My US Application Update - Canadian RN

VicRN · Oct 10, 2019

Hey! I am currently in the same boat as you! I have applied for and received a job offer in Maine. I am waiting for my Visa Screen Certificate to be completed and have applied for licensing through the BON. The BON needs verification from the CGFNS but nobody I have talked to has been able to give me any answers as to what I need. Some have said I need CES report which could take an additional 12 weeks whereas others have said just the eDAS. Do you know which the BON will accept?

hypnotizer90, BSN, RN · Oct 10, 2019

2 hours ago, VicRN said:
Hey! I am currently in the same boat as you! I have applied for and received a job offer in Maine. I am waiting for my Visa Screen Certificate to be completed and have applied for licensing through the BON. The BON needs verification from the CGFNS but nobody I have talked to has been able to give me any answers as to what I need. Some have said I need CES report which could take an additional 12 weeks whereas others have said just the eDAS. Do you know which the BON will accept?

Hey. Feel free to PM me. I feel like we have the same company.

I am now in Maine, finally. Just got my TN Status.

I had a lot issues with Maine BON. I previously posted most of them here.

1. Do not bother sending the Visa Screen certificate to Maine BON. They said that was not enough and they wanted the Visa Screen full report. I inquired CGFNS and Visa Screen does not provide full report. Do not do CES, they did not ask for that.

2. They then requested for the documents my schools sent to CGFNS. Do not bother sending any copies you got. The copies my school gave me were too dark and cannot be utilized apparently.

3. Just freaking pay CGFNS - eDAS for CGFNS to send all the documents they received from College of Nurses, schools, etc. This is after CGFNS issued your Visa Certificate, of course.

4. Other issues:

a. They needed my transcript to reflect I completed BScN program. It was delayed since I only graduated this June 2019 but finished the program last Dec 2018.

b. As per Maine BON, my schools needed to provide letter saying that I have theory and clinical areas on medical, surgical, psychiatric, obstetrics, and pediatrics. I am RPN-RN so my 3 schools needed to send them such paperworks. Some of them just forwarded whatever they sent to CGFNS which is kinda redundant.

*I had an issue since my schools cannot really provide clinical hours on pediatrics and obstetrics. But our Canadian clinical areas overlap on different specialties so my CGFNS breakdown does say they are integrated in our coursework. I do have a lengthy nursing education. Please note: CGFNS already issued my Visa Screen saying that my education is comparable to the US. After Maine Board received my eDAS, they then decided to continue with my application by asking for my SSN.

c. For SSN, do not even bother asking your employer to send the BON a letter that you were given a conditional offer. That did not work for me. What worked was the hospital lawyer emailed the BON asking for a letter saying that your application is complete but just need SSN for them to release your license. You will be given license after submitting an SSN. This letter is in lieu of the RN license for the purpose of crossing the border.

* If I have read that part on the paperwork I got from the career fair, I could have just emailed them saying that I needed a letter to show at the Customs in lieu of the RN license. The letter was done & signed & mailed by the "Assistant Executive Director Practice Matters". It needs to be original copy.

d. I got my employment letter in a rush because of some issues but they mailed it to me just in time before my departure. I drove 12hours from Toronto-Maine. The employment letter needs to be original copy.

e. Even after here in Maine, I cannot really apply for my SSN yet since I am looking for apartment. I needed an address where to receive the card. It is suggested to apply after 10days from crossing the border to make sure that the SSN office has the record of you.

VicRN · Oct 11, 2019

Thank you for letting me know all of this!

The CGFNS finally processed the transcript from my school, this was the last thing I needed for the review process. I paid for the eDAS today as well.

I have most things done for the Maine BON, I need to do my fingerprinting and I need the CGFNS to some documents but that is all I have left I believe. (and SSN of course).

It is such a frustrating process. I feel like I take 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

hypnotizer90, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2019

I drove to Identogo in West Seneca, New York to do the Fingerprinting printed then I mailed it to Cardscan Processing in US. It’s too much work actually.

VicRN · Oct 15, 2019

I'll be in Maine this week visiting so i'm going to get it done in Portland. I can't wait for this to be all behind me.

VicRN · Oct 31, 2019

Hey!
I’m having issues with the Maine BON and CGFNS. I’m getting documents from the school sent to them now instead of CGFNS. I had paid for the eDAS, and now the CGFNS is saying that that Maine BON won’t accept the eDAS unless I am endorsed from another state. Yet the Maine BON says they do accept eDAS.

I don’t really understand the why the CGFNS won’t send the eDAS or what being endorsed by another state means?

hypnotizer90, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2019

I felt like everything is redundant & the Maine Board does not give us a clear direction on what specifically they wanted, to the point that we send same info to CGFNS & to them. Total waste of money.

- They wanted letter from school but no form. - They wanted documents we sent to CGFNS.

What kind of application did you fill out with the Maine Board for Licensure? Basically, Maine accepts Canadian RN Registration Endorsement or Reciprocity if you meet the requirements. It is easier now that we do have NCLEX so I did not need to repeat another NCLEX. So that's the form I chose & filled - up & paid with Maine BON - Canadian Endorsement.

eDas only works if your you're endorsing your Canadian RN registration to the US which you are, right?

So now I am confused.

VicRN · Oct 31, 2019

Exactly what I thought!

I am confused as well! The rep I spoke with at CGFNS said that Maine won’t accept the eDAS unless I’m endorsed from another state which doesn’t make sense! But the Maine BON says they do accept it so now I’m so confused.

Im going to have to call the cgfns back and hopefully get a different rep that will be able to help.

I chose license by endorsement as well!

hypnotizer90, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2019

6 minutes ago, VicRN said:
I chose license by endorsement as well!

Did you get your Visa Screen Certificate already?

Before, I paid the eDas and when they were too slow to process it, I called them and they said I needed to wait lol. They did not even question me for requesting it. So this is bizarre cause you paid for it and it is nonrefundable. I don't know if we have the same Endorsement Specialist but God gave me patience.

Let me know how it goes.

As for me, freaking SSN has not been mailed yet and it has been >2 weeks already. I do not know if resigning my CDN job early was the right choice. My start date is re - scheduled. Sad because I'm not doing anything except spending money lol.

VicRN · Nov 1, 2019

So I got a hold of a different rep that basically said I needed to give the authorization in writing to send it to the Maine BON. I just sent them an email saying that I approve them to send it and they did. I still don’t understand why they needed me to do this because I paid for it so obviously I wanted it to be sent!

I got to Maine last night! Going to apply for my SSN today! I will likely have to re schedule my start date as well! I hope you get your SSN soon! I can’t believe you are still waiting!

hypnotizer90, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2019

2 hours ago, VicRN said:
I got to Maine last night! Going to apply for my SSN today! I will likely have to re schedule my start date as well! I hope you get your SSN soon! I can’t believe you are still waiting!

Yeah. Just came back from the SSA office and they will send replacement card ~less than a week. As per their system, it should have been delivered but it did not obviously. I have been waiting for ?nothing.

May be it was delivered on the week that I was away. It is frustrating that I did not know I needed to put my name on the freaking mailbox for me to receice the mail as per USPS. But I got other mails though via FedEx.

This one really sucks.