If you are looking to move your nursing abroad to the UnitedStates of America, then now is the time to do it. Hospitals in the USA areexperiencing a staffing crisis, and this crisis is predicted to become worseover the next decade.

The nursing shortage in the USA is said to be caused by the manyfactors. On one hand there are many nurses reaching retirement age or choosingto retire early, and there simply aren’t enough newly graduated nurses to fillall the gaps. And there is more strain being placed on existing medical staffbecause of the bubble of baby boomers reaching retirement.

This is great news for internationally educated nurses becausethey can now find nursing positions in US hospitals with ease. Hospitaladministrators are aggressively recruiting foreign nurses.

To nurse in the US, legally, there are many papers to fill outand different states have different rules. In order to qualify to register as anurse in any state in the US you must meet the following criteria:

* undertaken post high school nursing education. This means youmust have graduated high school and then gone on to do your nursingqualification afterwards.

* be a registered nurse or hold a license to nurse at home. Thismeans that you are legally allowed to practice nursing in the country where youtrained or the country where you currently live.

* have 1 year experience nursing in your specialty. If youaren’t a specialist nurse in, for example, paediatric nursing, psychiatricnursing, neo natal nursing, etc, your specialty would be as an adult nurse.

* be able to communicate clearly in English. If English is notyour first language, you will be required to provide evidence of your abilityto communicate to the required standard. This means that you’ll have to take anEnglish language test in speaking, reading, writing andlistening.

Should you meet these 4 critical pre-application criteria, youcan be assured that you’re a good candidate for getting a nursing job in theUnited States.

There are three visa options for nurses who want to work in the US.

Firstly you can apply for the much coveted Green Card. In orderto qualify for a Green Card, you must meet all the criteria above, and sit andpass the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS)examination. To get this visa takes the longest of the three options, but it isthe better option for you if you want to make a long term move to the US. It ispossible, with a Green Card, to move your nursing career to the US permanently.

Secondly, you can apply for an H-1B visa. To qualify for an H-1Bvisa you need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. If you have avocational nursing qualification you will not be granted this visa.

The last visa option for nurses is the H-1C visa. The USgovernment issues 500 of these visas to healthcare workers each year.

If you thought that getting a nursing job in the USA was animpossible dream, you were mistaken. You need to get started on yourapplications right away because medical recruiters in the US are desperate toemploy you right now!