Transferring a nursing license from New Zealand the the USA?
How hard is it to transfer a nursing license and degree from New Zealand the the USA? What would I have to do in order to be able to practice in the States? New Zealand bachelor's degrees only take 3 years to complete. Would that make things more difficult? I live in the States now, but am having a difficult time finding a nursing school that I can attend due to various reasons. My boyfriend lives in New Zealand and some schools there are cheaper than most here and take less time. Any advice? I am a US citizen. I am looking at studying in New Zealand though... So the visas wouldn't apply, if I'm not mistaken.. Ok, if the national government doesn't dictate it, how about transferring a license from New Zealand to any state really... I just want to know how difficult it would be and what I would have to do...
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1 :
nursing licenses in the US are issued by the individual states, not by the national government. It follows that you want to contact the state board of nursing [or similar title] in the state you're interested in. They are probably online, but more technical questions such as you pose are likely not answered online and you'll have to pose the question and wait for a response. state requirements vary. some only require two years of nursing school, others require four years and a BSN degree. In general, the two year requirement states all honor licenses issued in other two year requirement states while the four year requirement states only honor licenses issued in other four year requirement states. Nurses are in some shortage in the United States in general and, more specifically, in Hawaii and several other states. This is important because you'll have to receive a visa to work here -- the most common such class [called "H1B"] requires the employer to certify that they've tried to hire citizens and can not find enough who are qualified. {I know this is the case for nurses in Hawaii and it's likely the case in much of California.}
2 :
You would not transfer a license at all. You would be trying to prove your education was up to US standards and get licensed here. You would need to take the US licensing exam (the NCLEX), as a basic start point. Be aware that all the medications are different from the US ones. The worst case scenario is that you pay a great deal of money to go to nursing school in New Zealand and can't get licensed in the US.
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