ABSTRACT
From this chapter onwards, the book focuses on Nepali nurses’ lives in the UK. It explores where Nepali nurses first go after their arrival, their initial experiences of settling in, and how they source any existing support networks in the UK. How Nepal-educated nurses fit into the British healthcare system is fully explored. Nursing jobs in the UK are offered first to UK-educated, then to EU-educated nurses, and then to those from outside the EU. There is no mechanism guaranteeing jobs and appropriate work permits for Nepali nurses. Their lived experiences presented here illustrate the challenging journey towards obtaining a nursing job and work permit. It would appear that Nepali nurses are perhaps more vulnerable to exploitation in the private sector, as the door to the NHS is closed, given that recruitment of health workers from low-income countries like Nepal is considered unethical. For some Nepali nurses, overcoming the hurdles of gaining a UK nursing licence (an NMC-PIN), finding a job and securing a work permit has seemed like ‘a never-ending chain of difficulties’ [kahilei nasakine samasyaharuko Sikri]. Despite their many trials, nurses remain determined to overcome these challenges.
