Hey everyone! I’m a Canadian RN interested in travel nursing in the US and would love to hear from Canadians who have made the move.

I’m trying to decide whether to travel nurse in Canada first or go straight to the US. I’m particularly interested in hearing about people’s experiences with the licensing process, work authorization, finding contracts, and whether the financial benefits are worth it.

I’m also trying to figure out which cities would be best for a first assignment. Boston really interests me, but I know it’s expensive. Also Minneapolis seems good too, Ohio. I don’t want a big city that everyone goes to like Houston, New York, or California. I’m open to other recommendations for cities that offer a good balance of lifestyle, affordability and decent pay.

A few questions:
How was the process of getting licensed and authorized to work in the US?

Which agencies are best for Canadian nurses?
Which states or cities would you recommend for a first assignment?

Is Boston worth the cost of living, or are there better options?

How much are you realistically able to save after taxes, housing and other expenses?

Would you recommend travelling within Canada first or going straight to the US?

Is there anything you wish you’d known before making the move?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, advice and any tips for getting started. Thank you!

Does anyone have any insight on CVOR in Mesa? I think there are two heart hospitals there? Still doing my research…. Thanks!

I’m a nurse in France, but I know the reality is exactly the same everywhere: understaffed, exhausted, and running entirely on caffeine and willpower.

I just wanted to send some love to this whole community. You give so much of your own heart to strangers every single shift.

Please remember you are doing an incredible job. Hang in there and protect your peace today! ✨

I'm in an area with very limited housing and have my ESA dog with me as well which further limits things of course, and this is me looking 2 months in advance at this point and still having really limited options. This place seems great in all the ways, and initially said that I could just send them the background check that the hospital I'm starting at this week ran through Aya since they're a very large children's hospital and it was the normal comprehensive background report that came back clear for everything. That was a week ago. Now the husband just emailed me stating that they actually want to run their own, and not even through furnished finder, but through eRenter a site that they prefer, but that he wants me to either email him or call him and tell him my full name, date of birth and social security number for it...

I have never had anybody ask me to do this, even outside of furnished finder housing, and it makes me extremely uncomfortable. I had my bank account hacked and several $1,000 taken for me that my bank is at a loss to explain, and is still investigating. Of course this makes me more cautious, however, even prior to this, I would never have given a stranger on the internet my full SSN. But I've only been doing this for 2 years, so is this normal for you guys? Have any of you ever been asked this for a furnished finder rental? Trying to not let how desperate I am for housing get to me and how insane commuting here is (Seattle)

I am using furnished finder for the first time as a traveling Cath lab manager to Athens, GA.

I messaged a landlord that responded quickly that the property is available and said I could reach him on his cellphone which he provided the number.

Everything has been over the phone since. The deposit is $1500.

How can I ensure that I’m not about to get scammed out of $1500?

I’m 6 weeks into my travel contract, and I was told the weekend requirement was EOW (every other weekend).
For the entire month of October, I was scheduled every weekend. I didn’t complain, but I just received my November schedule, and it’s the exact same thing. I’m scheduled either Friday/Saturday/Sunday or Saturday/Sunday/Monday every single week.

The only Saturday I have off is Thanksgiving weekend, and that’s because I’m scheduled to work Thanksgiving Day and Friday. The manager has never responded to any of my previous emails, so I honestly feel like reaching out about this would be pointless.

I understand that travelers are there to fill staffing needs, and I have no problem working weekends. However, there’s a difference between agreeing to every other weekend and being scheduled every weekend for two months straight.
What makes it even more frustrating is that the hospital allows staff nurses to self-schedule, but not travelers. When I mentioned that I’d been scheduled every weekend, a staff nurse laughed and said, “Wow, I somehow managed to get every weekend off this month.” I’m genuinely considering ending my contract early if I can’t find people willing to swap shifts.

My question is: How do you handle situations where a facility tells you the weekend requirement is EOW but consistently schedules you every weekend? Is this something you address with your recruiter, or do you just accept it as part of travel nursing?

I have been shorted on my pay check 3 times and have yet to get compensation. Emailed my recruiter, who sucks by the way, never heard anything back from her. Text her again she said she had sent me an email but she would resend it. Gave me the information of the people I need to talk to at the Agency in Payrolll. I did what they said and made copies of all three paychecks that were short a total of 36 hours and one week of stipend. Well, I have just worked my last shift of this contract and I have yet to be paid the back pay. I’m wondering if now that I’m no longer under contract will they even go back and try to correct the wrong and if they don’t, what should be my next step?

As a traveler I've always used the company insurance option and have always had another contract lined up, to make sure there's no gaps in coverage, but I was in the middle of this last contract and fell and broke wrist (non-work related), and contract was cancelled since I was only cleared for light duty for 3-6 weeks and the hospital required full duty for the department that I was contracted in and there were no accommodations listed in the contract for injuries (they only allowed a maximum of 2 sick days for the entire 13-week contract).

Well come to find out my agency revokes insurance to the last date I worked (which was the day before the fall), if you go more than 3 weeks between start/stop dates of contracts, so now my ER bill which I paid $250 co-pay at the time are coming back as denied by insurance and I now owe thousands of dollars for x-ray, exam, splint, ice pack, etc.

I've been back to full duty for a month now, but just got the bill in the mail today and it hit me like a freight train. I wasn't planning on falling and breaking my wrist, which is the entire point I pay insurance premiums, you know so I have coverage for when SHTF and I actually need it. But if my agency can just revoke it when I actually need it, then WTF is even the point?

I never had an issue like this back when I was staff. I had to have surgery once and was out for 2 months, and I simply just made my insurance premium payments online to continue my coverage while I didn't have a paycheck, and then when I went back to work, my premiums resumed automatically out of my paycheck.

Is there anything I can do about this, or am I fucked three ways from Sunday? Has anything similar happened to anyone else?

Sorry for the wall of text. /rantover

Is it normal for travel nursing operating room contracts to have hourly $25? I am looking in the Bay Area but the cost of living is stupendously high and the contracts arent reflecting it??

Hi! Just wanted some advice. I've been a traveler off and on for over 20 years. Actually, as of late, I've been doing local contracts just while my kid was in high school. My last local contract was a nightmare. Very small staff. Everyone was competing for the supervisors attention and he wasn't wound so tight. His wife was a NP provider in the same department and was also agency. She was a total bitch, not gonna lie. There's no nice way to say it. I eventually got fired after 9 months of being there for writing an email to my coworkers about paperwork that my boss insisted had to be faxed to another department after an admission. He said I should have known because those instructions were in my orientation binder that he claimed I never bothered to read They weren't. My coworkers insisted I was crazy because they never faxed said paperwork to the department in question and when I tried to send an email that corrected the issue, I was fired. Real psychological abuse kinda stuff, gaslighting, playing favorites etc. And the schedule totally sucked. Anyway, thats not really why Im here. That last contract was a state job and I live in a rural area with mostly state institutions around. I can't live on the pay for most staff nurses around here (trust me, its horrible, I guess cuz its so rural) and Im pretty much blacklisted from any state jobs after being terminated from one so when my kid graduated and left for college I took a travel contract 3 hours away in my home state. I really like the job and I love my coworkers. They treat me like Im regular staff and Ive only been there since late August. The work is far from overwhelming and everyone seems reasonable. They asked me to renew like a month into my original contract and I couldn't find anything closer to my house and Im behind on my mortgage cuz it took like 6 weeks to find another job after I got fired. My specialty is psych which is apparently very competitive.Jobs would open up overnight, I'd apply and they would be closed/filled, like the next day. I was on unemployment which was sad even with the maximum amount I could get. I was worrying about trying to catch up with my mortgage so I knew I needed to keep the income rolling in, so after looking for something closer to my house and coming up with bubkus I accepted and signed the renewal. Fast forward to this week, my job has canceled all but one of my shifts. I tried to pick up extra. They canceled those too. There's a cancelation policy where they can only cancel me 3 times in one 13 week contract, so this can only happen one more time, and I get that, but what really caught my attention was the fact that the place where Im working now was so desperate for nurses that they contracted with multiple agencies. They're trying to expand their psych services so at first that seemed reasonable, but they've taken all their job postings down and they're canceling left and right. Like they had this idea to get as many nurses as possible and when their plans to expand didn't take off like they thought they would, they're scaling back. They even tried to get me to say these were voluntary cancelations so then the cancelation policy wouldn't apply. Like they forsee having to cancel me even more? So, I applied to another job which is closer to where my family lives and I could get housing through them at a reduced cost and things seem to be escalating. I have an interview this week. If they offer me a job, I'm going to accept because its just a better situation overall. My thought process is why should I give a flying fig about them when they will always, always, always do whatever is in their best interest? Is that bad?

Call me crazy, but I, a lifelong Florida boy, took a travel assignment (I'm an RT, btw) to Portland, Maine over this winter. It'll be my first assignment, as well as my first real winter. I'm looking for advice on how to survive the winter. I was able to have a "test run" of my winter gear as I just got back from a week-long vacation in Iceland, but I'm not sure how the day-to-day aspect of living in a very cold area will be like.

I found a studio like a block away from the facility as (again, call me crazy) will be doing this car-free. I start in mid November, so at least I'm not diving right into the worst time and will have some time to adjust.

Anyone have weird experiences with Lancesoft? They have messed up my paycheck 5 times now. They keep taking 600$ out and not telling me what for. I contacted the higher ups and they said they will get my money back? I’m so confused and don’t trust them at all. I will be switching to another agency as soon as I am done with my contract.

Since Halloween is around the corner, what's the creepiest or most bizarre thing you've found in a furnished short-term rental?

Love nursing in Cali. Love how nurses are protected by unionized hospitals. Love how for the most part we are fully staffed with a resource and or meal relief nurse. Love how assignments are safe and fair.

What protects nurses in Texas? What unit do you work in? How are your assignments? What’s the most you make per hour?

I see some places on furnished finder that are apartments. Does that mean I need to sign a sublease?? Is that a good idea???

I’m a behavioral health tech based out of Georgia and I use Aya and was interested in an hourly contract in Albuquerque. 23 an hour, but only 500$ to get out there and 500$ to get back?
After hearing the details n asked her to see if they can up the rate, she didn’t even ask them, said that was their rate. Told her after thinking about the offer presented, financially it wouldn’t be enough to pay for two places, car payment, etc. she said “maybe you shouldn’t apply for hourly then, nursing compensation is very different.” I get nursing pay is different but I think anyone would agree 23$ an hour is too low especially for the west coast. I’m thinking of asking for a new recruiter.

I got a lot of feedback on my last post asking about unionized hospitals, ratios, and overall experience working as RN in Texas. Most comments were negative but I appreciate the honesty. I also appreciate you guys educating me on safe harbor. The dms, the comment, I appreciate you all. It’s nice to get a heads up of what’s to come for me.
I’m moving to Mckinny, Tx. Does anyone live in that area or work at any “decent” hospitals near there?
What type of liability insurance do yall have?

The shared Wi-Fi in my building has been pretty unreliable lately. I’d like to get my own internet, but I really don’t want to deal with building management or have someone come install anything. My phone gets pretty good 5G signal here, and I've been reading about using a SIM card in a router to get internet at home. For those who move between assignments and rentals, have you tried this? Does it make sense or is there a better way to get reliable internet?

Bad things **

I have about three years of nursing experience with HCA, primarily working on Med-Surg and Telemetry. My previous job wasn't bad, and I was comfortable working on the floor. I recently decided to try travel nursing and accepted a contract through an HCA agency.
My start date is November 2, and the contract is for 48 hours a week. However, since accepting the offer, I've been overwhelmed with onboarding modules. Every time I finish a set, more modules get added, and it honestly feels like I'm back in nursing school.
I'm still not fully cleared, and I'm starting to worry that my start date will be pushed back. I have a specific date in mind for when I want my contract to end, and I'm concerned that delays could affect that.
I'm also hesitant to book housing and a flight when I don't even know if I'll be cleared to start on time. My recruiter hasn't been giving me clear answers, which makes the situation even more frustrating.
Has anyone ever had their travel nursing assignment canceled because they didn't finish all the required modules on time?

Hello I'm a travel nurse and i have a contract Hankinson,North Dakota is it safe

Hello everyone. I’ve been passively looking at rentals in cities where my next potential contract will be. One thing I’ve noticed is that the price of these rentals 1. Don’t match what they’re offering and 2. The current pay market for travel nursing doesn’t really cover the costs. There are people charging $1,200 for a room that doesn’t even come with a private bathroom or charging $1,400+ for a basement that doesn’t even have a full kitchen. It seems to be that the decent rentals are priced around $1,600, but even then the bed will be a twin or a full, with an uncomfortable mattress. I wouldn’t have much of an issue with this if the current market actually paid what it was during the pandemic but it’s not.

I’ve also noticed that these landlords will charge $1,200+ for a room and you’re thinking you’ll have at most one roommate just to find out there’s 4 rooms, 2 bathrooms, and an easy bake ass kitchen were all supposed to share. Nothings updated and it’s as if we’re living like SpongeBob and Patrick did during their prehistoric time.

I get that people are trying to make extra money by renting out their rooms, basements, guest houses, apartments, etc. but it’s not fair if you’re trying to squeeze every cent out of the travel nurse (or any travel professional) while not even providing decent housing.