# Any UK Nurses gone to Canada?



## mickwood (Mar 26, 2013)

Hi,

My wife and I are thinking of moving to Canada and we seem to have gotten ourselves completely confused about the process! I'm a fire fighter (no chance of me keeping my profession initially) but my wife is a nurse and so the family will be going over there with her visa.

This is our understanding of the process, if anyone else can shed light on what's best to do first etc I'd very much appreciate it!

1 - Wife registers as a nurse with the Canadian Nursing Association (done through the individual province/territory - in this case Alberta) and takes the exam.
2 - Apply for a job under the LMO and work initially on a temporary visa.
3 - get a medical and police certificate (for both me and my wife?)
4 - Apply for the temporary work visa
5 - fly to Canada to start work! (one of us will go first to arrange accomodation transport etc)
6 - Once in Canada begin the process for permanent residency status for us all under my wifes name.

I believe I would need to apply for an open work visa in order to do any kind of work in Canada but should I apply for this at the same time as the temporary visa or once we get there?

If there are any nurses who have completed this process I would appreciate hearing from you and seeing how you went about it!

Thanks in advance

Mick & Family


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## mountains7 (May 26, 2012)

*UK Nurse going to Canada*

I'm a UK registered nurse,also very confused re best immigration route to take to Canada. I'm exhausted just with trying to research the vast amount of information available! Are you and your wife any further forward in the process now?


Margaret


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## Brockthebadger (May 11, 2012)

Hi

I am a Registered Mental Nurse who came over in 2006. After the job offer was made the province supported me as a Provincial nominee to fasttrack our permanent residency. Applied for job in January. Permanent residency granted September and we came over Sept 16th.

Others took the temporary work visa route and arrived earlier but were still fasttracked through the provincial nomination program. This was BC but I believe all provinces had a similar program. 

Hope that helps.


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## mickwood (Mar 26, 2013)

mountains7 said:


> I'm a UK registered nurse,also very confused re best immigration route to take to Canada. I'm exhausted just with trying to research the vast amount of information available! Are you and your wife any further forward in the process now?
> 
> 
> Margaret


Hi,

We're still researching but the confusing thing is that there seems to be different processes for different areas, eg. Alberta you need to be registered to Nurse there before applying, BC you apply for the job and then register...so I guess decide where you want to go first and then follow their route? Our own process has been delayed because we needed to sort out all of our passports into our married names! We're about to decide on where to move to and then that will dictate our next move but we suspect it'll be to Calgary area?


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## mountains7 (May 26, 2012)

*Immigration route*

Thank you for reply,very helpful.

Best of luck


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## mountains7 (May 26, 2012)

Thank you for that information,taken on board,. 
I actually attended a Canadian Immigration Conference in London on Saturday, but it wasn't really what I was expecting. The consultancy company holding oresentation seemed to be geared towards a certain group of people interested in Quebec immigration programme,involving substantial fees! I returned,feeling I'm back to 'square one'!
I'm now on Canada immigration and citizenship website re applying for temporary work visa


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## S_elliott52 (Aug 5, 2013)

Hi I'm a nurse that has just moved to Vancoucer, canada from UK. have you still got questions that you need answering?


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## mickwood (Mar 26, 2013)

S_elliott52 said:


> Hi I'm a nurse that has just moved to Vancoucer, canada from UK. have you still got questions that you need answering?


Oooh, YES! lol! 

If you don't mind, could I e-mail you? Vancouver was one of the places we were interested in but were put off by the cost of living. My questions revolve around the process, timescales, costs etc but 'knowing' someone there who I could e-mail when those 'silly questions' arise would be like gold dust!

Cheers

Mick


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## S_elliott52 (Aug 5, 2013)

Yes that's fine feel free to ask any questions on here or send me a private message. I've only been here a few weeks though!!!


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## mickwood (Mar 26, 2013)

That's brilliant :-D thanks


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## sparksman (May 8, 2010)

Hi,

I have been working as a nurse in Vancouver for 10 months.

Feel free to ask any questions

Hope I can help

Jodie x


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## mountains7 (May 26, 2012)

Hi there,
Thank you for reply. How has your experience there been so far? Which visa/immigration route did you take and how long did the process take? I recently spoke with a UK agency recruitment manager re moving to Canada - everything she said put me off Canada, leaving me more confused/doubtful?! She informed me that her agency stopped dealing with Canada 6mths ago.

Thank you in advance


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## sparksman (May 8, 2010)

Mountains7 have sent you a private message x


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## thinkering (Apr 24, 2013)

mountains7 said:


> Hi there,
> Thank you for reply. How has your experience there been so far? Which visa/immigration route did you take and how long did the process take? I recently spoke with a UK agency recruitment manager re moving to Canada - everything she said put me off Canada, leaving me more confused/doubtful?! She informed me that her agency stopped dealing with Canada 6mths ago.
> 
> Thank you in advance


Probably because Canada won't make her any money. Nurses have special privileges to get into Canada through government funded recruitment and training organizations, e.f. HealthMatch BC. They won't deal with third parties overseas.


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## mountains7 (May 26, 2012)

Hi thinkering,

Thank you for your opinion and information. Theres such an abundance of information to wade through re immigration/visa options etc! I've been researching since start of year,even went to an 'immigration conference' in London in May,which to be honest was a waste of time and money! Also was very fortunate to have 250pnds refunded which I had paid to an unscrupulous visa company,who are still readily advertising online! (I do know there are many of those who have lost thousands in the process)


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## ambrocksi1 (Jan 28, 2014)

hello i am looking at Canada i am also so confused. I have registration info for Ontario nursing board but also considering Vancouver and alberta. I have a young child i want best living for her good school low crime ect. Also where the best chance of getting a NICU job as this is the field i am most experienced in i keep reading there are no jobs for international nurses and its not cheap to commence the application so are there jobs and how do i choose where best to apply?


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## lizababa (Feb 13, 2014)

Hi, if you still need info, I can tell you a little bit. I moved here four years ago and work as an ICU nurse. I moved to halifax under the FSWA and we are STILL waiting for our PR!!! we have been messed around to no end. we were originally told that it would take 6-9 months... mmmm yeah right!!
I gained an LMO and came originally on a temp visa which we had to renew last Feb and renew the LMO. It has been stressful and we are still going through it!I have four children and my two eldest daughters do not have healthcare, cannot work and we were into international fees for university so there have been lots of issues. you can message me if you want to know more.


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## JGK (Dec 12, 2009)

mountains7 said:


> Thank you for that information,taken on board,.
> I actually attended a Canadian Immigration Conference in London on Saturday, but it wasn't really what I was expecting. The consultancy company holding oresentation seemed to be geared towards a certain group of people interested in Quebec immigration programme,involving substantial fees!*that would be because it's one of the few immigration optionstill open for 2013/14* I returned,feeling I'm back to 'square one'!
> I'm now on Canada immigration and citizenship website re applying for temporary work visa


The annual "In demand" professions list opens up in late April/May and is a race to beat cap limits. there's no guarantee what professions are on the list each year.

For nursing (and I'm not a nurse, so this is picked up secind hand) the requirements for registration seem to need a certain number of clinic hours across the board and many UK applicants (who seem to specialize earlier, often have to drop back to obtain the necessary ecperience in certain clinical areas.

As for nusing in Quebec you have to be bilingual (or unilingual French) to be registered and the French qualifying exam is a b1tch (questions are often unrelarted to nursing). You can see for yourself by the small amout of info on the Quebec order of nursing website which is available in English.


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## ampaulin (Feb 13, 2014)

Hi

I've just messaged you also... I hope that's ok?

A


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## S_elliott52 (Aug 5, 2013)

I may be answer some of your questions too, I'm a UK ICU nurse working in Vancouver. I found the visa/immigration process very quick and easy. DO NOT USE AN AGENCY, go direct to the hospitals they will help you with the paperwork/visa application etc. I did everything direct with the hospital and the whole process took about 12 months which included meeting the board of nursing education courses they wanted me to take.


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## Chelleycole (Feb 27, 2014)

Hi I'm really interested in the route that you took to get yourself to canada in 12 months. We are extremely interested in moved to Canada, I too haven't done anything through an agency however I am so confused at the moment. I am registered on match Bc for job emails and When I emailed them my cv I had a email back telling me that I needed to register with crnbc before applying. I have started the process and I have received an email today that I can continue with the application process now including sending documents and forms etc. it would appear that I am likely to have to do a SEC assessment which means a trip out to Vancouver and all this is before I even have a job offer or temporary visa. What way would you suggest I go about this please? As I am now wondering if there is a better and quicker route. I am happy for you to privately email me if you prefer. I would really be grateful of any advice.
Many thanks


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## Chelleycole (Feb 27, 2014)

Hi I'm really interested in the route that you took to get yourself to canada in 12 months. We are extremely interested in moved to Canada, I too haven't done anything through an agency however I am so confused at the moment. I am registered on match Bc for job emails and When I emailed them my cv I had a email back telling me that I needed to register with crnbc before applying. I have started the process and I have received an email today that I can continue with the application process now including sending documents and forms etc. it would appear that I am likely to have to do a SEC assessment which means a trip out to Vancouver and all this is before I even have a job offer or temporary visa. What way would you suggest I go about this please? As I am now wondering if there is a better and quicker route. I am happy for you to privately email me if you prefer. I would really be grateful of any advice.
Many thanks


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## S_elliott52 (Aug 5, 2013)

I took exactly the same route that everyone else has to take. Yes you will have to take the SEC unless you qualified in Canada. I work in ICU and at the minute they only seem to be offering overseas nurse jobs in specialist areas, like ICU, A&E and theatres. I got the go ahead to sit my SEC in July 2013, sat the SEC in September 2013, had to do 3 "top up courses" (2 online and one here in Canada). I applied for my working visa in April and it came through in July and flew out to Canada virtually straight after I got my visa. I did not use healthmatch I applied to the hospital directly, they sorted out all my visa paperwork at their end I just had to upload a lot of different documents onto the CIC website to get my visa (police check, certificates etc)


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## Chelleycole (Feb 27, 2014)

Thankyou very much for you reply, I am so confused at the moment with where to go with it all. Did you apply for you jobs and your working visa before you completed the sec assessment then, I suppose I am a little confused with your dates sorry. I have emailed interior health who I am looking to work for, it would appear that they don't respond to emails and that the application process for jobs is all online, but they are requesting to be registered with the crnbc first. I am on the next stage now with crnbc which is the final payment and the 3 forms. I'm guessing that I will have to come over to Vancouver at some point in the summer for the sec. Can I ask you how long your course out there was? I have a 15 month old daughter as well you see. I'm sorry to be asking you lots of questions my head is buzzing at the moment with information and questions.
Thanks a lot 
Michelle


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## S_elliott52 (Aug 5, 2013)

It is easier if you are registered with CRNBC before applying for jobs as you need your registration details for your visa application. My SEC took 1 1/2 days it just depends on what they want you to do your SEC in but 1 1/2 days is the minimum. The course they asked me to complete was 3 days, they courses are run by Kwantlen University in Langley, which is about 1 hour from vancouver by public transport. If you look at their website under "internationally educated nurses" it should give you a list of the courses. Please be aware that I got off very lightly when it comes to the extra courses and some people had to complete a lot, each course also costs $500.
You can ask me as many questions as you like, I would just concentrate on getting your CRNBC registration first and then it will be easier to apply for jobs.


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## Chelleycole (Feb 27, 2014)

Did you have to keep going over to Vancouver to complete things? If I had to do a course would I be able to do it after the sec or will I have to come back over and do it then. My main concern is that I will have to come over for a long time to do a course. I will have a look at the link tho and see what the longest course is. I'm expecting to do a lot to be honest as I'm now wondering if my nurse training will be enough for paediatric, obstetrics and mental health. I qualified in 2004 on the nursing diploma. Have you also completed the crne?


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## S_elliott52 (Aug 5, 2013)

No you can't sit the courses straight after the SEC, you have to wait for your results. I got my SEC results about 5-6 weeks after I did the SEC. Some of the courses are online (I had 2 of those) but most are done in Langley, they do tend to run them straight after each other. The dates will be on the kwantlen website. The longest course they run is a one year course which you have to pay for and also you are not paid for your time, my friend had to do a 6 week unpaid clinical course. Most of the courses they run are 3 days in length and its just a taught content no practical. I too qualified in 2004, it just depends on the make up of your course and how many hours you did of each area in both taught and practical.


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## Henry001 (Feb 11, 2014)

I am not aware of this topic


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