Work in US?

[arytmica]

Hi!
I live in Sweden and works as a specialist nurse in prehospital care.
I'm really interested about working in the american EMS. Though, we have a totally different system in Sweden where it's not possible to convert our certificate/exam to your paramedic-certificate. We don't have paramedics in our ambulances, we have nurses with specialist education in prehospital care (4 years of university studies).

So, I'm basicly wondering if it's possible to work in your country? Which way do I have to go? Do I need to apply for an EMT (-education in the US, to start with? Do you know if it's even possible to apply for an EMT education if you don't even live in the US from start? Have you heard about people from other places in the world working with you and have a different education? Is it possible? Of what I've heard, it also seems to be different requirements in different states?

Best regards,
The Swede

[island emt]

Welcome to the City Swede:

While I don't know how your educational requirements would match up to US standards, You could sent transcripts of your education process to the National Registry or the state EMS office where you would like to practice, & see if they will offer reciprocity.

You never know until you try.

[chbare]

As a nurse, your best bet is to look at nursing reciprocity in the United States. This involves work visas, employer sponsoring and immigration. Additionally, you will have to deal with boards of nursing and exams like the CGFNS and NCLEX. Basically, it's a hassle.

Additionally, there is not a big market for nurses that provide "core" EMS care. Most nurses in transport work for specialty teams, flight and critical care transport teams.

With that said, the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians does have a formal reciprocity process for national EMT certification. You can find information at: www.nremt.org

Your best bet at a job is via nursing however. Good luck.

[paramedicmike]

Welcome, Arytmica.

I agree with CHBARE. As a nurse you'll probably do better to pursue reciprocity for your nursing license than try to immediately pursue an EMS certification. The reference and contact information provided above is what you'll need to get started as far as EMS certifications go.

But I really do think you'd be better off starting with gaining reciprocity for your nursing education and then pursing EMS rather than trying to pursue EMS based on your nursing education.

[Kiwiology]

As usual nobody has thought to mention that without a work visa this idea is defunct.

It is highly unlikely you will get a work visa for the US. Ten or fifteen years ago yes it was easy (I have several contacts who got jobs in the US as Nurses (RN) and they had everything set up for them through the employer) whereas now it's very difficult if not impossible. If you went to work in some isolated rural area and agreed to work in primary care nursing for five years or something then maybe.

I am not a European (New Zealander) but I have lived and worked in the US and all I will say is that I wouldn't work there again.

[arytmica]

Thanks for your replies. Yeah, I know that the working visa might be the biggest problem. Unfortunately it's really hard for people outside your country to go there for work. However, all this is just questions. My girlfriend is a vet and she's looking for an one-year internship for her career. There's some places around the world which would be an option, for an example USA, Australia, UK and New Zealand. So that's why I'm checking the opportunities for works within my working area. Besides, I've always wanted to live in US for a year or so. I love your country and the nature.

Kiwiology:
From one place to another, You said you're an New Zealander. Do you have the same system over there with paramedics? I guess it's very similar to the UK EMS-system? Do I have to go throught the same steps as in US for working in your country? I guess it's easier to get a working Visa in NZ though. (?)

Edited November 29, 2013 by arytmica

[scott33]

The backlog of current visa applications applicable to nursing goes back to 2006 - meaning those who had an application in with a processing date of 2006, are still waiting. The nurse specific H1-C visa was stopped around 2009 so that really leaves the H1-B visa (non-immigrant specialty occupation) as a possible option.

Problem being, the H1-B typically requires the applicant to have a degree specific to the occupation. Right now, there is no national mandate in the US to have a BSN in order to practice, so the USCIS (the ones who allocate visas) don't really see 'nursing' as fitting the H1-B criteria. Perhaps with certain speciality advanced practice RN positions, a remote location, and a good lawyer it would be a slim possibility, but it's not for the majority of general staff nurses looking to move. Additionally, there is a cap on the amount of H1-Bs given out per year (< 70,000) and about a third of these are allocated to IT professionals from the Indian sub continent, the day they become available.

Contacting the likes of the NREMT will only waste your time and money unless you already have an 'in' to the US. They cannot provide you with one.

It's not all doom and gloom though. Sweden is one of the countries eligible for the diversity visa lottery program, so you may wish to look at this.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1322.html

Also have a look at Canada. You could always visit the US.

Good luck.

Edited November 29, 2013 by scott33

[Kiwiology]

From one place to another, You said you're an New Zealander. Do you have the same system over there with paramedics? I guess it's very similar to the UK EMS-system? Do I have to go throught the same steps as in US for working in your country? I guess it's easier to get a working Visa in NZ though. (?)

Our EMS system is similar to the UK but in some ways quite different. The work visa from a technical standpoint is much easier yes because have a primarily points/skills based immigration system.

From the perspective of "will the ambulance service sponsor you?" the answer is it's highly unlikely unless you are applying for a clinical development role or have some extraordinary skillset that is not able to be found locally. A few years ago there was an active drive to recruit international Paramedics but this is no longer the case for a number of reasons. It boils down to time and cost.

The Nursing Council will give you equivalency as a Registered Nurse (RN) and once Paramedics becomes a professionally registered profession there will no doubt be a crosswalk program between RN and Paramedic. There is no primary involvement of Nurses in Ambulance response but doesn't mean you can't transition to working as a Paramedic. Our scopes of practices are very advanced and we have complete clinical autonomy so probably not much different than you have now.

I have an English translation of the SLAS Behandlingsriktlinjer Feb 2011 for a project I am working on, quite interesting.

[arytmica]

Our EMS system is similar to the UK but in some ways quite different. The work visa from a technical standpoint is much easier yes because have a primarily points/skills based immigration system.

From the perspective of "will the ambulance service sponsor you?" the answer is it's highly unlikely unless you are applying for a clinical development role or have some extraordinary skillset that is not able to be found locally. A few years ago there was an active drive to recruit international Paramedics but this is no longer the case for a number of reasons. It boils down to time and cost.

The Nursing Council will give you equivalency as a Registered Nurse (RN) and once Paramedics becomes a professionally registered profession there will no doubt be a crosswalk program between RN and Paramedic. There is no primary involvement of Nurses in Ambulance response but doesn't mean you can't transition to working as a Paramedic. Our scopes of practices are very advanced and we have complete clinical autonomy so probably not much different than you have now.

I have an English translation of the SLAS Behandlingsriktlinjer Feb 2011 for a project I am working on, quite interesting.

Alright, Thanks for the info. I visited NZ during two months 2 years ago and I found your country really friendly and beautiful. Would like to go back someday.

Yeah, more and more regions are using SLAS nowadays. It's still different "treatment guidelines" in alot of regions in our country, but I found SLAS very good and I hope it will be some national guidelines in a few years. Doesn't really matter that much but it would just make it more easy. : )

I don't know how you system is, but I guess you have a wide spectrum of drugs in your "treatment guidelines" too and alot of delegations? There's still some drugs we have to "call" the Med. Dr. on for using though.

[chbare]

Kiwi, take a look at my post and you will see I addressed the work visa issue clearly, among other immigration related issues.