California Requirements NCLEX Application Forms Inquiry

suzanne4, RN · Dec 10, 2007

Moved your thread to the Philippine Forum as it is specific to those from your country.

Please be aware that no place on that application for licensure as an RN in CA does it even mention that it is an application for the NCLEX exam, there is no such thing as that. There is no application for the NCLEX exam, you must apply for licensure as an RN and one of the steps in that is to write the NCLEX exam, and that requires permission to do that, but you cannot apply for it.

We also do not recommend CA for initial licensure as they do not issue a license number until you can give them a SSN#. Add into that the fact that there is a retrogression and your application is only good for three years, or it is destroyed. You may wish to reconsider your plans and suggest that you do some more reading on the forum about the retrogression and the long delay that you will be facing.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 10, 2007

There are no forms, you need to provide the breakdown of your hours. Not all accelerated programs will meet the requirements of the US and they are asking you for further documentation.

lawrence01 · Dec 11, 2007

You only need the photocopy (front and back) and you can send it yourself straight to them. They usually do not send a request for your license card if you had previously provided them a letter as part of your application and explaining why you don't have one as of the time of application and esp. if you added that you will send it in as soon as the hard license is available.

As far as the breakdown is concerned, you need to let your school registrar see the letter and ask for their advice. If they previously had no problems w/ CA BRN with their 2nd courser students then they need to clarify it (through you or them directly) to CA BRN. If this is their first time to do it or you are one of their 1st batches for that program then they may have done it incorrectly. Second, try and ask your batch mates if they received the same thing from CA BRN. If you were the only one, then the mistake could have come from CA but if all your batches were given such letter from CA BRN, then it's either your registrar did it incorrectly or CA BRN has no previous record of your school so they are being extra strict on our transcripts since you will be the 1st batch from your school that has applied for licensure to CA BRN. Being the first batch from your school to apply to CA BRN entails giving out extra information from your school; the school needs to send their Curriculum or other documents for the Board to evaluate their program content aside from the transcripts and breakdown.

lawrence01 · Dec 11, 2007

You only need the photocopy (front and back) and you can send it yourself straight to them. They usually do not send a request for your license card if you had previously provided them a letter as part of your application and explaining why you don't have one as of the time of application and esp. if you added that you will send it in as soon as the hard license is available.

Just want to add that we had received a report that starting January, 2008, CA BRN will be requiring that one be licensed already in their country as part of the application. This is still unofficial, so do not quote me on this but the same report stated that the new instructions will be added on their website in January. This is for those who haven't applied yet and are contemplating to go through CA BRN by next year. They may also require a License Verification Form from PRC instead of the usual photocopy straight from the nurse as this is the usual thing to do anyway and the safest thing to guarantee that everything is authentic.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 11, 2007

All others are required to have the licensing board submit the verification, even for other states in the US. It is never accepted from the nurse. Expect this to change as well in the near future.

The only reason for this exception is that the verification will be done before the nurse receives the VSC, but then those from other countries are required to have their verification done by their licensing board. Since CA does their own verification, they may be contacting the PRC directly and suspect that they are doing just this.

meliza72, LPN, LVN · Dec 11, 2007

hello icemonster

i am also a 2nd courser and just mailed my application to ca bon. may i just know if you have previously submitted a photocopy of your diploma. it is indicated in the application that a diploma may be provided if a license is not available. and it's what i did. now i am worried because i haven't enclosed a letter explaining why i have no licence yet.

also, our school reg did not provide the above mentioned forms for abridged or accelerated courses.

thanks

icemonster · Dec 11, 2007

thanks for the replies...

Anyways, I asked some of my classmates/friends who applied for NCLEX CA BRN at the same time as I did. Submitted the same requirements as I did and they only received the letter requesting for the copy of their Philippines Nursing License. No educational breakdown for abridged or accelerated nursing program.

One friend told me that she got the same letter as I did, and told me to have the Educational Background Form included in CA NCLEX application forms filled up by our school registrar and resubmit them again. And added that our school have already made that kind letters/form. And they have some cases of my situation. She said that it seems that It depends on the person/officer in charge who reviewed my application letters. Because some applicants didn't encounter what I've experienced.

Anyways, I'll update you guys on this.. Thanks Lawrence01. God Bless..

icemonster · Dec 12, 2007

@ meliza72

I submitted a photocopy of my diploma. Also I didnt make a letter explaining why I have a license because I took the Nursing boards here. So I'm expecting that reply from them. I'll just mail my PRC license photocopy and the rest of the forms they requested me....

God Bless,, and Hope this helps

lawrence01 · Dec 12, 2007

thanks for the replies...
Anyways, I asked some of my classmates/friends who applied for NCLEX CA BRN at the same time as I did. Submitted the same requirements as I did and they only received the letter requesting for the copy of their Philippines Nursing License. No educational breakdown for abridged or accelerated nursing program.
One friend told me that she got the same letter as I did, and told me to have the Educational Background Form included in CA NCLEX application forms filled up by our school registrar and resubmit them again. And added that our school have already made that kind letters/form. And they have some cases of my situation. She said that it seems that It depends on the person/officer in charge who reviewed my application letters. Because some applicants didn't encounter what I've experienced.
Anyways, I'll update you guys on this.. Thanks Lawrence01. God Bless..

If majority of your batch mates had no problems then it may really be because of the staff that reviewed your application req'ts. I think your school registrar already knows how to patch things up base from what they did w/ the few that encountered the said problem as well.

lawrence01 · Dec 12, 2007

The diploma req't is actually inconsequential if coming from PH. The only req'ts are the Transcripts coming from the school and your copy of the hard license or a letter of explanation on why one still don't have the license on hand w/c could be anything from "having passed the local boards but no hard license yet available" to "will not take the local boards for the reason of having no intention to practice in PH".

The Diploma req't is only for other countries that does not have local board exam to permit their nurses to practice in their country and so the diploma will be their req't in lieu of the license.

Also, if the reports hold true that CA BRN will soon require a local license then nurses coming from PH will now be required to send one from the start or a License Verification Form sent by PRC.

If I can suggest something to CA BRN, the License Verification Form will not only be beneficial to the foreign nurse because they do not have to wait for the hard license to be made available (PRC only needs to fill-up the form and affix the license/registration number) w/c can take months in PH, it also frees up their Staff of not having to call up PRC to double check someone or following-up an applicant to send in the copy of the license as soon as it is available. Win-win situation.

suzanne4, RN · Dec 12, 2007

thanks for the replies...
Anyways, I asked some of my classmates/friends who applied for NCLEX CA BRN at the same time as I did. Submitted the same requirements as I did and they only received the letter requesting for the copy of their Philippines Nursing License. No educational breakdown for abridged or accelerated nursing program.
One friend told me that she got the same letter as I did, and told me to have the Educational Background Form included in CA NCLEX application forms filled up by our school registrar and resubmit them again. And added that our school have already made that kind letters/form. And they have some cases of my situation. She said that it seems that It depends on the person/officer in charge who reviewed my application letters. Because some applicants didn't encounter what I've experienced.
Anyways, I'll update you guys on this.. Thanks Lawrence01. God Bless..

Again, there is no way to apply for the NCLEX exam, you are applying for licensure and that alone in the state of CA. There is no application for the NCLEX exam, you must meet the requirements for licensure and they you receive permission to sit for it. There is not even any mention of the NCLEX exam on the application for licensure, so not sure why people are still calling it an NCLEX application, it is not that at all.

Please read again the reasons for not going thru CA for initial licensure, especially with the retrogression in place and no end in sight. CA will destroy your application in three years after the exam is passed, and you will be back to square one and have to start everything all over again.

There just are no visas available.