The Ultimate Guide to Travel Nursing With Family
As a travel nurse, you’ll have unique family-related circumstances, whether traveling with your spouse and kids or with your partner. How easy it is to be a travel nurse with the family depends on whether you or your partner work in the same or different professions and locations.
Here’s what you need to know about traveling nursing with your family so you can make a more informed decision about whether or not it will work for you.
Do Agencies Allow Travel Nursing With Family?
Yes. Thankfully, travel nursing is designed for all walks of life.
Agencies have experience handling travel nurses who bring along their families or significant others. Different recruiters will also provide different levels of service and comfort, so it helps to do your research and choose a travel nursing agency wisely.
Here are the different scenarios which you might find yourself in when you’re thinking of travel nursing with family and how to navigate:
Leaving Family While Travel Nursing
Most travel nurses choose to leave their families behind. Some of the reasons why you might want to leave your family behind are:
- You live in an area with scarce employment options, but you love your home
You can pursue travel nursing while leaving your family behind if you love your hometown, but jobs are scarce. That means you get better pay elsewhere and still keep your tax home.
- You will make more money as a travel nurse than working in a permanent job
This is especially if you’re working in a low-paying state. For instance, the average hourly wage of a travel nurse in North Carolina is $36.35 while that in New York is $60.4, a significant increase when you want to make more money for your family.
- You prefer to schedule family visits
Instead of traveling with your family, you can take a week or two off between your 13-week assignments. You can also agree with your employer for time offs within your contract as long as you can complete your contracted shifts in the agreed time.
Travel Nursing with Your Significant Other
You may also prefer to travel with a significant other such as your husband, wife, partner, girlfriend, or boyfriend. There are, however, some unique circumstances you should consider.
Here are a few:
- Both of you are travel nurses
If both of you are travel nurses and you plan on living together, there could be implications on your lodging stipend since you’ll be sharing expenses.
Agencies handle the situation in different ways. For instance, an agency can include the stipend in your pay and add the same amount as a taxable wage for your significant other. Other agencies can divide the compensation between the two of you. An agency may also choose to give both of you the full stipend.
- Only one of you is a travel nurse
In this case, living arrangements aren’t a problem. Since one person isn’t a travel nurse, you can use the same lodging space you would as a single traveler without affecting your lodging stipend. The main issue would be figuring out what your significant other will do for work. Some of your options would include:
- Getting a temporary job in the new place
- Working remotely or finding a freelance online work
- move to a new city yearly to maintain your travel nurse benefits.
Can you take your kids with you?
The short answer is yes. If you have someone to care for your children during your shifts you absolutely can take them. Some nurses decide that homeschooling is a good option for their school-aged kids and thrive in this environment.
The Right Agency Help You Land Your Dream Job and Ease The Process of Travel Nursing With Family
Travel nursing with family presents an excellent opportunity to grow your career while spending quality time with your family. But whether you travel with family or choose to leave them behind, it’s good to maintain employment ties at your tax home to qualify for tax-free compensation.
The right travel agency connects you with the best travel nurse jobs, so you focus on what you love most! The more flexible you can be, the better for your career. That means accepting assignments outside your preferred area when it’s needed.
AB Staffing Solutions connects you with travel nursing jobs countrywide. We help you find your dream job and travel conveniently with your family while enjoying competitive benefits, including insurance coverage and 401k plans.
We have 20+ years of experience in providing healthcare solutions. Our experienced and enthusiastic staff don’t just guide you through the hiring process to land your dream job. They also follow up on you to ensure you are doing well at your new job.
Contact us to start finding your dream travel nursing job today
We Also Find You Higher-Paying Travel Nurse Jobs For Corrections, Education, and Respiratory Therapists
AB Staffing Solutions connects you with travel nursing opportunities in almost any travel nursing specialty. Be sure to check out these latest job openings in corrections, special education, and respiratory therapy.
