Few Facts That You Need to Know

suzanne4, RN · Aug 16, 2022

1. US Licensure requirements as an RN are different from US Immigration requirements. Completely unrelated.

2. US License does not give you permission to work in the US, you must have a visa that will permit that.

3. If you already have a green card, or are US citizen, but trained overseas: You only need to go thru licensing requirements, not one thing to do for immigration. The Visa Screen Certificate and the language requirements are not necessary.

4. If a state requires a language to sit for the NCLEX exam, and you already have a green card, you will still need to meet that requirement; even if you hold a US passport, unless it is specifically waived for you.

5. If a student in the US under the F-1 visa, and you have the I-94 in your passport that has an expiration date, then that is what you have to go by, not the date on the I-20. Depending on what the official put in your passport when you arrived, if D/S, then you are fine. With a date, you are under that expiration date and will be considered overstayed on your visa.

6. You are not applying for the NCLEX exam, you will be applying for licensure as an RN to a state Board of Nursing; the NCLEX exam is just one step in the process. You must have approval to sit for the exam. Suggest that you do not submit payment to Pearson-Vue until you have approval to sit for the exam, as you will have a short window of time to take the exam for some states.

7. There is no reciprocity between states. If you wish to work in another state, you will need to apply for License by Endorsement and go thru that process.

8. All states in the US require the NCLEX-RN exam to work as an RN. The CGFNS exam will not give you a license.

9. Interim Permits for states that have them, are issued when you have met all requirements for licensure except have not written the NCLEX exam.

NY requires the CGFNS exam to get an Interim Permit. CA requires a license in your home country as well as having passed TOEFL to get an Interim Permit.

10. Temporary License means that you have taken the NCLEX exam and passed, but the state is waiting for some other documents to be submitted to them and that you already have a license in another state. Usually issued when you are endorsing before they have received your transcripts, or something similar. You may work as an RN in full capacity with this.

Hope that this helps clear up some questions that many of you have had.