The Irish Nurse Connection

Suffering from chronic shortages, Irish hospitals sent recruiters to the Philippines in the year 2000 to lure nurses to come and work in Ireland. As a result, a huge proportion of more than 10,000 foreign-born nurses working in Ireland today are Filipino. And they remain Philippine nationals since it is so difficult to obtain citizenship or even get long-term visas.

Suffering from chronic shortages, Canadian hospitals have launched a recruitment program to lure Filipino nurses from Ireland to Canada. Fast-track work visas, better wages, affordable subsidized housing grants and even low-interest car loans are being offered.

Canadian nursing recruiters are coming to Ireland, rather than going directly to the Philippines, as they feel that Filipinos nurses working there will presumably have acquired first-rate English, and be fully up to speed with Westernised hospital environments.

So, nurses leave the Philippines for a better deal in Ireland. Then, nurses start leaving Ireland for a better deal in Canada. What's next? I don't know but it's worth mentioning that nurses get permanent residency visas upon arrival in the U.S.