Applying for Nursing license without taking Philippines NLE. Regardless of what State

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Hi, I'm new here and I just wanna say thank you to the people who made this site and those who participated in it. I bet there are a lot of people who is lost and found the answers they were looking for here.

I did a lot of searching and found some close answers to my questions here however some are outdated and policies may have changed. Or maybe the answer is posted and I just didn't know where to look for it.

I want to be a registered nurse here in the US. I have a student visa studying something else to buy some time. I came here about 3 years ago. I graduated BSN in the Philippines but I didn't take the NLE there. I'm wondering is there a way to take the NCLEX without going back to the Philippines to take the NLE?

I did a little reaserch and I heard California, Vermont and New mexico could do that but recent posts say that its too late for that because their policies have changed. I confirmed that because I called the BON of Vermont this morning and they said I needed a license in the Philipppines before I could apply to their NCLEX.

Any advice would be much appreciated...

By the way, I'm from Washington state. People here say a lot that its better to work on a state where you want to live in. Lets say, what if I'm open in living in any State...

You are being sarcastic I hope? To obtain an RN license in the United States of America you must pass the NCLEX ( if there is another method is probable really hard to do).

And yes most hospitals require 2 years of experience , specially if you are a foreign trained nurse.

Its the crude reality, but it is the way it is.

Most people in Philipppines are conditioned you must take NLE (Local RN Exam in Philippines) first before you can sit for NCLEX in USA

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And yes most hospitals require 2 years of experience , specially if you are a foreign trained nurse.

Its the crude reality, but it is the way it is.

Incorrect.

If you have no experience they will but you in a new grad programs for the first couple of months.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Most people in Philipppines are conditioned you must take NLE (Local RN Exam in Philippines) first before you can sit for NCLEX in USA

And for some states this is a requirement. Also we have encouraged people in the past to sit NLE due to retrogression as many employers will not look if you haven't gained experience whilst waiting especially when the wait used to be over 10 years and still is for some people. Also many decided due to retrogression to look at other countries and for most a local license was required

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A local license is a great first step. I am sure they ask for one in many other countries as well.

Regarding new graduate programs, these are few and far between. Most are filled by the RN that graduate in the area in which the Hospital or Facility is located. There are plenty of Universities and Colleges pumping out new grads every cycle. So i don't see why they would look outside the region, even less the country to fill those positions. Its just my 2 cents on the hard reality of finding a nursing job.

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Of course not.

Most people in Philippines are brainwashed that in order to sit for NCLEX in USA and to find work in USA as a RN you must pass your NLE and have 2 years work experience.

Of course this is pure non sense.......

Sorry, I beg to differ. There are other states that have similar minimum requirements below for those educated from outside the US borders, since you're in the state of TX, here's their rules and regulations per the link attached:

Texas Board of Nursing - Examination

See section #6-c:

All international applicants must provide proof of working in nursing for a period totaling two (2) years (i.e. 24 months) at any time after graduation from a nursing program. If you have not worked at least two (2) years as a first level, general nurse within the four (4) years preceding the filing of the application, you will not be licensed until you complete a Foreign Educated Nurse (FENS) refresher course consisting of 120 hours of classroom instruction and 120 hours of clinical practice under direct supervision of a Registered Nurse. If you are required to take the FENS refresher, you will be given a six (6) month permit to complete the refresher course.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So one does need to pass the PNLE so that they can get "paid working experience" before one can receive the TX license. There are other provisions to still get licensed if you can pass their own course.

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Incorrect.

If you have no experience they will but you in a new grad programs for the first couple of months.

Not really, most new grad programs (must be apply within the first year of the graduation date, NOT the month/year one passes the NCLEX and must have had zero to less than a year of paid nursing experience), then the international applicants are beyond the consideration time frame due to the expired lapse of time to be considered from the graduation date/year, having to take and pass and have evaluated courses to English proficiencies, having to wait for ATT approval and hoping to pass the NCLEX-RN the first time taking it.

Here's a quick read about the new grad situation for most international applicants: https://allnurses.com/nurse-registration/new-grad-status-702252.html

But there have been some that have gotten some kind of "offer", but it's not the new grad program per se rather a transitional program. The "offer' is not usually a job offer but it's to help one get used to some kind of hospital setting and if one does well and the people in charge of the actual hiring like you, then it's all good, but it's not 100% guarantee you'll be employed by them.

There have been a few who did have some volunteer experience in the Phils, some I think nothing and still got in, but the overall number is low compared to how many local and US residents are hired. Some of the ones getting in went to rural areas, some near bordertowns and some do the night shifts in not so desirable areas. To get the experience, true, and usually requires 2 years in to stay.

I'm not sure if these are sponsored spots (I doubt it), but not surprised if they need nurses to get their payments (income) in these nursing homes and the like but not as a true sponsored job rather something under the table.

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That why i said to still try even if it seems futile. My intention is not to discourage but to prepare this person for the possible disappointment. If this person is planning her life and hopes on the false pretense that obtain a nursing job in the USA is easy for a foreign trained nurse, then we are misinforming her and affecting her decisions.

I always prepare myself to expect the worse outcome on a situation and then let myself be surprised by the good result of it. But at least if it went not how i wanted then at least i am prepared to deal with the blow.

Best of luck!

Thank you.. We do have our own way in seeing challenges.. I'll let you know.

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Hi just to clear things up. Here is my experience, I think a lot of people are confusing it... First of all, it all depends in which state your applying if you need to have a "LOCAL LICENSE" in which country you were educated.

I am a FOREIGN EDUCATED NURSE from the Philippines. I DID NOT take the PNLE, therefore I am not licensed in the Philippines. I live in California, ofcourse there's the infamous concurrency issue. Set that aside I applied for Texas. Below is the status of my application.

[TABLE=width: 593]

[TR=bgcolor: #fff5ee]

[TD]DATE COMPLETED[/TD]

[TD]ITEM REQUIRED[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]07/23/2014 [/TD]

[TD]CREDENTIAL EVALUATION RECEIVED[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]08/12/2014 [/TD]

[TD]CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK RESULTS[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]08/03/2014 [/TD]

[TD]NURSING JURISPRUDENCE EXAMINATION[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]08/01/2014 [/TD]

[TD]REGISTERED WITH PEARSON VUE[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

All I did was avail CREDENTIAL EVALUATION SERVICE from CGFNS. Once my report was issued I then registered with TX-BON. Submitted my FINGERPRINT card to Morphotrust, registered with Pearson VUE and took the NURSING JURISPRUDENCE EXAM.

I DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE THE REFRESHER COURSE.

Those that need to take the refresher courses are the ones that have been a graduate of OVER 4 YEARS who did not complete 2 years of working experience. But if you are not a graduate of more than 4 years you are still legible to take the NCLEX.

Please note that this is based on my experience. Other states have different requirements, but do not lose hope!

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Waiting in the Philippines to take PNLE is not much of a help if your state does not require it. Simply inquire first before taking any steps. And it will just consume time when it is time for you to get evaluated by CGFNS because the PRC takes a looooooooooooong time to send the LICENSE VERIFICATION FORM back to CGFNS. So might as well not have it for it to be "waived" on their order status.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Hi just to clear things up. Here is my experience, I think a lot of people are confusing it... First of all, it all depends in which state your applying if you need to have a "LOCAL LICENSE" in which country you were educated.

I am a FOREIGN EDUCATED NURSE from the Philippines. I DID NOT take the PNLE, therefore I am not licensed in the Philippines. I live in California, ofcourse there's the infamous concurrency issue. Set that aside I applied for Texas. Below is the status of my application.

[TABLE=width: 593]

[TR=bgcolor: #FFF5EE]

[TD]DATE COMPLETED[/TD]

[TD]ITEM REQUIRED[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]07/23/2014[/TD]

[TD]CREDENTIAL EVALUATION RECEIVED[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]08/12/2014[/TD]

[TD]CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK RESULTS[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]08/03/2014[/TD]

[TD]NURSING JURISPRUDENCE EXAMINATION[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]08/01/2014[/TD]

[TD]REGISTERED WITH PEARSON VUE[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

All I did was avail CREDENTIAL EVALUATION SERVICE from CGFNS. Once my report was issued I then registered with TX-BON. Submitted my FINGERPRINT card to Morphotrust, registered with Pearson VUE and took the NURSING JURISPRUDENCE EXAM.

I DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE THE REFRESHER COURSE.

Those that need to take the refresher courses are the ones that have been a graduate of OVER 4 YEARS who did not complete 2 years of working experience. But if you are not a graduate of more than 4 years you are still legible to take the NCLEX.

Please note that this is based on my experience. Other states have different requirements, but do not lose hope!

Yes, thank you for a bit more clarification, yes, it's correct that the PH (or your country of BSN origin) local nursing license requirement is "state-specific".

Some states do need proof and verification of such a license and other don't (but they can change that to a minimum requirement at any time, any day if they so wish, I use NV as an example, which never did before, but as of 2013, they do now).

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Waiting in the Philippines to take PNLE is not much of a help if your state does not require it. Simply inquire first before taking any steps. And it will just consume time when it is time for you to get evaluated by CGFNS because the PRC takes a looooooooooooong time to send the LICENSE VERIFICATION FORM back to CGFNS. So might as well not have it for it to be "waived" on their order status.

The problem of not taking and passing the PNLE is that so many PH applicants find themselves for whatever reasons having to endorse (reciprocity) from one state to another, then they find themselves all of a sudden, stuck in a state they didn't want to really be working in or need to move to another state (family reasons, better job offer, spouse needs to work in another state, etc) and that "new state" does need the PH local nursing license in order to get licensed.

Many still believe here that a nursing license in any state can be readily endorsed over to any other state and seen as an automatic pass, not so. Just reading this forum and you find so many now frustrated that's not always the case.

In your particular case, you mentioned you currently reside in CA and they do require verification of your local country nursing license. However, if you're a CA citizen or of dual citizenship, it's currently possible to have that requirement waived, but it's not waivable if one does not have the proper citizenship and therefore, they cannot be licensed in CA.

But as we all know, that requirement of having it waived in CA (or any other state that honors the excuse reasons as to why not having a PH license due to one's citizenship) could be changed one day whereby the explanation of not having the local nursing license where one obtained their BSN degree made into a new ruling by the CA BRN will no longer be honored regardless of if one is a US citizen.

Again, I will use NV (required as of Jan. 2013) as one example. In my mind, I think why the NV BON did that was due to excessive amount of mostly PH applicants who were denied in CA for the concurrency issues and or insufficient courses and or insufficient clinical hours just flooded their evaluators and probably just overwhelmed their staff.

With the fraudulent documentation found coming in from the PH, it will lessen the chance of fraud and making the CA BRN evaluators job easier if they can verify the PH nursing license and it's respective registered numbers with the PH nursing agency. It will be much harder to produce a fake nursing license and has the correct set of serial numbers.

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The problem of not taking and passing the PNLE is that so many PH applicants find themselves for whatever reasons having to endorse (reciprocity) from one state to another, then they find themselves all of a sudden, stuck in a state they didn't want to really be working in or need to move to another state (family reasons, better job offer, spouse needs to work in another state, etc) and that "new state" does need the PH local nursing license in order to get licensed.

Many still believe here that a nursing license in any state can be readily endorsed over to any other state and seen as an automatic pass, not so. Just reading this forum and you find so many now frustrated that's not always the case.

In your particular case, you mentioned you currently reside in CA and they do require verification of your local country nursing license. However, if you're a CA citizen or of dual citizenship, it's currently possible to have that requirement waived, but it's not waivable if one does not have the proper citizenship and therefore, they cannot be licensed in CA.

But as we all know, that requirement of having it waived in CA (or any other state that honors the excuse reasons as to why not having a PH license due to one's citizenship) could be changed one day whereby the explanation of not having the local nursing license where one obtained their BSN degree made into a new ruling by the CA BRN will no longer be honored regardless of if one is a US citizen.

Again, I will use NV (required as of Jan. 2013) as one example. In my mind, I think why the NV BON did that was due to excessive amount of mostly PH applicants who were denied in CA for the concurrency issues and or insufficient courses and or insufficient clinical hours just flooded their evaluators and probably just overwhelmed their staff.

With the fraudulent documentation found coming in from the PH, it will lessen the chance of fraud and making the CA BRN evaluators job easier if they can verify the PH nursing license and it's respective registered numbers with the PH nursing agency. It will be much harder to produce a fake nursing license and has the correct set of serial numbers.

You are most certainly correct. I am residing in CA however as stated above I applied for TEXAS. It is true that you have limitations as to where you can endorse. But one has got to start somewhere if they are already in that situation. Many of us tend to just go ahead and enter a BSN program without thinking ahead of what will happen. When the time comes that you want to be licensed you are dumb founded of the policies that you had no idea of and these policies change without us knowing.

So if your in a situation like mine in which the Board of Nursing in the country you were educated in did not allow you to sit for their licensure exam. Seek states that does not require a license from your country. Have faith and eventually you will get there. You studied to be a nurse so you gotta at least start somewhere.

As for these frauds from the Philippines, they just made it hard for their fellow Filipinos who did actually study and buried themselves in books.

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