Quickest Way for Getting Things Done and Licensed in US

[suzanne4]

As most of you know, I have been recommending initial licensure in NY for quite some time. And for those of you that did not heed the warning, you now know why.

New York is three easy applications only, next you take the NCLEX exam, then you get a hard license and can endorse to almost any state afterwards. Because of the requirements of the Special Credentials Verification for New York, you do not have to do any of the running around to obtain your documents. CGFNS will obtain them for you....after you sign the release and send them the money.

NY also requires two short classes that can be done on-line, one on Child Abuse, and the other on Infection. Both are available for about $15 each and take only one hour or so.

NY BON application can be found at http://www.op.nyed.gov. You only need to submit "Form 1."

The Special Credentials Verification can be found at http://www.CGFNS.org, as well as the Visa Screen Application.

Once you have received documentation from NY that your credentials have been received and approved, submit payment to Pearson-Vue for the NCLEX exam. http://www.perasonvue.com. They are the ones that will actually send you the ATT letter, upon approval of the Board of Nursing. Be aware that this ATT (authorization to test) is only good for ninety (90) days. You will have onlt that amount of time to get the exam done in, otherwise you will lose your payment and have to start again.

Hope that this helps................ :balloons:

Most importantly, NY will issue you the license without a Social Security Number.

[Solaris]

First question, where did she attend school? Depends on the country as well as program if it will be accepted here. If India, good chance, if the UK there are make-up classes to be done before the curriculum will be accpeted, just to give you an example.

She attended the school in Romania. It was an undergraduate college of nursing with a three year degree program and tons of hours of classes and clinical practice. She also practiced as a RN for about 2 years before we moved to US. From other friends we have heard that the school she has done is pretty much complete from CGFNS perspective (if we were to go the CGFNS way).

There is no longer an H1-B visa available for nurses, there is the green card.

Each state has their own license but it is easy to obtain a licnese in another state once you have the initial one. One of the major reasons that I recommend NY is that they require that CGFNS obtain all documents for them, which is a very good thing since you are already in the US. The ssme documents can also be used for the Visa Screen Certificate. Depending on where your wife trained, she may or may not be reuqired to do the set of English exams.

She has taken TOEFL already because she is currently enrolled in a Bachelor's Degree program here in NC.

As a nurse, you wife will be able to get a green card much quicker than you

are. :)

That would be wonderful :)

With that said, can you tell me what are the steps in order to get there. Let me tell you what I understood:

1. Submit the Form1 at NY

2. (CGFNS will check background information for NY. Will they contact us about it or how?)

3. She must take and pass the NCLEX exam.

4. She's then given a hard copy of nursing licence.

5. She can apply for a job.

Is that what you are saying?

Thank you,

Solaris

[suzanne4, RN]

TOEFL alone does not suffice for the English requirements. If going that route, she will also need to take TSE (Test of Spoken English), and TWE if she did not take the computerized version.

CGFNS will not be in contact for you for verification or any information, you need to fill out the application, which also gives them permission to obtain the needed documents from her nursing school as well as licensing board at home. There is nothing that you can do to help, other than submitting the applications. NY requires that CGFNS obtain the needed documents. Once they are happy with everyhting, they will forward the info to NY and they will in turn let your wife know that she can sit for the NCLEX exam. At that time, you pay the fee to Pearson-Vue and schedule the exam, you will not receive the ATT (Authorization to Test) letter until the fee is paid to Pearson-Vue as they are the ones that actually send the letter out, with permission from the BON. :)

Once she has passed NCLEX-RN, she can look for a job. Once accepted, she will be petitioned for a green card with an AOS also applied for. An Adjustment in Status is needed to be submitted to get the EAD which will allow her to work while everything else is being processed. She will also need the Visa Screen Certificate, this is another reason why I like going thru NY, same documents can be used.

[Solaris]

TOEFL alone does not suffice for the English requirements. If going that route, she will also need to take TSE (Test of Spoken English), and TWE if she did not take the computerized version.

CGFNS will not be in contact for you for verification or any information, you need to fill out the application, which also gives them permission to obtain the needed documents from her nursing school as well as licensing board at home. There is nothing that you can do to help, other than submitting the applications. NY requires that CGFNS obtain the needed documents. Once they are happy with everyhting, they will forward the info to NY and they will in turn let your wife know that she can sit for the NCLEX exam. At that time, you pay the fee to Pearson-Vue and schedule the exam, you will not receive the ATT (Authorization to Test) letter until the fee is paid to Pearson-Vue as they are the ones that actually send the letter out, with permission from the BON. :)

Once she has passed NCLEX-RN, she can look for a job. Once accepted, she will be petitioned for a green card with an AOS also applied for. An Adjustment in Status is needed to be submitted to get the EAD which will allow her to work while everything else is being processed. She will also need the Visa Screen Certificate, this is another reason why I like going thru NY, same documents can be used.

She took the computerized version, so maybe TSE is left. But that shouldn't be an issue...

Well, all sound pretty good and clear now. Two more questions though:

1. Does NC require a new NCLEX examination or the NY license is just good for this state?

2. Please name of an excellent preparation book for NCLEX exam (I found Kaplan's 2005 version on the Internet, with a CD, but don't really know anything about it)

Thanks!

[suzanne4, RN]

Once you take NCLEX it is good for life, it is actually a national exam.......

The only way that you would ever have to retake it is if the nurse didn't keep up their license for a long period of time and wanted to return to nursing, some states require that they take the exam again...........

The only book that I recommend is Saunders' Comprehensive Review with the

CD. It does the best job of explaining rationales for foreign trained nurses, as well as having an excellent review book for any questions that may crop up.

How long ago did your wife take TOEFL? The scores are only acceptable for two years and then they expire.

[Solaris]

Once you take NCLEX it is good for life, it is actually a national exam.......

The only way that you would ever have to retake it is if the nurse didn't keep up their license for a long period of time and wanted to return to nursing, some states require that they take the exam again...........

The only book that I recommend is Saunders' Comprehensive Review with the

CD. It does the best job of explaining rationales for foreign trained nurses, as well as having an excellent review book for any questions that may crop up.

How long ago did your wife take TOEFL? The scores are only acceptable for two years and then they expire.

Susan, thanks for all the information. It is valuable. Isn't Saunders' outdated? Is there a 2005 edition?

I know about the TOEFL that expires in two years. By the time she is ready for the NCLEX it might be expired because she took it some two years ago. But we'll make it through one way or the other. The problem we see is the NCLEX exam. It takes some time to prepare it. So we focus on that for now.

Can the NCLEX in NY be taken at any time or there are specific dates/months a year when you can take it?

Thanks!

[suzanne4, RN]

Saunders is not outdated, there is a new edition, but I actually still use the "green" book as it is widely available around the world, and the newest edition isn't. The best thing about them is the way that they explain the rationale behind each and every answer. Most do only the correct answers, and do not give the reasoning behind why an answer is incorrect. This is extremely important in my mind and I cannot stress it enough. And extremely beneficial for foreign trained nurses who trained differently than we do here. :)

In addition to information that I give my students, every single one of them has passed NCLEX the first time after training with me, and none had English as their primary language. Several did not even speak English when they started with me and they passed their Boards the first time here.

Hope that this helps........... :)

[suzanne4, RN]

Forgot to add, NCLEX is administered by Pearson-Vue so it is available at any of their testing centers. You can even do it in your current location, you do not have to physically be in NY to take the exam for NY.

It is a computerized exam and is offered 6 days per week, except legal holidays. Some of the busier test centers even have two testing times per day, one in the am and one in the pm. So after she gets approval from NY, you just have to check and see when the testing center has openings.

[nayeli0016]

Greetings everyone especially to Suzanne :) I've been visiting the site for quite some time now and I've been really enjoying the useful information I discovered here.

I'm a nursing student still, and I know I shouldn't be too concerned yet about how to get into the US and work there. However, I stumbled into this thread and so I'll just have to confirm something anyways....

If I took the NCLEX RN exam and let's just say I passed it already, I wouldn't need to take the CGFNS right? How would that affect my visa screen application? I would only need then the English exams right? Im a little confused about this matter, because the NCLEX is basically for the state licensure only, however when it comes to the application for the permanent residency I need the CGFNS exam. So applying for New York means that I won't be taking the CGFNS exam, just the NCLEX and the English exams, and still my application for a green card won't be affected?

Sorry for the seemingly nonsense questions i've posted... lool

I hope someone would have the time to clarify these things to me though... thanks and have a nice day people! :rotfl:

[suzanne4, RN]

The application for permanent residency requires CGFNS or NCLEX, plus the set of English exams. CGFNS was more widely used in the past because it was offered overseas, NCLEX has been only offered in the US or its possessions until recently.

NCLEX is the National Licensing exam for the US. CGFNS actually has nothing to do with licensure for working in the US.

NCLEX is available in Hong Kong, Seoul, and even Saipan for the closest to you. London is the other center.

For licensure in NY, as well as completing requirements for the permanent residency, you only need three applications: NY BON, part one only, the Special Credentials Verification for NY (CVS) and Visa Screen application to take care of everything................unfortunately you are unable to submit any of these applications until after you have a final and competed set of transcripts from your nursing program.

Good luck to you.................... :)

[nayeli0016]

Thank you so much for your time Suzanne :) :)

Good luck to everyone else!

[rn_05]

hi, it's me again, anyway, i'm almost done filling out the cgfns cvs, ny bon form, and visascreen, i just want to know if i'll be doing the right thing if i check the H1C box instead of planning on obtaining a permanent residence? My sister who's residing in connecticut, told me that the waiting time will be faster if i just go with H1C visa first. But since, i've been consulting you for such a time now, I want to hear from you too.

And also, regarding the notarization of the documents, can i just go to a "common" notary public and have it notarized or do i need to go to the US embassy for it?

Thank you for your time and help.. :)

Oh, and by the way, about the Visascreen form, I left #16 (nclex), #17 (ielts) blank since i don't have both yet...is it alright?

[suzanne4, RN]

Do not check off H1-C under any circumstance, these visas are basically not available. You have ot meet the same requirements for permanent residency, etc. Sorry, but your sister is wrong in this case, it will only cause yo umore grief and actually hold up things longer. There are only specific hospitals that can offer an H1-C visa, and they are not in places where you would like to be working; when they are even available.

Put that you are applying for permanent residency in any area that asks for immigration status. For the NY BON applicatiom, also include a copy of your passport.

I would go to the US Embassy to get your documents notorized.