Braving the CA BON

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Hi, all. Some months ago I posted about my desire to return to my native California after being in the UK for years and having completed my nursing degree here.

We all know that trials and tribulations that come with attempting to gain licensure in California as a foreign-trained RN: concurrency, visa acquisition, social security number, finding an accredited school to make up units, etc.

Fortunately immigration and the social security number aren't issues for me because I'm an American citizen. I've just got all of my paperwork submitted to have my university in London send the CA BON my transcripts and the breakdown of credits, in addition to my application to the CA BON to take the NCLEX.

In full expectation to receive the dreaded deficiency letter from the CA BON, I've started the process of hunting around California for nursing schools that might be willing to accommodate me as a guest student. Pierce College and College of the Canyons both definitely run programs for foreign RNs with deficiencies, but the state of their waiting lists changes. California Baptist University told me that they are attempting to put together a program for foreign RNs, so they are compiling a list of people who are interested.

I hope this information is helpful to others in my situation. I'll definitely keep you all updated as and when I hear from the other schools that I have contacted.

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FYI - California will accept ITIN Numbers as of April 2015 in lieu of Social Security Numbers

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Do you know of any other impending changes to California's requirements?

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Do you know of any other impending changes to California's requirements?

California still requires concurrent clinical & theory in all mandated areas adult med/surg, obstetrics/maternity, psych/mental health, and pediatrics. As most UK nurses are specialist trained this is a bigger impediment to licensing in the US (not just CA) as all US trained nurses are generalist trained.

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The infamous concurrency issue. Fortunately there seem to be a good little handful of schools that are willing to help foreign trained RNs make up the deficiency.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

The waiting lists are long and the costs are high for the schools in CA that permit candidates to retake deficient coursework

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Yes indeed. I'm going to get all of my paperwork in and see how it goes. I'm more than happy to pay an arm and a leg for the deficiency work because a) due to family matters I really need to come home, and b) it's an investment. The quality of life for RNs in the UK so so poor right now. Burnout rates are through the roof due to the insane nurse-to-patient ratio and nurses are barely scraping by on the pitiful salary.

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moonmelody said:

Hi, all. Some months ago I posted about my desire to return to my native California after being in the UK for years and having completed my nursing degree here.

We all know that trials and tribulations that come with attempting to gain licensure in California as a foreign-trained RN: concurrency, visa acquisition, social security number, finding an accredited school to make up units, etc.

Fortunately immigration and the social security number aren't issues for me because I'm an American citizen. I've just got all of my paperwork submitted to have my university in London send the CA BON my transcripts and the breakdown of credits, in addition to my application to the CA BON to take the NCLEX.

In full expectation to receive the dreaded deficiency letter from the CA BON, I've started the process of hunting around California for nursing schools that might be willing to accommodate me as a guest student. Pierce College and College of the Canyons both definitely run programs for foreign RNs with deficiencies, but the state of their waiting lists changes. California Baptist University told me that they are attempting to put together a program for foreign RNs, so they are compiling a list of people who are interested.

I hope this information is helpful to others in my situation. I'll definitely keep you all updated as and when I hear from the other schools that I have contacted.

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Hi, I know this is an old post but I was just wondering how you got on with CA BON and if you did indeed have to top up for any deficiencies? 
 

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Specializes in Internal/Family Medicine.
CourtyJ said:

Hi, I know this is an old post but I was just wondering how you got on with CA BON and if you did indeed have to top up for any deficiencies? 
 

Hi! I came across this thread and I'm also wondering how other international nurses got their CA license after receiving a deficiency letter. Have you seen any other posts here pertaining to this matter?

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