Need Advice as what to do ?

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I am an American and my fiance is in the Philippines and is in nursing school there and will finish in May. She says when she is finished she has to take a board exam(not sure what that is)I want to get her over here as soon as possible(Virginia) and wanted to help her get things started for her nursing career here. Not sure what she will need to do as far as taking any tests here, if she has a waiting period, or even how hard it will be to get a job here, and whether or not her credentials will be valid here. I have several fiends who are nurses and they tell me that they are in such shortage of nurses here that it is easy to get a job but not sure if that applies to my fiance since she is going to school abroad. We will be getting married later this year so dont know if that will help or not.

Sorry for being so naive about this but just wanted to do what I can to help give her a good start. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Welcome

Moved to the International forum

She is best to sit the NLE (their local license) as we are seeing states now make that a requirement. She will need to apply to the state nursing board once she has completed her training and meet requirements for foreign trained nurse. Once she has met requirements she will be given permission to sit NCLEX (get her to check out the NCLEX forum on here some great information) She is looking at approx 4-6 months going through the process and pass NCLEX before she can work as a nurse. She will be at a slight disadvantage having trained outside the US but with determination she can find work. I presume you will be bringing her on a fiancée visa and will be getting married within 90 days. She will not be able to work until you are married and she has received her EAD

Link to nursing board http://www.dhp.virginia.gov/Nursing/nursing_forms.htm look for registered nurse trained outside the US

Hope this helps

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Good news is that your finance will not have to worry about retrogression. There is a primer at the top of this forum on how to get approval for testing that will allow her to get a nursing license.

Go to the Virgina state board of nursing and look for the initial application for license. They will spell out the requirements. Some states do require a local license so it would be better for her to sit and pass the nle, that way no matter where you more she will be able to get a license.

When are you planning on getting married? And best of luck.

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My wife graduate in March 2008 from PI. She arrived in USA late 2008 on a K1 Visa.

We live in Texas, and they don't require NLE (Local Licenses) from PI for her to sit for NCLEX (NCLEX is exam people take to become a RN in USA)

We didn't bother with my fiance/wife now to do local exam in PI, cuz it would delay our visa and basically it is a waste of time in our case in my opinion. Local exams are given twice per year in PI (June/November) and results take 3 month.

Only thing Texas required was having her Transcripts do a Credential Evalution (Basically is says her Bachelor of Nursing in PI is equal to USA BSN, there are companies out there that do this for a fee).

You need to see what qualification your state board of nursing requires for Foreign Educated canidate and follow those.

Only a handful of states in USA require local licenses. Hopefully your state will not need a local license and your fiance can concentrate on getting her paperwork ready for her interview at U.S. Embassy in Manila and her paperwork together Medical Interview.

After she has her Visa in hand she can and will be required to attend a CFO Seminiar (Philippine Goverment rule), before they will issue her a stamp for her passport so she can leave PI.

Good Luck

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What Redranger posted applies to Texas, but according to the VA BON they require the CGFNS exam which require a local license.

"Have you taken the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) Qualifying Exam? Yes _____ No_____ If yes, CGFNS ID#_____________________________________. If no, date scheduled to take examination ________________. The CGFNS certificate must be sent directly from CGFNS to the Board of Nursing before your eligibility for the licensing examination can be determined. "

"

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I want to thank all of you for the help and I didnt realize all the steps that have to be done. In the end it will all be worth it.....One of the suggestions was that she didnt need to take her test there and wait 3 months for the results. That has been a big thing with us is her having to wait for the results. Can she take the test and leave and get results later or does she have to stay there. Again just trying to figure all this out and get her over here as soon as possible

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I want to thank all of you for the help and I didnt realize all the steps that have to be done. In the end it will all be worth it.....One of the suggestions was that she didnt need to take her test there and wait 3 months for the results. That has been a big thing with us is her having to wait for the results. Can she take the test and leave and get results later or does she have to stay there. Again just trying to figure all this out and get her over here as soon as possible

The result for NLE are posted via internet.

My wife was told my numerous classmates in PI that she needed to take Local exam before she would be able to take NCLEX, So check with your State BON and find the answer yourself.

She can take test and leave no problem

Your biggest issue with NLE. If she fails it then she will have to submit it on her paperwork to your State BON(which could be a problem), and with her getting a K1/K3 Visa it will be not until June 2010 before she will be able to retest in PI.

If you plan on submitting your Visa Paperwork anytime soon, I would have her concentrate on that.

Our approval time after submitting paperwork to USCIS was 63 days.

Our Interview at U.S. Embassy was 40 days later.

So it took a little more than 3 months from time I submitted paper work to USCIS till the time my fiance had her Visa in hand

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Specializes in intensive care, recovery, anesthetics.

regarding the NLE, apparently for Virginia she will need it, plus who knows where you might be moving in the future, state boards change their requirements ever so often, so better take NLE, invest that bit of time, so you are safe.

RedRanger, if you can garantee that you will never leave Texas, and the State Board never change their requirement, maybe then you're right it's a waste of time(and money), but can you????

5cats

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Looks like I have alot of work to do and I want to thank you for all the help, guess we better start on that visa and go from there

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RedRanger, if you can garantee that you will never leave Texas, and the State Board never change their requirement, maybe then you're right it's a waste of time(and money), but can you????

5cats

My wife would be "Grand Fathered" if Texas BON changed their requirements, she has been approved to sit for NCLEX by Texas BON. So that is a non issue for her.

I have been in Texas since birth, only place I plan on moving is to Philippines and live the American Dream :coollook:

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Hello Ya'll

Well I am in the same boat as mentioned above regarding a Fiance Visa. We are waiting our interview date in Philippines.

My fiance is gonna to join me in Texas, and my fiance is going to forego NLE and concentrate on NCLEX.

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To Redranger :

I am asking you this as you have been through it and seem to know all about it so hopefully I can get this straight.....Here are a few questions..

She is going to apply for Visa, does it matter what type,,we do plan on getting married this fall so should I have her get a marriage visa as the best bet or what ? I know I only have 90 days on that one to get married. Are there any hidden charges or things I need to know to make it smoother

How do we go about getting an interview for her to leave,,does that happen by virtue of getting a visa ?

You said she can leave after exam(if i have visa and everything done) so we can just chk on line for results and good to go ?

She is taking the NLE exam in may in Manila and will hopefully pass, is the next step, when she gets here (Virginia), is to apply to sit for the NCLEC (i dont dont even know what that is) and if she passes that she can then apply for work as a nurse ?

Start to finish whats the time frame i am looking at ?

Im a cop and this is the first time checking all this out and it is way over my head.

If you were here I would take you out for a nice steak dinner for all the help

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