I found out that each province in Canada has its own ways and standards. My Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (4 years) is only accepted as equivalent to a practical nursing diploma (2 years) in Ontario. But in Manitoba, my nursing degree from my home country has the BSN equivalence. So, I applied in Manitoba, though in our heart we want to settle in Toronto. I went all the long process and huge spending to have accredited and to get the eligibility to sit for the licensure exam.
While going through the accreditation process, I asked my friend in Winnipeg to search for an employer for me. Until I got the eligibility to sit for the CRNE, I still do not have my PR. I went to Canada on a visit visa just to sit for the CRNE. While I was there I got interviewed by some of the hospitals where my friend submitted my resume. Getting the eligibility means you are registered as a GN (General Nurse) and give you the temporary license to work as a nurse provided you will be put under the direct supervision of a registered nurse. Temporary license lasts for 1 year. You have to pass the CRNE within 1 year otherwise your temporary license will be revoked.
One of the hospitals hired me as GN, and just recently I passed the CRNE. The employer is now working for my LMO not just a GN but as RN. I do not know when I will receive my PR; I do not know either what is the reason for the delay. TRV will soon be processed in parallel with my PR. Be it on PR or TRV, I will not move to Canada without the license to work.
I do not know what's ahead of me in the future. Will I get the PR or the TRV, or I cannot have both. That is out of my control. The least that I can do are the things which I have a grasp of. To do all the preparatory things that can be done before landing Canada. I will not land in Canada if I do not have the license to work and the employer to work for.
Friends, again I do not know yet what's ahead of me in the future. But I believe the track that I have been taking should be the path each and every individual who dreams to migrate to Canada should take. I am encouraging all friends to do the same. With these at hand, surely there will be no anxiety as you board Air Canada with the maple leaf on your passport. We cannot just leave our current stable jobs and life here and fly to Canada with full of uncertainties ahead.
God is in control. PR is delayed because He wants to equip me with all the needed weapons before He grants our visa.
May God Bless Us All.