ATTENTION: Arkansas Board of Nursing Now Requires SSN

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Arkansas Board of Nursing released a notice on October 25th which stated that they now require an SSN for licensure application and applicants will not be permitted to sit for NCLEX without providing an SSN.

In addition, ARSBN now requires Credential Evaluation and English Proficiency from foreign educated RNs.

I have spent a few hours on the phone with Arkansas Board representatives to clear this issue up and can tell you the following:

SSN requirement is not part of the Board policy and is therefore not up to interpretation, this is a STATE LAW and must be enforced strictly.

Any applicants already granted eligibility prior to October 25th will still be allowed to sit for NCLEX but will NOT be issued licenses and must provide an SSN before the expiration date which appears on the letter of passing.

Any applicants who HAVE NOT been granted eligibility must wait for their INDIVIDUAL evaluation.

Currently there are more than 600 nurses pending applications, the applications will be evaluated one at a time to determine if eligibility will be granted (based on the stage the application is in the evaluation process) or not.

ARBSN has not yet determined if there will be any refund issued for those applicants who have not been granted eligibility. As of my last conversation with them, they are considering simply holding the applications and waiting for SSN to be provided in order to grant eligibility.

More info will be posted here as I receive it.

NOTE: I am NOT a representative of Arkansas or any sort of placement/staffing agency. I am a nurse advocate and career consultant.

Specializes in ICU.

Hi! I am a RN in the PH. I guess am one of the 600 applicants affected.

I emailed Ms. ******** PhD, RN, the ASBN Program Coordinator prior to sending my application. I specifically informed her that I do not have a SSN. She sent the application packet (old one...meaning before the Oct 25, 2010 changes) and I was able to submit all forms and checks by Sept. 14, 2010.

Then I heard about the changes and worried about my application. My friend who applied with me also received a letter like 15isto2. I haven't receive an email. I sent an email to Ms. ****** and wrote @ [email protected] but have not heard from them.

I am hoping ARSBN will consider applicants who sent their requirements before Oct 25, 2010. ARSBN sent us the packet containing the forms and list of requirements thus it is logical that we submit the old requirements. :(

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Specializes in Resuscitation, CCU, HDU, ICU, ER.
Hi! I am a RN in the PH. I guess am one of the 600 applicants affected.

I emailed Ms. ******** PhD, RN, the ASBN Program Coordinator prior to sending my application. I specifically informed her that I do not have a SSN. She sent the application packet (old one...meaning before the Oct 25, 2010 changes) and I was able to submit all forms and checks by Sept. 14, 2010.

Then I heard about the changes and worried about my application. My friend who applied with me also received a letter like 15isto2. I haven't receive an email. I sent an email to Ms. ****** and wrote @ [email protected] but have not heard from them.

I am hoping ARSBN will consider applicants who sent their requirements before Oct 25, 2010. ARSBN sent us the packet containing the forms and list of requirements thus it is logical that we submit the old requirements. :(

I am afraid they recieved my application on 22nd July so it applies retrospectively

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Actually at this moment in time it does make sense to require a ss# with the applications received by the tons and the economy the way it is the focus should be on those who are eligible to work in the US. Their processing time gets held up because they are also working on those who aren't eligible at this time. Unsure how it is really in Arkansas but they may also be experiencing lack of people there to help with all of the applications. Arkansas may have more applications that they can handle at this time so that could be the reason why they decided to put that rule into effect in order to help reduce the load. Since there isn't a shortage of nurses at this time there isn't a need to go abroad anyway. Maybe once there's a shortage again they will loosen up the requirements once again.

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Since there isn't a shortage of nurses at this time there isn't a need to go abroad anyway. Maybe once there's a shortage again they will loosen up the requirements once again.

I've done research showing exactly where the nursing shortage is and exactly why and how there will be a shortage of 1.9 million nurses by 2020.

You cannot wait for the shortage to be crippling before making adjustments in the nursing licensure applications sine retrogressed occupational visas (which require passing NCLEX) are on a 5-6 year wait.

My research is based on studies done by US Dept of Labor, US Bureau of Health Resources and Services Administration and AACN. It shows that the growing population will need 41% more nurses in the workforce within the next 10 years and coupled with 35% of the currently employed nursing workforce that will be above retirement age by that time we have a crippling nurse shortage in the USA that the US nursing schools are not equipped to handle at all. Something has to start NOW to keep this from happening; we cannot sit around and wait for it.

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Specializes in Renal.
Any applicants already granted eligibility prior to October 25th will still be allowed to sit for NCLEX but will NOT be issued licenses and must provide an SSN before the expiration date which appears on the letter of passing.

I just sit Nclex without SSN just wait the immigration visa. Does anyone know how long it is the expiration period for the letter of passing. In addition, How long does it take to receive the letter of passing? Without SSN, I can't check my result on the website.

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Try the pearsonvue trick. Go and attempt to reregister for the exam. Make sure you login to your pearsonvue account. Make sure delivery states that it was successful. Once status delivery successful shows up on your account then you can attempt to reregister. If it stops you from going to the credit card page then you passed. If it takes you to the credit card page it means you failed. Good Luck

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Specializes in Renal.
Try the pearsonvue trick. Go and attempt to reregister for the exam. Make sure you login to your pearsonvue account. Make sure delivery states that it was successful. Once status delivery successful shows up on your account then you can attempt to reregister. If it stops you from going to the credit card page then you passed. If it takes you to the credit card page it means you failed. Good Luck

Thanks. Tried PVT and is good pop. Maybe get immigration visa in 2-3 month and hope the expiration period is longer than 3 months.

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Just arrived by e-mail

"

Arkansas State Board of Nursing (the Board) has received your Examination Application for International Graduates form. However, a social security number is required for individuals applying for licensure. Please refer to the Examination/International Application & Instructions, located on our website at http://www.arsbn.org. You may locate the referenced information by clicking on the Forms tab.

Applications for licensure applicants that were submitted to the Board prior to this date are placed in an inactive status until receipt of proof of a social security number and all other required documents as identified in the International Graduates Licensure Examination Application Instructions referenced above.

Additional information regarding each step in the process is included within the packet of materials on our website. Please read and follow directions carefully. "

Right! I also received that message, just recently..How sad..

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hi! i have also emailed ..............RN, PHD. I have emailed her every step I'm taking to make sure everything I did was correct. I have completed everything by August hoping that I would be able to receive my license. By the way mine was endorsement cause I have passed already my NCLEX in CA. she told me that I should fill up the "nurses application for international graduates...." . After debiting my credit card last sept. I now received a mail that my file was inactive because i do not have a SSN. I felt deceived because after paying I thought I would be able to receive my license. It cost me a lot because I also paid for the police clearance, mail from CA to Arkansas that I have passed NCLEX plus my DHL (3x) etc. I have emailed them already and was told that my fee was non-refundable. I really felt cheated : (

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Specializes in Resuscitation, CCU, HDU, ICU, ER.

i have been requesting a refund of my fee from asbn and so far have received these e-mails

"thank you for your communication; however, all fees are nonrefundable"

and when i asked where it says this on the information they supplied me...

"all fees are nonrefundable"

these are the e-mails in their entirity, no explanation of who the person replying is or a signature (and obvioulsy an opening salutation is too much to hope for).

i do appreciate that this situation is not of the boards making but they are not covering themselves in glory with how they are handling the situation

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For the most part all fees are nonrefundable and it states so on the application. However when applying for a license most were under the impression that they would be allowed to obtain a license with out a ss# so therefore they applied. Most had no problems paying the fees because there was going to be a license in the end. Since Arkansas has decided to change their rules and require a ss# it's morally right that they do supply refunds to those who applied before they changed the rule OR they supply them with a license. That's the fair thing to do, but unfortunately the BRNs will do what they want to do and unfortunately the victims must live with it.

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I got my eligibility but they said if I passed the Nclex -Rn exam, I still need to provide them ssn, and they didn't include any time limit to provide the ssn, like in Cali they have 3 years. I wanna know if there's time limit for nclex passers.

I hope someone can answer my question. Thanks everyone! have a great day!

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