[Excerpt from publisher]Career mobility is important both to nurses in furthering their careers and to society in allowing nursing to adapt and respond to changing health needs. Career mobility enables nurses to achieve personal career goals and contributes to the nursing profession by raising the competency of its members. Career mobility allows nursing to respond to scientific, technological, social, political and economic changes by modifying or expanding the roles, composition and supply of nursing personnel to meet identified health needs. A complex web of contributing factors generates the emerging global nursing shortage (see Table 1). The current situation, characterised by an increasing demand and a decreasing supply, results in heightened competition for the nursing human resources available, both within and among countries. As a short-term strategy, countries or health care facilities have regarded international migration as a possible solution.