How to begin your career as a nurse in the United States
To begin your career as a nurse in the United States, you must:
Have a diploma from a Nursing School in your country
Have a current unrestricted RN License in your country
Pass the CGFNS and/or NCLEX exams and get your certificates
Take the IELTS exam
Get a VisaScreen Certificate
CGFNS
The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) was established as a not-for-profit, immigration neutral organization to ensure that nurses educated outside the United States are eligible and qualified to meet licensure and practice requirements in the U.S. The CGFNS Certification Program is designed specifically for first-level, general nurses educated and licensed outside the United States who wish to assess their chances of passing the U.S. registered nurse licensing exam, the NCLEX-RN® examination, and attaining licensure to practice as registered nurses within the United States. The CGFNS certificate is earned after successful completion of the following components:
* A one-day qualifying exam to test nursing knowledge
* TOEFL iBT or IELTS, an English language proficiency exam
* A review of credentials, education and licensure
Credentials review:
During the credentials review stage, CGFNS evaluates an applicant's education and registration credentials to certify that the applicant is a first-level general nurse and meets all of the registration requirements to be licensed as a professional in that field.
Qualifying CGFNS exam:
The CGFNS qualifying exam is offered four times a year at more than 55 locations around the world. The exam is divided into two parts with a total of 271 questions. The qualifying exam measures an applicant's knowledge and is based on what nurses must know and do when they practice nursing in the United States.
These are the exam qualifying requirements: http://cgfns.org/files/pdf/req/cp-requirements.pdf.
For a complete listing of all official CGFNS test sites, visit their website at http://cgfns.org/sections/programs/cp/cp-qe.shtml. The following are the dates for the upcoming exams:
For a complete listing of fees, visit http://cgfns.org/sections/apply/fees.shtml.
CGFNS will send you a study guide – The Official Study Guide for the CGFNS qualifying exam. You will receive this guide as soon as you pay the entire fee for the CGFNS program.
The study guide will contain information about the type of questions that you will have to answer in the qualifying exam. It will have about 1,000 questions in the form of four practice tests. Through these practice tests, you will understand how the test paper for the qualifying exam will look. The study guide will also contain answers for these practice tests. In case you have not taken any test that has multiple-choice type of questions, CGFNS publishes some books that will help you understand about how to attempt the test. To purchase these books, you will have to pay separately.
The aim of this exam is to find out whether you have the same level of knowledge and understanding of various nursing aspects that an American educated nurse has. The results for the qualifying exam will be sent to you 8-10 weeks after the exam.
For more information on CGFNS, visit their Web site at http://cgfns.org/
CES
The Credentials Evaluation Service (CES), developed by CGFNS, is an objective evaluation and reporting service that analyzes the education and licenses earned outside of the United States. They are compared to U.S. standards and expectations. They evaluate and carefully assess documents received from source agencies, verifying and appraising the applicant's educational and registration/license credentials.
For a complete listing of fees, visit http://cgfns.org/sections/apply/fees.shtml.
For more information on CES, visit their Web site at http://www.cgfns.org/sections/programs/ces/
NCLEX
The National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX) is the U.S. registered nurse licensing exam. It is required that all nurses who would like to practice nursing in the USA have a nursing license issued by the USA. To get this license, all nurses need to take the NCLEX examination. This exam is given to ensure that it is safe for USA hospitals to employ you as a registered nurse. You must pass this exam to get a license to work as a registered nurse. This exam can be taken in the different testing area.
Unlike your nursing school and CGFNS exam, the NCLEX-RN exam is an application-based exam. It tests your knowledge about health facts and about how you use that knowledge in an actual situation. The NCLEX-RN exam is prepared by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).
All the states in the USA accept NCSBN’s recommended passing standard for the NCLEX-RN exam. You take the test on a computer station. The exam will be in the form of a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT). The table below gives you some idea of what to expect.
The exam will also test your knowledge about the process of nursing, the way you communicate with patients, and your awareness of the American culture. It will test your ability to do proper documentation and your ability to learn.
To take the exam, you have to make an appointment with NCSBN and PEARSON VUE. The test is available all year, 15 hours a day, six days a week. The duration for each exam is 5 hours.
For more information on NCLEX, visit their Web site at https://www.ncsbn.org/166.htm
Visa Petition
As your U.S. recruiter, we will initiate the sponsorship of your U.S. Permanent Residency Visa. This visa is more commonly referred to as a Green Card. Once you get a green card, you can stay permanently in the USA. To get a green card, however, you need a sponsor. In your case, your sponsor will be your employer. Your spouse and children under 21 can also qualify for a U.S. Green Card.
The process of getting a green card involves these steps:
* Immigration Visa petition in USA
* Consular processing in your country
To get an immigrant visa, a petition has to be filed with the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) of The Department of Justice, the Government of USA. To get an immigrant visa, your employer in the USA will file a document called the I-140.
Procedure for filing an immigration petition:
Your employer will collect the I-140 Immigrant visa petition and send it to you to fill out. You will fill out the forms, sign them, and send them . You will also have to send documents along with the petition. Remember that you will have to follow the instructions very carefully. Otherwise, USCIS can refuse to provide you the visa.
Documents that you must submit for visa petition.
* Completed Immigration Questionnaire
* Copies of educational certificates: School, Intermediate, Nursing Degree / Diploma and mark sheets
* Copies of nurse license
* CGFNS Certificate / passing score in NCLEX –RN exam
* Detailed nursing work experience certificate
* Reference letters
* Copy of the passport
* Current biographical data
* Letter of employment from the US hospital
The I-140 has to be submitted to the USCIS by your petitioner on your behalf . Your Attorney will file the papers with the USCIS and pay the USCIS fee. USCIS
will send a receipt to you and your petitioner (employer).If the USCIS approves the petition, it will send a packet to your attorney.
Your attorney will then send the packet to you so that you can approach your consular office for a visa.
Consular processing:
The consular processing procedure and the time taken for processing varies between different consulates. After you have submitted the forms to your consulate, you will be asked to appear for an interview. The consulate will also ask you to get a medical exam. They will also take a copy of your fingerprints. Since there is a huge shortage of nurses, you can get a green card in a year after you have filed the I-140 petition.
IELTS
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an internationally owned and globally recognized English language assessment readily available throughout the world.
IELTS test centers are run by either British Council, IDP Education Australia or Cambridge Examinations and IELTS Inc. There are currently more that 300 IELTS test centers in over 120 countries world-wide. A number of IELTS test centers also offer off-site testing, increasing availability to over 150 countries.
For more information on IELTS, visit their website athttp://www.ielts.org/
VISASCREEN
Visa Credentials Assessment (VisaScreen) is a program offered by the International Commission on Healthcare Professionals (ICHP), a division of CGFNS. ICHP verifies and evaluates credentials to ensure compliance with U.S. government requirements for foreign healthcare professionals. This evaluation has become compulsory under Section 343 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), 1996. This Act says that all healthcare professionals must be screened before an occupational visa is issued to them. The applicant’s education is assessed to ensure that it is comparable to a U.S. graduate’s in the same profession. Licenses are verified to be valid, and unencumbered and English language proficiency is tested through the TOEFL and TSE exams or MELAB in the U.S. Verification of the CGFNS certificate or a passing score on the NCLEX-RN exam is also required.
Upon completion of the above requirements, a VisaScreen certificate is issued and can be presented to a consular office, or in the case of adjustment of status, to the Attorney General as part of the visa application.
The Visa Screen program fee is $ 468. To meet the requirements of VisaScreen, you must have done the following:
* Completed senior secondary school education.
* Graduated as a nurse or earned a diploma in nursing from a government recognized school.
* Completed both theoretical and practical training as a nurse.
You must request your school and nursing school to send these documents to ICHP. While those are essential for checking your education, ICHP also scrutinizes your licenses and registration. For that purpose, ICHP will.
* Verify all your licenses and registration
* Check to see if there are any objections to the license
You must request your licensing authority to send the necessary information directly to ICHP. ICHP needs you to furnish information about your English language skills. For this purpose, you must have secured the minimum score, that CGFNS has prescribed.
Once you have completed all of these qualifications, ICHP will issue the VisaScreen Certificate. You must submit this certificate, along with the packet received from your sponsor ( PPR), to your consular office.
Based on this, your Consular office will issue an occupational visa. If there is an adjustment of visa status, then, you must submit the VisaScreen Certificate to the Attorney General in USA, as a part of the visa application.
Steps:
You can send a letter / email to ICHP asking them to send you the VisaScreen application packet. In the application, you will find instructions on how to fill various forms. It contains information about the minimum score requirements in English exam . It also contains information about how the forms on license and marks sheet should be sent to ICHP. Once you complete the application packet, you pay the fee and send both of them to ICHP. You must remember that you must use the forms and envelopes that the ICHP has sent to you in the packet.
You must include information about your score in the CGFNS qualifying exam / NCLEX-RN exam. You must include information about your score in the TOEFL or IELTS.
Once ICHP receives your documents, they will send you a confirmation of its receipt. The letter will also state any additional documents ICHP requires.
After you send these additional documents, ICHP will review your application and documents.
Based on this review, ICHP will also decide whether you qualify to receive the VisaScreen Certificate. Should you fail to qualify, ICHP will tell you the reason for your failure.
For more information visit their Web site at http://www.cgfns.org/sections/programs/vs/
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