Travel nurse moving to USVI

khlewis: Welcome to the board! I hope your husband will check out the website for Schneider Regional: http://www.rlshospital.org/Home.aspx . I can't help you with travel companies, but there are jobs available. You aren't tied to the tourist season, so moving here whenever you can arrange work is okay. People always need their hair done!!

I would contact the hospital personally and not get tied up with a travel company, which usually only signs you up for like 6 months to a year. Try and get hired on with the hospital or doctors office. Go through listings for doctors of all kinds and practices as well as medical centers on both STT and St. Croix. Get your resume made up with numerous copies and mail them out to everyone who has a mailing address as well as email address, then sit back and wait on your phone to ring. This can be done BEFORE you make the move.

Next, is your car paid off, if it's not you will have to get a letter of intent from your loan company who has the lien stating they will allow the vehicle to be removed from the continental US. This will be needed for the shipping company. But good luck with this most banks won't allow this unless it's close to being paid off or you have stellar credit, or you have the amount of the payoff and place it in an escrow account. To ship your car, you would have to drive it to Florida at either Jacksonville, Palmbeach or Miami, which is where the shipping companies are located.

Now as far as days off, that will be between you and where you work, but for the most part, you should get time off to explore. I knew a couple of traveling nurses who re-upped several times because they loved it and had plenty of time off. Some of them even stayed in some of my wife's families apartments on the North side of St. Thomas.

As far as best time to move down, to me would be between March to August, which is usually The slow time of year. I would try and have a minimum of $10,000-$12,000 cash on hand until you get settled. I hope this helps you out.

mike

I would contact the hospital personally and not get tied up with a travel company, which usually only signs you up for like 6 months to a year. Try and get hired on with the hospital or doctors office. Go through listings for doctors of all kinds and practices as well as medical centers on both STT and St. Croix. Get your resume made up with numerous copies and mail them out to everyone who has a mailing address as well as email address, then sit back and wait on your phone to ring. This can be done BEFORE you make the move.

From another standpoint, getting a travel nurse assignment has decided benefits. First, the pay is very good and, second, the housing allowance likewise. Third, gives you a chance to get to know the hospital first-hand without being committed for more than 3-6 months and you can always renew - or not if you come across a full time position.

Sending out resumés before moving here usually accomplishes little. Employers generally aren't interested in replying to people from off-island as the majority never actually makes the move. Thus it has ever been!

In my opinion a travel nurse assignment is a win-win. Good luck!

I responded to an ad a while back for an RN position (non hospital), and got a call in about 10 minutes. Unfortunately I didn't have my USVI license yet. I am working on it and hear it can take up to 4 months. You should start that process now. I would have had a job by the end of the month if I had a USVI license. I sent a resume to the hospital and have not yet heard back.

I got my USVI nursing license in about 2 months and I even had to resend some documents. I have an interview at JFL on April 21. Good luck to you.

I responded to an ad a while back for an RN position (non hospital), and got a call in about 10 minutes. Unfortunately I didn't have my USVI license yet. I am working on it and hear it can take up to 4 months. You should start that process now. I would have had a job by the end of the month if I had a USVI license. I sent a resume to the hospital and have not yet heard back.

If you start off going the travel nurse route it's likely that there's reciprocal licensing.

I'm still waiting on my license renewal which I paid for in Dec.
Apparently VIRB wants to make sure it's got every nickel owed.
I had to take in back paperwork to prove I'm paid up to date before they will issue the tax clearance letter to DLCA. I did that in the beginning of Jan. and was assured they would get in into Mrs. Jeffers at DLCA, that day.
She's still waiting for it as am I.
As well as many others.
One year it took 6 months to get the renewal.

I'm still waiting on my license renewal which I paid for in Dec.

Might be helpful to clarify that this isn't a nursing license but a totally unrelated business license.

Thanks for doing it for me.

Thank you guys for all of your insight!! My husband is already hooked up with a travel agency. As soon as he gets back his license, (hopefully soon!!) we will get a job and make the move! We own all our cars outright so no trouble with liens which is great! I'm still trying to decide if we want to buy an island car and hope it doesn't break down or just rent. I like the idea of not having to fix it! We will definitely make sure we have quite a bit saved up, thank you! You all have been so helpful! We are excited to start this new adventure!
I was also wondering if anyone knows of a great Baptist/Christian/Nondenominational church that has a lot of ministries and needs people to help serve? I will have a lot of free time and want to get involved with helping the community!

I would contact the hospital personally and not get tied up with a travel company, which usually only signs you up for like 6 months to a year. Try and get hired on with the hospital or doctors office. Go through listings for doctors of all kinds and practices as well as medical centers on both STT and St. Croix. Get your resume made up with numerous copies and mail them out to everyone who has a mailing address as well as email address, then sit back and wait on your phone to ring. This can be done BEFORE you make the move.

From another standpoint, getting a travel nurse assignment has decided benefits. First, the pay is very good and, second, the housing allowance likewise. Third, gives you a chance to get to know the hospital first-hand without being committed for more than 3-6 months and you can always renew - or not if you come across a full time position.

Sending out resumés before moving here usually accomplishes little. Employers generally aren't interested in replying to people from off-island as the majority never actually makes the move. Thus it has ever been!

In my opinion a travel nurse assignment is a win-win. Good luck!

Yes, but it's better than coming down cold turkey looking for a job and at least you can tell them "I mailed you a resume". You also have to realize that the traveling nurse companies have a little ditty in their contract that prohibit you from taking a position with an organization that they have a contract with to supply personnel that can be lengthy like a year or two. So with limited offerings such as on an Island, I would hate to lock myself into a situation that would greatly limit my opportunities to get employment in my chosen field of work. People with medical experience who are licensed can get hired on St. Thomas fairly easy I have seen, although sometimes it's part time rather than full time. But yes, traveling nursing programs do have some great bennies as long as you aren't coming down with the idea of making it a permanent move, then there may be a few pitfalls.

mike

Thank you guys for all of your insight!! My husband is already hooked up with a travel agency. As soon as he gets back his license, (hopefully soon!!) we will get a job and make the move! We own all our cars outright so no trouble with liens which is great! I'm still trying to decide if we want to buy an island car and hope it doesn't break down or just rent. I like the idea of not having to fix it! We will definitely make sure we have quite a bit saved up, thank you! You all have been so helpful! We are excited to start this new adventure!
I was also wondering if anyone knows of a great Baptist/Christian/Nondenominational church that has a lot of ministries and needs people to help serve? I will have a lot of free time and want to get involved with helping the community!

Good for you, I hope everything works out great for you and you have the adventure of a lifetime. As long as you realize it's an Island with a slower paced lifestyle than you are used to, you will love it.

mike

Bring lots of money and a good dose of patience.