To whom it may concern.
I am looking to transfer from South Africa to continue my studies in nursing.
What are the colleges or universities that offer a nursing degree program?
Please could you let me know if this is possible.
Thank you so much.
There are thousands of schools and programs. Each will have its own requirements and transfer procedures. This is where Google comes in.
Collegeboard’s college search engine would be a good place to start. You can filter universities by degree program, cost, location, selectivity, etc: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
For nursing in particular, I would advise you to start with research on the different levels of nursing certifications that exist in the US. The scope of practice and educational requirements will vary by US state, but here’s a general overview:
Licensed Practical Nurses / Licensed Vocational Nurses: 1-2 years of full-time study
Registered Nurses: 2-4 years of full-time study (most common)
Advanced Practice Nurses: 5-6 years of full-time study (e.g. Nurse Midwives, Nurse Anesthetists, Nurse Practitioners)
You should decide which degree or credential you are aiming for before picking a university.
Are you already committed to this move? If your longer range goal is to work in the US for a time, it probably is best to complete your program where you are. Then you can take the foreign nursing boards an dlook for an organization here that can get you a work visa.
Can you elaborate why a foreign nursing credential would be preferable over an American one if the goal is to work in the US? I know a German nurse who, after moving to the US as the wife of an American soldier, came to the conclusion that it was easier to start her US nursing education from scratch than to jump through the hoops of getting the license with a German degree.
That said, I know that it’s important to have back-up options in another country. Given how difficult it is to get a work visa in the US, foreign students without a green card or US citizenship should be prepared to return home at the end of their studies. I don’t know how easy it is to work in South Africa with a US nursing degree, or if college cost is an important factor in the decision here.
There are a lot of hoops for international nursing graduates. I have ESL students now who are at the very beginning of the process. Like your friend, they have legal status here that means they can get a job. It isn’t clear from the OP whether the writer is a true international student, or coming here with a different immigration status. That could make a huge difference. If the OP will be here in green card status, then figuring out how to transfer almost certainly makes the most sense.
I don’t know the specifics of the H1B process for nursing, and in any case that could change at any time. Studying here and working here for the OPT period, and then needing to return home, are things the OP needs to check out. How much re-licensing would need to be done on return to SA? What other countries would accept the US license and also offer employment?
What I do know is that admission to most nursing programs in the US is very difficult. Even the one at my local community college has tough admission standards and everything else there is open enrollment. By all acounts, transferring into a program here is very challenging. Given how difficult it is for international transfers in general, I think that the OP needs to communicate directly with a few nursing programs here to find out what is possible.
In the past, some facilities here did hire extensively from outside the US (especially the Philippines). Whether that is still going on I do not know. If I recall correctly, the visas were normally for a limited number of years. Maybe they were some kind of J visa?
You have named some important considerations! Pursuing a licensed occupation outside one’s country of citizenship can be risky.
Also the case at the community colleges in my area, but there’s also private colleges with decent nursing programs without waitlists for those who can pay…
It doesn’t seem easy to get a work visa for nursing right now. There used to be temporary work visas specifically for nurses (first H-1A, later H-1C) but they have all been discontinued. Occupations involving “patient care” are specifically excluded from the J-1 visa work programs, with the exception of physician training. An H-1B would be an option but it doesn’t seem to be used much for nurses; in FY 2016 only 202 (out of about 650,000) labor condition applications were filed for RNs, LVNs und LPNs.
I think the conclusion is not to rely on an American work permit for nursing…