Visa Screen Certificate / CGFNS

World Registration

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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.)

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
What about visa?Is it still retrogresion?She has 1-140 aproved and also the contract with the hospital.May be when she will get the visa they didn't want her.

Retrogression is still ongoing so all she can do is wait, visa will not be given if the hospital still doesn't want her so she needs to check up on that

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Hello Silverdragon...I kinda needed your help.!

I just passed my california NCLEX exam this december. Now, I wanted to know the process needed to transfer my license from the california to Alaska. Alaska requires CGFNS before taking NCLEX, so I'm just wondering if Alaska would still require a CGFNS certification if I file for a "Licensure by examination."

By the way my parents live in Alaska so i wanted to practice there. I just took the California NCLEX to bypass CGFNS like most foreign educated nurses are doing nowadays. Thank you in advance!!!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
hello silverdragon...i kinda needed your help.!

i just passed my california nclex exam this december. now, i wanted to know the process needed to transfer my license from the california to alaska. alaska requires cgfns before taking nclex, so i'm just wondering if alaska would still require a cgfns certification if i file for a "licensure by examination."

by the way my parents live in alaska so i wanted to practice there. i just took the california nclex to bypass cgfns like most foreign educated nurses are doing nowadays. thank you in advance!!!

do you have a ssn and if so was a license issued by ca?

you may have to contact the bon and discuss this with them. as i look at their site they still require cgfns exam this comes from this statement

registered nurse applicants who graduated from a school of nursing outside of the united states or canada must provide verification of successful completion of the examination administered by the commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools.

so going to another state to bypass cgfns hasn't really helped and will probably cost you more money. i can't see anything to say they will accept your license as endorsement having passed nclex in another state

http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pnur4.htm

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do you have a ssn and if so was a license issued by ca?

you may have to contact the bon and discuss this with them. as i look at their site they still require cgfns exam this comes from this statement

registered nurse applicants who graduated from a school of nursing outside of the united states or canada must provide verification of successful completion of the examination administered by the commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools.

so going to another state to bypass cgfns hasn't really helped and will probably cost you more money. i can't see anything to say they will accept your license as endorsement having passed nclex in another state

http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pnur4.htm

i don't have ssn yet. my father petitioned me and i'll be flying to usa this year and hope to get the license immediately. so for example i passed cgfns, will i be able to file "licensure by examination" without any problems? or will i still have to take another nclex exam?

i actually have relatives in california, but i still prefer to practice in alaska.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

NCLEX is a national exam and only taken the once, you shouldn't have to take it again as long as you meet the requirements set down by the BON.

I would say only exception to resitting the exam is if a long time has lapsed and you haven't maintained nurse experience and the BON determine whether you need to sit it again or not.

Start the procedure now and contact the BON. If you do have to take CGFNS exam it is only held certain times of the year so you can get the process started with that, they require local exam, English exam as well as all documents sent to then but wait for reply from BON first (ask them if you still need to sit CGFNS exam or will the fact CA cleared you and you passed NCLEX is enough or can the CES be used instead)

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Thank you silverdragon. I think I will contact BON first.

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hi... my VISA screen certificate will also expire next year. What happens if i don't renew it on time... let's say... renew it only when the visa will be available for US again? thanks a lot....

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

If expires and you don't renew not sure what will happen. You may want to ask CGFNS this and get something in black and white. I know that they do keep documentation for x amount of years so may be nothing to worry about. You may want to consider just renewing it before it expires and feel safe for another 5 years. (you may need to make sure your English exam is also up to date) See what is states on the CGFNS website

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Silverdragon I needed your guidance..

The Appication for RN for endorsement in Alaska has this form called "Verification of Nursing Employement." It says to provide a:

"Verification, on a form provided by the department, of at least 320 hours of employment in a nursing capacity within the last two years before the date the application is received by the board. If you cannot document 320 hours ofemployment in the past two years, you must satisfy the continuing competency requirements of the board or complete a board approved refresher course."

http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/occ/pub/nur4016.pdf

Do I really need this? I recently passed the NCLEX and have no working experience.

By the way, I was the one who plans to move to Alaska by "Lisensure by Examination" and recently passed the California NCLEX exam. I've contacted Alaska BON regarding this matter and said that I still need to take the CGFNS because I still have no license but permits me not take the CGFNS if I already have a license in hand.

My plan is to move my NCLEX result to Vermont since they don't require SSN to issue license and then endorse again to Alaska. Do you think it's a good idea?

Thank you very much in advance!!!

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Hi.. I have a question about VSC.. I already started to fill up the VSC online and I have the order number however i have not made any payment.. my question is.. Does the order start to countdown for 12 months before it expired or the countdown for 12 months will only start after i made the payment? Because I decided not to continue through online as there are some wrong transcription of data based on the data that i had given when the when printing.. and how can i corrct those? or shall i submit a mixed document from paper submission and online submission?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

As far as i am aware any corrections have to be submitted by snail mail. If you haven't paid already for online I would suggest you send everything via snail mail with a letter stating you started process online and this is the order number and could this information be merged with that.

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Hi.. I have a question about VSC.. I already started to fill up the VSC online and I have the order number however i have not made any payment.. my question is.. Does the order start to countdown for 12 months before it expired or the countdown for 12 months will only start after i made the payment? Because I decided not to continue through online as there are some wrong transcription of data based on the data that i had given when the when printing.. and how can i corrct those? or shall i submit a mixed document from paper submission and online submission?

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I know of four applicants who had the same problem with CGFNS.

I suggest you do the following:

1) Inform ICHP (that special branch under CGFNS) of your concerns via email, clearly rectifying the erroneous data.

2) Send via post office all relevant documentation, with a letter clearly identifying and rectifying your concerns.

3) This is crucial: Make sure that your letters (via email and post office) are written well -- meaning, anyone who receives and reads your letters at ICHP understands well what you have written. If you are not sure with your language, ask someone to draft the letter for you, or you ask your friends/parents to read/edit your letter.

I mean no disrespect, but my item #3 is borne out of my observation from a legion of nurses who write barely understandable English... But, remember, communication is important.

Regards. :redbeathe

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