10 Questions with Nurse Brennan: Immigrating to the USA as a Registered Nurse
Hi fellow international Registered Nurses!
My name is Brennan Belliveau, and I am an internationally educated Registered Nurse who immigrated to the USA in November 2019. I have had the opportunity to speak to many of you through Medliant’s social media channels, whether it has been on Medliant’s Facebook Page, Instagram (@medliant), YouTube, and Twitter, or through email (nursebrennan@medliant.com).
In this blog post I am going to answer a number of your frequently asked questions and share my own personal experiences, challenges that I faced, and advice about what it was like to immigrate to the USA as a Registered Nurse. I hope that you can learn through my journey to better help you as you achieve your dream of becoming a USRN with Medliant International Healthcare Staffing!
1) Which country did you immigrate from to become a USRN?
I immigrated from Canada in November 2019. At that time, I didn’t know anyone in the USA and it has been such a wonderful opportunity to make new friends!
2) How long have you been a Registered Nurse and what specialties have you worked in?
I have been a Registered Nurse for 6.5 years now and I immigrated to the USA when I had 5 years of experience. I have worked in pediatric cardiology and heart transplant care, pediatric gastrointestinal services and liver/multivisceral transplant care, pediatric orthopedic and brain injury rehabilitation, pediatric mental health, adult orthopedic rehabilitation, adult psychiatry, adult forensics psychiatry, and briefly in long-term care.
3) How was the immigration process? Did you find it stressful?
I found the immigration process to be very straight forward and not stressful at all! The wonderful part about teaming up with an agency like Medliant, is that their legal team will prepare all of the documents that you need and guide you through the process, making it as seamless and easy as possible. This was a huge relief!
4) How was the transition working in the USA as a Registered Nurse from another country?
To be completely honest I found the transition to be much easier than I expected I would have. In Canada, we have a public health care system, and the USA has a private health care system. The benefit of a private health care system is greater support, resources, education, and training that is offered to support Registered Nurses in ensuring that they are able to perform their duties safely and competently. I truthfully haven’t had a stressful day of work in the USA yet! And that speaks volumes to the incredible medical organizations across the USA and the support that we have here.
5) Were there any challenges that you experienced in becoming a USRN?
As with starting any new nursing position, it will take some time to get comfortable with the unit layout (e.g. where supplies are, how to best communicate with the interdisciplinary teams, etc.). As for the process of becoming a USRN, the biggest challenge was containing my excitement! I couldn’t wait to immigrate here and to start the next chapter of my life in the USA.
6) What are your favorite parts about being a USRN?
There are a number of things that I love about being a USRN. This includes:
· Working in a health care system that values Registered Nurses.
· Being supported in my career by the hospitals, such as with educational opportunities, safe staffing levels, adequate resources and supplies.
· Getting to explore the USA! I have had a lot of fun exploring California. Tennessee, and Florida! Each US state offers something unique whether you enjoy being on the beach, hiking in the mountains, warm or cool weather, nature or amusement parks, etc. I enjoy going to music concerts and sporting events too!
· Financial compensation, having medical and dental insurance, and feeling confident in being able to afford living in the USA, saving up for retirement, and also being able to afford doing fun things!
7) Why did you choose to partner with Medliant over other agencies?
As an internationally educated Registered Nurse, I know how challenging and stressful it can be finding an employer or agency that puts your interests first and can help you every step of the way. I have had a lot of nurses reach out to me asking “how can I work in the USA?” That question means a lot to me, because I was once that person. With a dream, a hope at a different life, and wanting to be supported in the best way possible, you want to partner with an agency you can trust. Medliant exemplifies everything that I believe an international educated Registered Nurse should and deserves to have, such as:
· Having a proven history of successfully sponsoring international educated nurses from around the world
· No application fees or costs
· Reimbursement for the NCLEX-RN exam, Academic IELTS English Assessment, CGFNS US Visa Screen Certificate, and US State nursing licenses
· Green card sponsorship (including sponsoring your spouse and children under the age of 21 years old)
· Free housing and travel for your first month in the USA
· Assistance with opening a bank account, getting your Social Security Number (SSN), finding a home, and getting your children registered in school
At the end of the day Medliant stood out as the agency that supports not only their international nursing clients, but also their families too, which is really important to me.
8) Have you been able to help sponsor international nurses with Medliant yourself?
Yes! This is very exciting to me. In just over a month of teaming up with Medliant, I have personally been a part helping dozens of international nurses accept contracts with our agency and to begin the process of being sponsored for Green Card Visas to immigrate to the USA! My goal is to be able to help as many fellow nurses and their families as I can. As a Registered Nurse, I work with so many incredible nurses from all around the world, such as nurses from the Philippines. I see how hard nurses work, how self-less they are, and how much they support their families back home and to have the opportunity to help those nurses and their families is something that I cherish, and I look forward to continuing this work well into the future!
9) What do you recommend nurses do in preparation to become a USRN with Medliant?
I recommend the following:
· Getting 12 months of current experience in a hospital with 100+ beds (Adult ICU is the best specialty, but anywhere you can work in acute care and use critical thinking, get your skills in, and develop strong assessment skills will be good)
· Applying to write the NCLEX-RN exam through a US State by “applying for a license through examination” (Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, Florida, Oregon, Louisiana, Illinois, New Mexico, California, and New York are states that I would recommend doing this through). You can still take the NCLEX-RN exam anywhere in the world, such as the Philippines, but by registering through a US state, once you pass the NCLEX-RN exam, you would then receive a nursing license in that state!
· Apply for a CGFNS US Visa Screen at CGFNS.org
· Anticipate taking the Academic IELTS and prepare for the English Assessment
· Emailing Medliant at nursebrennan@medliant.com or reaching out to Medliant on Facebook or Instagram with any questions. We are always here to help!
10) How has it been working in the USA during the Covid-19 pandemic?
It has been a challenging year all across the world for everyone, and frontline health care providers have stepped up to the challenge and done such an incredible job in being there for our patients and their families when they have needed us the most. It is exciting to see two vaccines available and being mass distributed with more on their way soon! In the USA, I have felt very well supported and safe. The PPE, resources, constantly evolving research, and policies that are put into place are here to protect Registered Nurses, and I have been so fortunate to have worked in the USA during this pandemic because of that. It is also very exciting to see that we are seeing cases decrease in hopes of getting closer to normal life sooner than later!
If you are ready to begin your application to become a USRN with Medliant International Healthcare staffing you can email me your resume to nursebrennan@medliant.com. I look forward to helping you achieve your American Dream, and seeing you here soon!
Nurse Brennan Belliveau
Email: nursebrennan@medliant.com
Medliant International Healthcare Solutions
