Danish nurse wanting to work in the USA. Unsure about hour requirements for CGFNS

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Hey Everyone!

I have a 3½ year bachelor in Nursing (just graduated) and I would like to come to USA and work. Does anyone know how many hours theory and clinic practice is required for the CGFNS?

The application form lists a bunch of different fields/categories, but I can find no guidelines anywhere how many hours specifically of each category is required. I tried calling the CGFNS but they couldn't (or wouldn't) answer.

(as an aside, they list things like infant care, which we have had very little off, but other things we've had aren't mentioned at all in the categories.)

Hope someone can help me out!

Also, is it an advantage to try and get licensed in one of the states in the shared nursing license program (compact states), or is that one much harder to obtain?

Thanks for your time! :-)

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Are you a US Citizen or have the right to live and work in the USA? Otherwise there is a long wait to come and work in the USA.

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Ditto what GM said, plus licensure in a "compact state" (member of the NLC) doesn't benefit you unless you are physically living in that state. Unless you're a resident of the state, you will get a license but it won't have "compact privileges" and can't be used for working in other compact states -- it will be a regular, "traditional" license that is only good in that state.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Each state has their own requirements so a lot will depend on the state you wish to live and work in however you will be required to have clinical and theory hours in Paeds, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Adult. Aldo as mentioned retrogtression is in affect and has been for several years with a 6+ year wait for immigrant visa, work visa is a specialised visa and with current employment situation in the US it may be hard to find a employer willing to go the H1b route

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I am not a US citizen, but hope to be some day.

Thanks for elaborating on the compact state deal, Elkpark.

Silverdragon: It is the specific amount of hours I am interested in knowing - so I can make sure I have them. I can't find this information anywhere, unfortunately.

I don't know what H1b is, I'm afraid, but I am in contact with an agency recruiting foreign nurses to US jobs, and I hope I can get a job offer that way (and thus, get this process started). I have read nothing about a six-year wait though - quite the contrary: it looks like the USA will need many more nurses than they "produce" in the next several years.

I'd love if you could elaborate on all this though, particularly the amount of hours. Since I will be finished in two months, my school has given me permission to have all my papers translated on their dime until I graduate, so getting whatever breakdown I have correctly over to English will be a good start for me. Also, it will allow me to get started on a job where I might "catch up" some hours if need be, before I start my US-nursing dreams. :) (and if I have a six-year wait, I better get started hehe)

Thanks so much for the replies so far!

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I am not a US citizen, but hope to be some day.

Thanks for elaborating on the compact state deal, Elkpark.

Silverdragon: It is the specific amount of hours I am interested in knowing - so I can make sure I have them. I can't find this information anywhere, unfortunately.

I don't know what H1b is, I'm afraid, but I am in contact with an agency recruiting foreign nurses to US jobs, and I hope I can get a job offer that way (and thus, get this process started). I have read nothing about a six-year wait though - quite the contrary: it looks like the USA will need many more nurses than they "produce" in the next several years.

I'd love if you could elaborate on all this though, particularly the amount of hours. Since I will be finished in two months, my school has given me permission to have all my papers translated on their dime until I graduate, so getting whatever breakdown I have correctly over to English will be a good start for me. Also, it will allow me to get started on a job where I might "catch up" some hours if need be, before I start my US-nursing dreams. :) (and if I have a six-year wait, I better get started hehe)

Thanks so much for the replies so far!

New graduates don't qualify for H1b, also BSN is NOT required for the majority of nursing positions.

There are so many unemployed qualified US nurses, if want you read comes true they will be first in line. Second in line are the retrogressed nurses who have been waiting since 2006.

Third to begin the 6 year count down you must find a sponsor that will wait 6 years for you to work. It means in 6 years not one qualified nurses was available,

Fourth, the stats show that International nurses fail at a rate of 70% opposed to 15 %,

Do a search on retrogression, H1B, NCLEX etc.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Each state has different hour requirements so really all you can do it speak to the board of nursing for the state you plan on living and working in, be aware for California they will only accept an application with a SSN which you can't get until in the US with a valid work/immigrant visa. Then there are many international trained nurses struggling with California because their clinical and theory hours wasn't done concurrent. As mentioned retrogression has been ongoing since Oct 2006 and current immigrant processing time for EB3 which is generally what nurses come under is May 2006 for people not born in China or India.

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