Immigrating to CA - I have so many questions...

[ar.st]

I am 29 year-old physical therapist from Israel and I'm checking the possibility of immigrating with my family to the US. From some research I've done seems like CA would be a state to consider. From the little I managed to find online I saw I need to the take the NPTE + jurisprudence exam and undergo 9 months of clinical internship. Here is a few of my questions and off course I will be very thankful for anyone helping me out!

1. What exactly is the jurisprudence exam? Is it difficult compared to the NPTE exam?
2. What does this internship is exactly? What pay I will be getting during that time? Where can I read about it?
3. I have a 1st degree is PT. I saw on APTA's website there is a thing called a transition program which end up with a high degree than my current one, however I saw it is not recognized by CAPTE. Does anyone have any experience with that? I might be better off doing a masters degree in Israel before immigration?
4. I saw that in order to get a license in CA one must have an SSN. How do I get one?

Thanks!

[SHuffAvant]

1. What exactly is the jurisprudence exam? The Jurisprudence exam is about the laws governing a PT working in that state. In FL (where I am) it is not that difficult and in some states it is an "open book" exam, meaning you can have the law book in front of you as you complete the exam.
Is it difficult compared to the NPTE exam? The NPTE is much more difficult

2. What does this internship is exactly? It means you can not practice without a licensed PT watching you.
What pay I will be getting during that time? some places will pay you, some will not.
Where can I read about it? http:// http://www. ptbc. ca. gov/ applicants/ clinical_service. shtml (I can't post links so I had to add spaces, but you can copy paste and delete the spaces

3. I have a 1st degree is PT. I saw on APTA's website there is a thing called a transition program which end up with a high degree than my current one, however I saw it is not recognized by CAPTE. Does anyone have any experience with that? I might be better off doing a masters degree in Israel before immigration? The Masters degree is defintely better as far as credentialing and immigration goes because it includes clinical time and the transitional dpt doesn't. (that I've seen) What credentialing have you done?

4. I saw that in order to get a license in CA one must have an SSN. How do I get one? To get one you either have to be a student in the states or have your working or immigrant visa.

All that being said if you are coming into the states to work as a PT, California is probably the worst state to choose. Because of all of the information above and because the cost of living is very high (but your pay doesn't follow). Were there any reasons in particular you picked CA?

[ar.st]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions!

Regarding why we are thinking about CA (going there pretty soon to check it out), well the weather seems to be terrific which is important to us because we like the weather here in Israel and if we could be in a similar location it would help, also the fact that the ocean is very close which is also something we like here (we don't have the ocean exactly but the mediterranean sea). We looked over some statistical data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and seems like PT median pay in CA is among the highest in the US. Also major cities from CA are often found in top places to lives and other lists of the type. I see you have a different perspective on this and I would love to hear it! Thanks!

[SHuffAvant]

So sorry it took me awhile to reply, got slammed at work! Weather in CA varies based on where you are (Northern, Central or Southern). If you are looking for consistently warmer weather and you want the ocean, you would be better off probably looking at the Coast of Texas, or other states on the gulf (or Florida). For the pay range, I'm sure California is higher but the cost of living is even higher than the salary is proportionately. I think Texas is probably the best place for salary/cost of living/weather combination. Plus they have the coast and lots of lakes. (Austin is one of the most beautiful cities there) I'm not completely writing of California, but they are having a lot of issues with the governments going bankrupt out there and with the cost of living being so high, I just think you should keep your options open. What is the weather like in Israel? (Just curious)

[rahoc]

Jurisprudence exam means: laws and regulations of the practice of Physical Therapy.
NPTE, is the test to show proficiency in the practice of PT.
Internship time (9 moths) is practicing under the supervision of a LPT, after passing the exam and it's not paid.
CALIFORNIA has lots of general education requirements along with FLA more than any other state.