nytraveler

Sorry - for more detailed information the OP should go to the website of the Nurse Midwife's Association - which will have a huge amount of information and can probably provide a lot of guidance.

American College of Nurse Midwives

http://www.midwife.org

National Association of Certified Professional Nurse Midwives

http://nacpm.org

This information from the former site on education may help:

Midwifery education programs leading to the CNM and CM credentials involve graduate education. Most programs require a Bachelors Degree for entry, but some will accept Registered Nurses (RNs) without a Bachelors Degree, providing a bridge program to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) prior to the midwifery portion of the program. Some programs leading to the CNM credential require a BSN prior to entry, but many will accept an individual who has a Bachelors Degree but is not an RN, and will provide an accelerated nursing education prior to the midwifery portion of the program. Programs leading to the CM credential require a Bachelors Degree and specific health and science courses prior to entry.

Marginal

As is the usual advice. Before you make a huge committment like this, it is prudent to actually visit the US and check out the places you would consider living in before committing to a particular place.

For example, despite all the talk about Oregon, about half of it has a climate quite similar to Scotland's and could not reliably called "hot in summer". Also "near beach" puts you in a really dismal climate.

katiethwaites1

I didn't actually realise I'd put it under Florida until I'd posted it- didn't mean to

Could you explain what '1-5 corridor' means please?
I'm not too sure how I would become a nurse midwife, as in the UK I do a degree to become a midwife. Its a 3 year course and afterwards I'm a fully qualified midwife. From your response I'm gathering that midwives play different roles in america then here in the UK.

Just out of curiousity, do any of you know anyone who have immigrated from the uk?

Are there many differences between North and South Dakota? And are they fairly tolerant of different people e.g aren't judgemental of a persons race/sexuality etc.

Thank you all for your responses

tomfuller

Interstate highway 5 runs about 300 miles north to south in Oregon from Portland along the Columbia River to Ashland which is near the California border.

janisj

"Interstate highway 5 runs about 300 miles north to south in Oregon from Portland along the Columbia River to Ashland which is near the California border"

The I-5 Corridor runs nearly 1400 miles - it starts at the Mexican border in Southern California, and ends at the Canadian border in northern Washington state. (or vice versa)

"Are there many differences between North and South Dakota? And are they fairly tolerant of different people e.g aren't judgemental of a persons race/sexuality etc."

Weird question IMO. Ask the same thing about any county in the UK. >>What do folks in Yorkshire or Essex or Oxon think about race/sexuality?

WhereAreWe

"STATE IDEALS: hot weather in summer, cold in winter, friendly people, good value for money property wise, possibly near beach, and finally a low crime rate (a must)."

Give a temperature range for what you consider to be hot and cold. Those are very subjective terms.

Good value for money property wise - I would think you'd be best off renting rather than buying somewhere to live until you decide that you really do want to live here.

Near beach? Does that mean near the ocean or near "a beach"? If you are open to more than just the ocean beaches, you could consider places around the Great Lakes. For that matter, every state has lakes with beaches, even North or South Dakota. Probably not what you meant but saying "near beach" leaves it pretty wide open.

Not trying to be difficult here, but the ideals you list are fairly vague, a more precise definition would really narrow things down. What is a low crime rate? Everyone wants lower crime rates but what does "low" mean to you. Crime is very specific, you really can't rule out any state based on it as the crime rate varies widely from city to city and from neighborhood to neighborhood within cities.

dfrostnh

Check into the requirements for the State of NH. I believe the state licences different categories of midwives, each of which has different educational requirements. Midwives can attend home births as well as in hospitals.

There are some areas where property values are low but since NH doesn't have a state income tax nor sales tax, property taxes are higher than in most other states. Even in a northern rural area, you would only be a few hours from an ocean beach. There are a lot of lake and river beaches.

Cold in winter and warm in summer. We have two nieces who married men from England. One who had worked here previously in the high tech field followed proper procedure and it took several years before they were allowed to move to the US. In the meantime, our niece lived and worked in England as a teacher. Our other niece's husband stayed on after his work visa expired and they eloped. They hired an immigration attorney and followed his advice. Because of the quick marriage, our niece was questioned extensively on why she got married. There was a period of time when her husband could not work.

isabel

I agree New Hampshire fits your state requirements pretty well as does Maine, western Mass and southern Vermont. Assuming you mean two to three hours to the ocean is close, at least you can do it in a day trip. Summers are hotter, winters colder and we have less rain than the UK. In most places in the US cost of living (property values) go hand in hand with income levels. My sister-in-law and I are both nurses, I'm in Massachusetts, she's in South Carolina. My property value (and property taxes) are many times what hers are, but my income is also higher.

Re being a midwife. There are lots of midwives in New England, every OB/GYN practice has at least a few and they handle a good portion of the low risk pregnancies/births. But they are CNM (certified nurse midwives) and this is a master's degree - so if you are not already a nurse and don't have any college degree of any kind it will take five years. If your course in the UK is college accredited some of the credits may transfer but you should check on it. I can assure you a three year course in midwifery in the UK will not translate to a midwife license in the US without additional course work (probably several years).

So you have three things to do if you are serious about this - one check the immigration requirements, two pick a location, three contact a college in the state you decide on and see how much you would have to do to get your nursing/midwife license.

RoamsAround

Many of you missed the point, assuming OP meets all the qualifications to be a midwife in WHATEVER state she would like to live there's still the problem of obtaining a work visa. Before she could be hired her potential employer would first have to prove there are no US Citizens qualified to fill the position. The Department of Labor is pretty strict on this rule. On several occasion I tried to get work visas for people from UK who were very qualified for the positions I was seeking to fill and was never once successful. In each instance I was required to advertise the position nationally and in one instance the DOL even sent me a list several candidates (US Citizens) who they deemed were fully qualified to fill the position.

So, best words of advise would be for OP not to be too concerned about where she might live as there is never any guarantee she will be able to find employment. Her first priority would have to be finding an employer who is able to hire her. That is going to be a very daunting task. Once accomplished, she will be free to find a place to live near her place of employment (again assuming her potential employer is allowed to hire her).

Lastly, in most instances the potential employee is not allowed to remain in the US during the job application process.

So STEP ONE, OP should contact the US Embassy in the UK and they will explain the entire immigration/work visa process.

Marginal

Yes, the corollary of RoamsAround's post is that OP would need to have a US employer. It is difficult to imagine that any physician or medical practice would hire a midwife without any experience.

So practically, OP needs to finish her degree and get several years worth of experience before searching for a US employer.

sassy_cat

I'm British and have lived in the US for 10+ years. I moved here on a non working visa accompanying my husband who originally had a 3 year visa for his secondment.
After a year here he applied for another post and the company arranged our new visas (I know the paperwork was extensive and we had to travel outside the US to renew so we drove to Canada. It cost several thousand dollars and was valid for 3 more years.)

Another renewal cost the company more $$$ and then after another job change my husband's current company arranged our green card applications.
More paperwork, travel to UK, more $$$ and we now are legal aliens.
Green card will have to be renewed after 10 years or we can apply for citizenship (more $$$).

It was a long haul and only possible because my husband is an expert in his field so eligible for a work visa.

Bear in mind that if you do manage to get a work visa after qualifying, gaining experience and obtaining an offer of an actual job in the US then if you lose your job, you visa is not renewed or if it's not renewable or if your contract ends you are required to return to the UK immediately.
You can't apply for another job and stay in the US as your visa is specific for the original position only.

The easiest option to live and work in the US is to marry a US citizen!

Yes, you can move to Australia and get a working visa there because it is part of the Commonwealth and therefore much easier for British citizens.

Judy24

As others have pointed out, it's not a simple matter to immigrate to the US. I'm always amazed when people assume otherwise. And just to keep it in perspective, this is not unique to the U.S. Other countries have similarly restrictive laws, not the least of which is the UK. So there's nothing inherently unfair about this.

But to answer the OP's original question about which is the "best" state to live in, it should be pretty obvious that there's no one definitive answer. If there were, everyone would live in that state and the remaining 49 would be empty.

happytrailstoyou

Ha! Good one Judy24. Also, even the most populated states (presumably the ones in which people prefer to live) have places where few people want to live.

HTTY

Tomsd

This much I can tell you. If you don't like the weather where you are living - you may not like the state.

I grew up with snowy winters - but plenty of sunny days and would not now want to shovel snow for any reasonable sum, and we love San Diego.

My oldest niece on the other hand - came out from McLean, VA to Stanford/Palo Alto, CA - SF Bay Area - for her Ph.D and missed having weather/change of the seasons.

She now lives in Ashland, Wisconsin - at the north end of Wisconsin next to Lake Superior - and just loves it.

So - different strokes for differrent folks.

nytraveler

Unfortunately there will not be any employers in the US that can hire her - since the credentials for nurse-midwifery are so different in the two countries. She could apply for a student visa - and probably have to spend 2 or 3 years here to get her certification (at a very high price) but then there is no guarantee she would qualify for a job and get to stay.

Typically with FMGs that enter based on their credentials alone they are required to work for a certain number of years in an underserved area (as defined by the federal government) before they are allowed to apply for a green card.

And I'm not sure any of the underserved areas (likely to be rural, perhaps appalachia, or southwest - or maybe the Dakotas) woulld be what the OP is looking for.. The candidate is not assigned to a specific place - but is provided with a list of options for which they can apply (and be selected by the employer or not).

If I were the OP I would contact the associations I listed and try to determine:

1) what employment opportunities look like long-term
2) realistically how much additional education wold be required and what the cost wold be (remembering that there would be no pay involved) Members of these groups are usually very collegial and willing to provide advice to anyone interested in the specialty as a career


(FYI, I beleieve universities in the US are much more expensive than in the UK - especially for graduate degrees

katiethwaites1

Thank you all for your replies. Is it difficult to gain a student visa (other then the fee's)? In the UK the tutition fee's per year are £9000 so for my course it totals £27000. Are the US fee's a lot more than this? Thanks for your help

nytraveler

Getting a student visa is routine - all you need is to show that you have been accepted and will be attending a credentialed university. Costs for schools in the US are all over the map - that's why I suggest speaking to someone at the association to get more details. My elder D is finishing law school - which is much more expensive than the prices you are quoting and the younger is starting to look into grad school in marine biology - which are also much higher. The costs I mentioned are tuition only - room, board and living expenses are all extra.

However, there may be programs that are not SO expensive. And coming from outside the US there might be scholarships or grants that you might qualify for. I have no idea of which schools are good or wold meet your needs - but a quick check showed that the program at the Miami School of Nursing is $9000 per semester - or $18000 per year. This isn't expensive for university in the US. State universities are often less expensive - but usual;y have different rates for residents and out of state students (since taxes support a part of the university expenses.

But do contact the organizations which can provide a lot of guidance.

Suki

If you do make it over to the US, check out Portland, Maine.

aloha

The requirements vary greatly by state. Here is an organization for all types of midwife http://mana.org/definitions.html
Perhaps you would fit the direct-entry definition? Under Resources there are links to the various state requirements.

Have you considered Canada? Part of the commonwealth so maybe easier to immigrate there.

Tomsd

For a wide open Q - you have received tremendous amounts of valuable advice/counseling. Hope it has been helpful.