Skilled international migration: The experience of nurses in the UK

This paper reports on a study of the most feminized of professions, nursing. Current shortages of nurses within the UK National Health Service (NHS) have resulted in the recruitment of increasing numbers of overseas-qualified nurses. The study is based on the biographies of overseas-qualified nurses, obtained through in-depth interviews carried out in one case study hospital. Using these personal narratives, this paper illuminates the complex interweaving of economic and non-economic factors involved in migration decisions. Most nurses migrated as solos, experienced downward occupational mobility, and are used as a temporary stop-gap to fill labour shortages.