Visa Screen Certificate / CGFNS

[suzanne4]

Visa Screen Certificate is required by all foreign nurses wishing to obtain a green card to work in the US, as well as any type of temporary work permit, such as the Nafta TN Visa for those from Canada and Mexico.

It requires that you pass either the NCLEX-RN or the CGFNS exam, as well as the series of English exams if you are not exempt from them.

The CGFNS exam is only required now in about five states, and rumor is that one or two will be removed from that remaining list as well. Do not bother with that exam if you are not going to work in a state that does not require it, or you have no way to be able to take the NCLEX exam from where you are currently located.

The application for the VSC is now only good for one year.........please do not apply for it until you have passed at least one of the required exams, or you may need to pay an additional fee.

(This thread is replacing the original thread that was from more than 2 and 1/2 years ago, and has updated information.)

[suzanne4, RN]

Hi All! I just got good news from CGFNS, my Visa Screen Certificate is on its way, I might receive it by UPS on Monday. Thanks for all the advise and encouragement from you!

Glad to hear that you are finally going to receive it.

[kev_rn]

hi! i just passed nclex and have passed ielts as well. i do not have philippine RN license. i took the june 2006 and failed. after that i never attempted to retake it.

will this give me a problem in applying for a VSC?

pls enlighten me. thank you.

[suzanne4, RN]

You can apply for the VSC, but it will never be issued to you. The requirement to get it is that you pass the NLE exam. You must provide the information to CGFNS/ICHP that you did not pass that exam, and to withhold that information makes you subject to never being able get any type of visa for the US.

Remember that your country publishes a list of all of the graduates that passed the exam, as well as the retakers from that exam.

It is not a point of enlightening you, that term is not the correct one to be used in this case. This is just providing the correct information that is already available to you and I am sure that you are aware of already.

Why would the US wish to offer a visa to someone that could not pass their own local exam? If you never took it, then no problem; but the fact that you did take it and did not pass it is another story and one that you need to deal with. The other thing that you need to be aware of is that even with passing these exams there are many more applicants than there are visas available, so your chance of getting to the US is getting slimmer day by day. And add into that the fact that we expect the US to make a requirement that you have passed your local exam as well as have work experience. Similar to what was in place when the CGFNS exam was still required. All were required to have a local exam. And with the increase in number of graduates, the US can get much pickier in who they will take.

Suggest that you focus on passing that NLE. No pass and then no VSC, and no chance of a green card of any type of visa for the US.

[epg_pei]

The results need to be sent by the BON to them, they are not automatically sent. Did you happen to submit the form to the state that you took the exam for to have them complete it and submit it?

You have to do it, it is not automatically sent, and you usually have to pay a fee for it. Tne only thing that gets sent is the English results when you list ICHP on the application, but nothing with the BON as they need your written permission to release the results.

If it took you a month to get results, that means CA, and the cost for them to fill out the form is $60 US.

I am waiting as well. I am licensed through Minnesota, and submitted the appropriate form to the BON but I sent no fee. Does anyone know if MN charges to submit NCLEX results to the CGFNS?

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

I am waiting as well. I am licensed through Minnesota, and submitted the appropriate form to the BON but I sent no fee. Does anyone know if MN charges to submit NCLEX results to the CGFNS?

It should be on their website but there is usually a fee and will not process anything until that fee has been paid

[Hinageshi]

hello! this thread is very informative. i would like to commend suzzane4 and silverdragon102 for being patient in answering the questions. i have read the whole thread and i learned a lot of things.

i just took the nle this december and i plan to apply for visascreen after passing both the local exams and the nclex. my questions are:

1. what other services from cgfns would i need to avail to apply and have a visascreen? do i need to avail of the credentials evaluation service? it says in the cgfns website that there is "no cgfns program requirements for licensure" in california (where i hope to work). i just want to be sure.

2. i took up nursing as a second course. i am a licensed medical technologist. i need to include my school where i got my first college degree under the professional school right?

3. also, i have to send request for academic records for visascreen to both my first college (where i graduated medical technologist and took it for 4 years) and my nursing school (where i took up nursing for 2 1/2 years) right?

4. i also have to have my medical technologist license (as well as the nursing license should i pass) validated using the request for validation/license for visascreen form right?

thank you very much for your attention!

[suzanne4, RN]

Thanks for the very nice note. Now onto your questions:

Yes, you do need to include the training in your previous degree and certifications, this will also benefit you for the reason that with your other degree and training, that can get you the H1-B if you can find the appropriate petitioner, the RN does not qualify for that.

The VSC requires that all professional courses be listed, and not just nursing. This is also one that requires the VSC if you want to use it in the US, and that may be your faster way to get to the US at this time.

The CES is only a credentials evaluation and that is required for quite a few states now before they will give you permission to sit for the NCLEX exam. Whether or not you need it is dependent on the state that you select. If you think that you may wish to go on with your schooling, then go ahead and get it done now as it is required of most universities.

Hope that this helps.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Thanks for your kind supporting words and I can add nothing to Suzanne except good luck on your journey

[spongebob6286, BSN, RN]

hello

i heard from my friend who passed the nclez-rn exam that there is retrogression. may i know when will it end?

[Hinageshi]

suzanne4 and silverdragon102, thank you very much for responding to my queries. i hope you don't mind because i have another set of questions (and i'm sure i'll have more in the future )

1. one of the forumers here asked about how to go about accomplishing the signature for the visascreen application. i'm not quite sure if it was answered. i also have the same concern. the person was concerned because his signature from his passport was his full name in script except that he did not expand his middle name and just put his middle initial instead. i plan to apply for a passport this week (hopefully). of course, a signature is required in the application form. hence my current dilemma. from what i know, the signature in the visascreen application form as well as to be able to sit for the nclex exam, has to match legal documents. would that be a correct interpretation? my signature in all my legal documents such as prc id and school requirements before is not my full name in script. so i don't know if i'm going to sign with a full name in script in my passport application form. so there. any advice on how to deal with this?

it has been suggested by suzanne4 before to just put a slash between the scripted full name (including the middle name) and the usual signature. will that be ok?

like this:

full name with middle name (in script) / usual signature.

won't the cgfns interpret the above as my signature. i mean like, they would think that i always sign like that, with full name in script then a slash then another signature (which is my usual signature).

perhaps my query is really confusing. but i still hope to get inputs from you people. thank you very much for the hard work!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

hello

i heard from my friend who passed the nclez-rn exam that there is retrogression. may i know when will it end?

currently no idea when it will end but look at over 12 months due to it being a US election year next year

[suzanne4, RN]

hello

i heard from my friend who passed the nclez-rn exam that there is retrogression. may i know when will it end?

Please take the time to do some reading on these forums, and please keep questions to the topic that is being discussed.

Yes, the US has been under a retrogression for more than a year, and it is actually expected to last for several years as there are more applicants for visas than what is available per year.

As mentioned before, passing the NCLEX exam and even getting an employer is no guarantee that you will ever get a green card.

Questions that you are asking can be answered if you take the time to read the Primer at the top of this forum. You need to pass the English exams to be able to work in the US, does not matter the state as the US government requires it for immigration purposes.