Japanese Nurse Volunteering in Laos

I'm currently travelling in Laos for the Christmas holiday. I met a Japanese nurse when I spent a day weaving at a vocational women's centre. She was here on a two year nursing placement working at a local hospital as a volunteer.

Many governments have opportunities for professionals like career nurses to volunteer in countries where aid is needed. Not all government given foreign aid is about money, a lot of it is about training the population.

Naomi, the nurse from Japan, had been in Vientiane, Laos for 9 months and had made many friends. She told me that she spent her time with friends that she'd made from Laos and other foreign nurses who were working at the hospital.

While she found the language difficult, she said that she was managing well and her main problem was not having enough time to fit everything in that she wanted to do...

Perhaps volunteering as an international nurse to help train trainee nurses in a developing country is a career move you'd be interested in making...

Volunteer nurses abroad

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

The USA is experiencing an acute shortage of nurses, which, while not so good for them, is great news for foreign nurses who would like to get a nursing job overseas in the United States. Here are the 4 criteria that you must meet in order to qualify to register as a nurse in America...

Firstly you can apply for the much coveted Green Card. In order to qualify for a Green Card, you must meet all the criteria above, and sit and pass the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) examination. To get this visa takes the longest of the three options, but it is the better option for you if you want to make a long term move to the US. It is possible, 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-1B visa you need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. If you have a vocational nursing qualification you will not be granted this visa.

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

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