CGFNS/ICHP's Official decision on Visa Screening for June 2006 NLE passers

[eivan]

CGFNS Denies VisaScreen® Certificates for Philippine Nurses Who Passed the Compromised June 2006 Philippine Licensure Examination

PHILADELPHIA, PA — FEBRUARY 14, 2007 — After careful consideration, the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS International) has decided that those Philippine nurses who were sworn in as licensed nurses in the Philippines following their passing the compromised licensure exam of June 2006 are not eligible for a VisaScreen Certificate. CGFNS began investigating this issue soon after the first reports of irregularities were received and sent a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in September 2006. CGFNS has concluded that the licensure process for those who received their license as a result of passing the compromised June 2006 licensure examination raises significant questions about the accurate assessment of the competencies of many of those individuals.

Therefore, CGFNS is unable to certify that the licensure is comparable to a U.S. license. In this instance, applicable U.S. immigration law will not permit CGFNS to issue the VisaScreen Certificate required of internationally educated health care workers to those nurses who obtained Philippine licensure on the basis of passing the June 2006 nursing licensure examination. CGFNS notes, however, that the June 2006 passers are able to overcome this bar and qualify for a VisaScreen Certificate by taking the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 on a future licensing examination administered by Philippine regulatory authorities and obtaining a passing score.

please verify at:

http://www.cgfns.org/sections/about/news/news/2007/02-14-07_philippines.shtml

For those that want to go to US...we need to take the board or certain parts of the board this June.

[suzanne4, RN]

These are the kind of people that needs to be ignored and hope they go away when no one notices them anymore. He isn't a nurse for one thing so he doesn't know the procedures and req'ts that foreign nurses have to go through to migrate to the U.S. but on the other hand you can't blame that he doesn't know or pretends he knows because the BON and the PRC Chairperson doesn't know the req'ts and procedures as well. Remember, the Visa Screen Certification not needed by nurses who only plans to work but not migrate ? The US Embassy have to made a public statement just to correct that wrong notion.

In addition, it scares me that they have been making decisions from the beginning base on wrong information and presumptions and up to now I still don't think they get the whole grasp of it because if they do they won't even have to waste Tax-payer's money to go on a round-trip to the US and who knows what kind of accommodations they availed while there.

What good thing I see is that some of the nurses already realize the mistake of these officials and are now concentrating on just preparing for the re-take in June or Dec.

Used to be that the Visa Screen Certificate was only required for the green card. But in the past few years, it is required for all that require a visa to work as an RN in the US. Even with that H1-C visa, the VSC must be submitted with the initial petition. And for the special visas from Australia, as well as those from Canada and Mexico that qualify for the TN visa, all require the VSC before anything will be processed.

No one should rely on any information coming from them, that is well known.

And they should reimburse the country for the money wasted. I am sure that they did not stay at a Motel, but more like a Sheraton or Hyatt. Because they are so very important people. :trout:

Glad that CGFNS put them in their place.

[suzanne4, RN]

;-) http://2007postcards.com/cool.html

Let's just pray that it's just sour-graping but if he doesn't stop soon the situation may get worse. Yes, it still can. The American Nurses Assoc. just gave their statement as well and they seem to prefer for a total re-take base on their statement and this just came in this week.

I personally don't think ANA would post such statements if the CGFNS' decision posted last Feb 14 wasn't greeted w/ defiance and if a task force forcibly wanted to go to the US for an appeal since they have been quite all along and just gave that statement a few days ago.

If things gets worse and a total re-take is now being considered who so you think suffers? And who are they blaming it on? Are they going to blame it again to Sec. Dante Ang, Brion and even the GMA administration when the whole fault are w/ the PRC, BON and w/ this politician.

Those three are behaving like bad role-models for some nurses as some are still defiant and crying unfairness up to now even after the failed appeal.

And next, they can cancel the NCLEX exam from being held there. I am sure that people are thinking about that. With behavior of those in authority like this, what can you expect?

[suzanne4, RN]

ANA has been talking of a total retake for months, this is not new that they came out with this. It was expected if you had been following this over here.

[brave_heart23]

Thank you suzanne4 for your kind words.

I would just like to offer this unsolicited advice to those who are affected by the June 2006 Examination scandal. Please, let us not assign blame to persons or entities who had absolutely nothing to do with the scandal. Let us not attack CGFNS who is just doing its mandate of looking after the best interest of the nursing profession in the US. Let's just accept the fact that that examination has been tainted. And this recent decision by CGFNS is, probably, their opinion of how to rectify things.

Instead, I humbly submit that ALL blame should be placed on the persons who were truly responsible for what happened and who, presumably, gained money from it. Let this incident be investigated thoroughly in an independent, transparent and just manner so that the guilty parties could be made to pay for all the damages done to the thousands of examinees and their familes who were affaected by this scandal. Let these scalawags bear the full penalty commensurate to their offenses. If it means imprisonment for the rest of their lives, so be it.

very well said!

[pinoy_guy]

he keeps going on and on... another interview, this time with Magandang Umaga Pilipinas (MUP)/DZMM (a radio show?).

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=69217

. . .Mahigit apat na oras ang bakbakan namin ngunit talagang nagpatigasan dito ang Commission for Graduates on Foreign Nursing Schools na maghanap na lang ng ibang paraan, pero itutuloy nila ang kanilang desisyon.

[Our fight lasted for more than 4 hours, but CGFNS stood firm that we look for another way, but they will stand by their decision.]

Kasi alam mo itong authority ng commission [CGFNS] ay galing ito sa Kamara at Senado ng Washington sa Amerika.

[because you know the authority of the CGFNS comes from the US Congress and Senate in Washington in America.]

So siguro kung itutuloy nila ay pwede din dahil alam nila marami tayong kaibigan sa Washington. Ang problema ay baka panahon ang kalaban at ayaw na ni Pangulo na ituloy. Baka mag-decide na si Pangulo na i-retake na.

[Maybe if they [we?] continue [the fight] it's possible because they know we have a many friends in Washington. The problem is, maybe Time is the enemy, and the President might not want to continue the fight. The President might decide for retake.]

maybe somebody else can translate the part about the theory that a Philippine Government official gave information to CGFNS to convince them to decide for a retake instead of allowing these nurses to go to America.

[suzanne4, RN]

And to threaten Americans that are in his country? And he thinks that this is going to work?

My thoughts on all of them? They are elected officials? Then do not re-elect them. Simple as that. This behavior alone is enough to have them removed from office and they should be since they have no idea of what they are doing. And continue to prove that on a daily basis.

[pinoy_guy]

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/mar/09/yehey/opinion/20070309opi1.html

will rep. monico puentevella of bacolod ever stop making it worse for the philippines and the june 2006 nursing board examinees?

by plodding on with his appeal to overturn the decision of the us commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools, he is painting an ugly image of the filipinos as a dense people who can't understand plain english.

. . .

congressman puentevella and his antiretake and appeal-till-kingdom-come companions obstinately refuse to accept these five basic facts:

1) with the prc-approved recomputation and readjustment of the june 2006 scores for the leakage-dirtied tests 3 and 5, the results of the examination got skewed. they became unreliable and plainly wrong.

2) the cgfns saw this. to understand what had happened, they came to the philippines to investigate. having investigated and found that the june 2006 results, the recomputation of grades and the licensing of passers did not conform to--"were not comparable" to--the american standard, the cgfns board decided not to issue visascreen certificates to any one who has not retaken test 3 and 5.

3) the decision of the cgfns board of trustees was unanimous. the cgfns trustees are not under any higher temporal authority so there is no one to appeal to. the cgfns is not a government body. but its visascreen certificate is by law the basis for the issuance of visas to foreign-graduate and -licensed nurses who want to be admitted to the united states to work as nursing professionals.

4) a great many of those who passed the june 2006 licensure exam have been campaigning that everybody, including themselves, retake the tainted exams so that the philippine nursing profession as a whole is spared the suspicion that some of its members are of doubtful abilities and credentials.

5) the best minds in the government, including president arroyo herself, have ruled that the retake be done as soon as possible. the president even graciously allocated funds to subsidize the june 2006 passers' expenses in retaking the exam.

representative puentevella is not only guilty of not understanding plain english and failing to see reality accurately. he has been reported to have said that the cgfns came to take notice of the leakage scandal, because some of us filipinos made so much noise about it.

that mentality reveals

(1) a mind that lacks respect for the law and basic ethical norms,

(2) a mind that prefers crimes to be swept under the rug and the morally-upright june 2006 examinees and for everyone to help in the cover up, and

(3) a mind that underestimates the alertness and efficiency of the cgfns.

representative puentevella does not seem to realize that the leakage was a crime. instead of appreciating the integrity of the examinees who blew the whistle on the criminals responsible for the leakage, the congressman from bacolod finds these heroic young people guilty of "making noise with the media." he blames these young heroes for causing the cgfns to deal strictly with batch june 2006.

launching more appeals

now comes news that representative puentevella is planning to vary his appeal to the united state congress.

. . .

congressman puentevella's fellow member of the house, rep. janette garin, was reported by the inquirer of having said that more appeals to the americans would just "bury us deeper into the mud." she is quoted as saying "these people are making a mockery of our nursing profession. they are just [worsening] the leakage problem."

those are also the sentiments of many noble june 2006 passers--most of them graduates of the best nursing colleges, those schools that annually register up to 100 percent passing rates. they want to move on and do great things with their lives--but first they will retake and pass tests 3 and 5.

now why can't representative puentevella be as high-minded and focused on doing what is right as these exemplary youth?

[Rep]

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/mar/09/yehey/opinion/20070309opi1.html

Politicians are like that , they seem to know everything but nothing.

[suzanne4, RN]

And it is not you being judged, never has been about you. It is strictly about that exam, and nothing more. Do not read anything into it that is not there.

[fuddmenace]

I am going for a total retake...there is so much to lose....I can't leave my future in the hands of other people....gotta cover all the bases....question is....what happens to my current CVS and CP applications? Both has my June 06 license info...and I need to revoke that license in order for me to go the complete retake and "comply" with US standards....what happens then? Do I need to reapply all over again, wait and pay for another round of fees? or can I just replace the existing license info with the 07 license info once I have it?....sigh...what a fine mess we're in...

[RNHawaii34]

i am going for a total retake...there is so much to lose....i can't leave my future in the hands of other people....gotta cover all the bases....question is....what happens to my current cvs and cp applications? both has my june 06 license info...and i need to revoke that license in order for me to go the complete retake and "comply" with us standards....what happens then? do i need to reapply all over again, wait and pay for another round of fees? or can i just replace the existing license info with the 07 license info once i have it?....sigh...what a fine mess we're in...

i suggest stick with what the cgfns is asking you to do..especially if you already turn in your applications for cvs, and cp...are you concern about what ana is saying? they are not the one who will process and give you your visascreen. i don't guarantee i am right, but think about it. don't feel too bad about the whole thing, i maybe not in your shoes right now, but i guarantee you that after this hooplah, there will be a lot of stuff you guys will face...so goodluck, chill, do things one at a time.:biere:

[suzanne4, RN]

Unless you have received a letter that you have been denied something, just submit the new information to them. And you do not need to pay more fees.