Travel Nursing Information

Ready to travel, but not sure where to start? We’re here to help. The first step to becoming a travel nurse is setting up your Aya account. Once your profile is complete, a recruiter will reach out to help you begin your travel nursing journey. Your recruiter will guide you through the process, starting with learning more about your goals and coming up with a game plan to get you an assignment. Throughout your travel career, your recruiter is a helping hand when it comes to finding you an assignment that fits all your needs. You can start looking for positions by browsing our open jobs, and filtering by your preferred specialty and location. Once you’re registered, your recruiter will work with you to help you find the right job for you!

While travel nurse assignments may have facility specific requirements, there are a few things every traveler will need to work with Aya.

1. At least one year of nursing experience in your specialty, preferably in a hospital setting.
2. Active state nursing license — Our team will help guide you through the application process in any state (and will often be able to help expedite it too!).
3. Preferred American Heart Association certifications – ACLS, BLS, etc. (varies by specialty).
4. Must be willing to work a full-time travel assignment — at least 36 hours a week.

You can apply as far out as you’d like. There’s no hard-and-fast rule regarding the best time to apply. We have worked with nurses, like Jessica, who apply and take a year to decide to accept their first assignment and we have others like Jill who apply and are out the door and on their way a few weeks or even days later. If you know you are ready to travel, or will be soon, we recommend you fill out an application so that you are prepared to seize the right opportunity. If you decide to apply well in advance of when you’d like to travel, we’ll keep your information on file and stay in touch until you’re ready.

Assignment (you’ll sometimes see them called contracts, too) lengths vary, but they’re typically around 13 weeks. However, you can find both longer and shorter assignments. Flexibility is one of the greatest things about travel nursing! And there’s nothing holding you back from taking a break between assignments. It’s not often you can take three weeks off from your permanent position, but as a traveler you have the power to choose how often (and how soon) you take assignments. Once you create a profile with us, you’ll be able to log into your account and search for contracts based on contract length!

While ER, OR, ICU, med surg, telemetry and labor and delivery tend to have the most jobs available consistently, demand does fluctuate.

We have strong relationships with hospitals throughout the country, so we’re able to offer open RN jobs across all specialties. If you’d like to see what we currently have available, search all our open jobs.

Yes! Download the Aya Healthcare mobile app on Google Play or the Apple app store to search the most jobs in the industry, including travel, per diem and permanent positions.

We have a program for getting Canadian RNs licensed in the US. You could be here in 2-3 months! Check out our Travel Nursing Canada page now, and let us know once you meet all the requirements to travel in the US. There are also permanent RN job opportunities that could get you here sooner. Let us know if you’re interested in a permanent position, and someone will contact you to discuss.

This is often one of the first questions we get asked and the answer is a resounding yes! Many of our travel nurses, like best friends Mel and Cat, husband and wife Allen and Amy, and Dakota, her husband Ronnie and their two kids make it work. Even if your travel partner or significant other isn’t a nurse, it’s very possible to figure out a way to travel together!

Absolutely! Many of our nurses travel with pets, like Morgan and her Burnese Mountain Dog, Turtle. When it comes to traveling with a pet, housing is often the biggest hurdle. While it’s a fact that many buildings do have pet restrictions you still have lots of options. You can either take Aya housing or choose to accept a housing stipend and search for housing on your own. Whatever you choose, we’ll always do our utmost to accommodate your furry friends. Just be sure to communicate your wants and needs with your recruiter ahead of time so that they can help you prepare!

There are plenty of options when it comes to travel housing. To learn more about the types of housing available to you, visit our Travel Nurse Housing page.

Travel nurse pay varies for many reasons. These reasons include specialty, location, benefits, whether a traveler takes company-provided housing and more. There’s no “set pay” for any specialty. Wondering what jobs for your specialty are paying right now? Register today and view all our open jobs, estimated pay packages and detailed facility information — all in real time. Even if you aren’t ready to travel with us yet, you’ll gain great insight on what open travel nursing assignments we have and what the pay is in different locations across the country.

Aya Healthcare offers many great benefits to travel nurses. From the first day of your assignment, benefits like medical, dental and vision insurance plans and sick pay accrual are available to travelers. Travelers who’ve worked at least four consecutive months are also eligible for 401k contributions. Plus, Aya also offers perks like front-of-the-line access to exclusive jobs, an expedited licensure program, a support team with designated credentialing experts, free virtual fitness classes and a pizza on your birthday! You can learn more about the benefits Aya offers on our Pay & Benefits page.

At Aya Healthcare, you have an entire support team helping you throughout your travel nursing career. In addition to your recruiter, you’ll have a credentialing specialist, payroll representative and travel experience specialist to provide their expertise before, during and after your assignment. Let’s say you’re heading home to South Carolina from your contract in Alaska and your flight is delayed and you miss your connection. You can call Aya in the middle of the night. We won’t leave you stranded. Or you get caught up in bad weather like one of our travel nurses who was evacuated during hurricane Matthew. We found her housing in Atlanta before the entire city sold out of rooms. No matter what bumps you encounter on your journey, the Aya team will always have your back.

You’ll be provided with enough of an orientation for you to get the job done and our clinical support team will help ensure that you’re placed in a facility that best matches your interests and skill set. Some healthcare facilities offer a more thorough orientation than others. If you’re a less experienced nurse, your Aya Healthcare recruiter will help you choose assignments that offer a more extensive orientation.