Visa Screen

World Immigration

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To all of you that hope to work in the US:

1. Complete Visa Screen paperwork as soon as possible. This will be a requirement starting in July, so think how much busier CGFNS is going to get.

2. Whoever tells you not to worry about English, just go to California and take the NCLEX exam, is 100% wrong. Sure, you can get a license but none of the hospitals are hiring without you being able to pass your English exams. Especially the "Speaking" section. Unless your idea of working in the US is to be doing something other than being a nurse. Plus then you would no longer have 2 years of current work experience.

3. So please keep all of this in mind when you decide to listen to a recruiter. You should come first, not putting money in their pockets. Think of what you really want to be doing....................

4. Finally, in order to get a Visa Screen certificate to take to the Embassy, you must have English skills equivalent to that of a native speaker. It can be done, but you will have to put the time and effort into it.

Good luck to all of you and may you be successful in your goals.

Hello to everyone,

My wife arrived at LAX last night under my student visa. We did received her certificate from the California board of nurses. Here is the problem...Upon arriving at Dorval Airport she was asking a TN visa and the custom clerk gave her the paper indicating the multiple points she had to comply in order to get the TN visa. She present her California board of nurses card and the custom clerk ask the paper certificate.

The paper given by the custom clerk to my wife is title;

What you need to present to obtain your TN Status permit

1. Proof from employer indicating the salary arrangement and length of stay etc

2. Proof of ability to perform such work in the form of licenses, diplomas, degrees, certificates, membership in a professional organization, or documented work experience. Degrees, diplomas, or certificates received by you from an educational institution not located within Canada, Mexico, or the United States must be accompanied by a reliable credentials evaluation service, which specializes in evaluating foreign educational credentials.

3. Proof of Canadian citizenship

4. 50.00$

This information was provided by USCIS !

On the other hand the Certificate we receive by mail after we received her official card is an official paper from the State of California Board of Registered nurses. Yesterday she didn't had this paper with her since we received it when she was on a trip in Montreal.

To whom these presents shall come greetings;

My wife name

Possession the qualification established by law and having satisfactorily complied with the requirements of the California board of Registered Nursing is hereby granted this certificate of REGISTERED NURSE

The rest etc, etc, etc,

All with the California seal and my wife Licenses number from the California Board of Registered Nurses.

I think that if she had this paper at the custom gate the TN would have been granted. Anyone can shed light on this one ?

Fishbowl

I am a Canadian but went to school in the US and still had to go through the process of Visascreen in order to work here. There is no way of getting around Visascreen if you are foreign born. It was a lot of money and frustrating since I went to school in the US but nothing you can do. My US education still had to be assessed to match a US education. And it took about 3 months to process even though I went to school in the US.

Exactly, all that wish to get a visa to work in the US as an RN, need to have it. It is not exempted from anyone if they are the ones that are applying for the visa.

Hello to everyone,

My wife arrived at LAX last night under my student visa. We did received her certificate from the California board of nurses. Here is the problem...Upon arriving at Dorval Airport she was asking a TN visa and the custom clerk gave her the paper indicating the multiple points she had to comply in order to get the TN visa. She present her California board of nurses card and the custom clerk ask the paper certificate.

The paper given by the custom clerk to my wife is title;

What you need to present to obtain your TN Status permit

1. Proof from employer indicating the salary arrangement and length of stay etc

2. Proof of ability to perform such work in the form of licenses, diplomas, degrees, certificates, membership in a professional organization, or documented work experience. Degrees, diplomas, or certificates received by you from an educational institution not located within Canada, Mexico, or the United States must be accompanied by a reliable credentials evaluation service, which specializes in evaluating foreign educational credentials.

3. Proof of Canadian citizenship

4. 50.00$

This information was provided by USCIS !

On the other hand the Certificate we receive by mail after we received her official card is an official paper from the State of California Board of Registered nurses. Yesterday she didn't had this paper with her since we received it when she was on a trip in Montreal.

To whom these presents shall come greetings;

My wife name

Possession the qualification established by law and having satisfactorily complied with the requirements of the California board of Registered Nursing is hereby granted this certificate of REGISTERED NURSE

The rest etc, etc, etc,

All with the California seal and my wife Licenses number from the California Board of Registered Nurses.

I think that if she had this paper at the custom gate the TN would have been granted. Anyone can shed light on this one ?

Fishbowl

Again, specifically she needs to have the Visa Screen Certificate in hand, does not matter what was on that piece of paper given to her. This is common knowledge all over. And I can tell you that when she calls the facility that hired her and tells them that she was never informed about the requirements for the TN Visa by the person that she was dealing with in HR, that person is going to have much to answer to. This is a very well known fact all over for anyone from Canada that wishes to work in the US.

And what is the date on that piece of paper that was given to your wife? It is old information and has not been current in a couple of years.

She did not receive the TN Visa, that is the issue, and she cannot work legally in the US without one. But the next question is, where did she get the SSN# from in order to get the CA license? You normally need to have the TN Visa in hand to be able to get one, unless she had one before for another reason. CA BRN does not issue an actual hard license without having the SSN#.

Any additional papers from the BRN do not cover the VSC. This is handled 100% by ICHP/CGFNS. No other entity in the world can grant that piece of paper.

Licensure is completely separate from the immigration process, they are not related, other than the NCLEX exam needs to be written to get the VSC.

And language exam is always required from those that trained in Montreal unless their curriculum was 100% English, and more were not.

Hello fellow Canadian...

I have gone through the process.. the person that your wife spoke with was an immigration officer... they can refuse to allow you into the country.

I am French speaking and if you have taken your nursing program in French you must do either IELTS or TOEFL. Some of the French speaking people I am sorry to say they are not bi -lingual... they level of English that they have would not get the by down here. It would be hard for them to understand and be understood.

Here is a link to CGFNS: http://www.cgfns.org/sections/programs/vs/

this should explain everything.. the visa screen was brought in about 3 years ago and Canadians were given a year's grace period to complete it.

I am very sorry that the HR person did not do their job properly.

How did your wife get a license without a SSN did she use her Canadian SIN number???? just curious..

Please do not let her work without the Visa Screen Cert.. no matter what the hospital says... because she can be deported. she will take the blame not the hospital..

I love being here but we all must go through things to get all the paper work completed. If I can help just let me know.

Visa screen certificate (ICHP)

U.S. immigration law now requires that nurses complete a screening program. You will need a Visa Screen Certificate to present at your Consulate Interview and possibly with the initial filing of your petition. It is recommended that you apply as soon as possible.

In order to obtain a Visa Screen Certificate you will need to pass TOEFL- IBT or IELTS, have either a CGFNS Certificate or a full unrestricted State nursing license.

The only exemption to this requirement is for those nurses educated in one of the following English speaking countries: US, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or Canada.

The current fee is: $398.

Please check the website listed below for current updates.

Contact information

ICHP (International Commission on Healthcare Professions)

3600 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19104-2651 USA

Phone (215) 349-8767

Fax (215) 662-0425

E-mail: [email protected]

Web site: http://www.cgfns.org/

(The "frequently asked questions" section is very helpful)

Also,

She was able to get the hard license with the current procedure in place. Strange don't you think ?

How come they issue a hard license to a Canadian nurse without a confirmation from the CGFNS ?

The California Board of Nurses issues there own licenses ?

Look at the previous post ! She has an official paper and an unrestricted state license. By the way she pass a TOEFL a few months ago and I think the results were sent to the California board of Registered Nurses back then. Now she will call the board and find out about this.

Look at this for a few minutes, ICMP fees are there from the board !

Registered Nurse Examination Application Fee $75 Interim Permit $30 Manual Fingerprint Card (DOJ only) $32 Registered Nurse Endorsement/Reciprocity Fee $50 Temporary RN License $30 Manual Fingerprint Cards (DOJ & FBI ) $56 Clinical Nurse Specialist $75 Nurse Anesthetist $75 Nurse-Midwife $75 Nurse-Midwife Furnishing Number $50 Nurse Practitioner $75 Nurse Practitioner Furnishing Number $50 Public Health Nurse $75 Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse No Fee Continuing Education Provider $200

LICENSE RENEWAL FEES Registered Nurse Renewal Fee (Timely)

$85

Registered Nurse Renewal Fee (Delinquent)

$122

Clinical Nurse Specialist Renewal (Timely)

$50

Clinical Nurse Specialist Renewal (Delinquent)

$75

Nurse Anesthetist Renewal (Timely)

$50

Nurse Anesthetist Renewal (Delinquent)

$75

Nurse-Midwife Renewal (Timely)

$50

Nurse-Midwife Renewal (Delinquent)

$75

Nurse-Midwife Furnishing Number Renewal (Timely)

$30

Nurse-Midwife Furnishing Number Renewal (Delinquent)

$45

Nurse Practitioner Renewal

No Fee

Nurse Practitioner Furnishing Number Renewal (Timely)

$30

Nurse Practitioner Furnishing Number Renewal (Delinquent)

$45

Public Health Nurse Renewal

No Fee

Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Renewal

No Fee

Continuing Education Provider Renewal (Timely)

$200

Continuing Education Provider Renewal (Delinquent)

$300

(back to top)

MISCELLANEOUS FEES Certified Copy of School Transcript

$30

Confirmation of License Renewal Letter

$2

Copy of Test Results

$10

Dishonored Check Penalty

$15

Duplicate License

$30

ICHP Visa Screen

$60

Verification of CA RN Licensure

$60

This is what you are not understanding. You actually needed to pass the NCLEX-RN exam to get the VSC. You cannot get a VSC if you have not passed the NCLEX exam. And actually a hard license is not required as most foreign nurses do not get the license until they are in the US and have obtained a SSN#. The majority of states do not issue a hard license without the SSN#. Do not understand how your wife has a number all ready, but not a visa to work.

Licensing and immigration are two very completely different things. Licensing is done by a state agency, in CA, the BRN. US Immigration is actually handled by US State Dept.

For the CA interim permit, the requirement is just the basic TOEFL, not the full exam that is required for immigration. Again, there are two distinct agencies here, that is where you are having problems. And the fee for the VSC is actually $448 US. If you notice next to the $398 is a small 1 and then you go to the bottom of the list, and that is a processing fee of $50.

I am very well aware of CA fees, as well as CGFNS fees as I have been helping foreign nurses for sometime.

Licensure from a US BON does not grant permission for one to work legally in the US, again, they are unrelated. Your wife is required to have a visa that will permit her to work. Even with an actual hard license, and not sure how she got it, if she attempts to begin work without the TN Visa in hand, she is subject to being deported and not able to get a visa to enter the US for at least ten years.

--------------------------

I am sorry that her employer did not give her the information that was needed in the first place. But that is not a fault of the US government, nor anyone else. This has been a very well known fact for the past three years, Canadians actually had a year grace period to get it done if they were in the US, but for the past two years it has been a requirement. When going thru green card processing, it can be submitted when the nurse has their interview at US Embassy when they are out of the country, and if in the US, the I-140 can be submitted without it. But for the others, it needs to be there and complete.

With any type of temporary visa, and that is what the TN Visa is, it is required that the VSC be presented at the border to get it. The nice thing is that there is no wait for immigration processing, it can be done instantly at the border.

The US immigration employees at the airport in Montreal are actually the ones that make the decision as to who enters the US and who does not. In any visa issued, there is a statement that the visa does not guarantee entry, it is up to the official at the port of entry. For Canada to US flights, the immigration process is done at the airport in Canada before you board the plane. The only country where you see this happen. They are actually immigration officers and have the final say.

The fees that she will need to be responsible for are the fees for TOEFL if she did not have the full exam with the speaking section, etc., the $60 for CA to verify the license to CGFNS/ICHP, and the $448 for the fees for the VSC.

And the final outcome to all of this is that she is not going to get a TN Visa if she does not have the VSC. That simple.

I do not make the rules, I can only tell you what she needs to do.

And if you check out the stickies at the top of this forum, you will see one specifically for the VSC, etc. Just sorry that you did not know of this forum beforehand.

Good evening Suzanne,

I want to thank you for all answer on this forum. This simple procedure was more helpful than any other media sources available on the net or via board of nurses.

We are rethinking this owl project again because we believed that the shortage was real and that we could contribute to help in this situation. She still has her old job at the OR in Canada and there is almost 100% chance that we stop this overspending adventure right now.

More to come.....

Fishbowl

There is a shortage in some areas. But the issue is that all of the laws of immigration must be followed. And immigration is completely separate from licensure.

But still would love to know how she actually got a hard license without having a SSN#? Or did she have it previously from something else?

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