Tips + Tricks: Applying for International Nursing Registration
Tips + Tricks for applying for your International Nursing Registration.
One of the best perks of being a registered nurse is the ability to travel and live in different towns, cities, and countries while still working within our profession. This allows us to be exposed to different communities, cultures, and geography while it also expands our knowledge of health and aides our life long journey of learning. This ability to travel and work has forever been an envy of my non-nursing friends, most making statements such as “It is so easy for you to go travel and work abroad”, and while this is true, the profession does afford nurses with relative portability, that is not to say that the process of getting your international registration in another country is easy, or that it happens overnight.
Having recently moved ‘Down Under’ and going through the process of getting my Australian nursing registration, I know first hand that the process can prove challenging and I hope that this post can prepare you, in the event that you want to someday work abroad as a nurse.
What to expect
🡪 Fees – Everything comes at a cost. There are fee’s associated with everything, from paying someone to assess your application and documents to paying your university for transcripts, previous employers for records of employment, and registering bodies for required documents
🡪 Delays – Despite the ‘need’ for nurses everywhere, delays are something that just comes with bureaucracy, unfortunately, this is something that I would suggest you be prepared for because as I said before it does not happen overnight
How to make it easier on yourself
🡪 Do your research- decide where you want to move (some countries treat nurses better than others), who the registering body is and get in touch early.
🡪 Contact your Alma Mater – the university usually has a specific employee who deals with international registration and can help to figure out documents that are required and get them sent to the right person. They have usually done this before, and know how to get information to the right people
🡪 Save for all the expenses – they are quick to add up, so it is best to prepare in advance for this. Have savings for this specific reason.
🡪 Get on social media – there are Facebook groups for expats in most countries, and people are keen to help make things easier for others by sharing their first-hand experience.
Hopefully, this brief post is helpful in setting you off in the right direction if you’re thinking of working aboard! Don’t forget international registration does not mean visa or working rights, this is a whole other beast that you need to figure out before you can legally work in a country!