NLE and other questions

lawrence01 · Jan 18, 2008

my grandpa telephone maryland nursing regulatory board and told him that i’m not allowed to work in maryland even when i do pass the nclex because they still require philippine license. i’m a filipino but i’m a dual american citizen. i found that as quite odd. what if i wasn't dual but only american citizen? shall i be allowed to take philippine boards? this regulatory board of maryland is contradicting itself! oh, well!!
now prc moved nle to november 2008 for march 2008 nursing grads. i would take nle if it will be held this june but not november! way too much of wait!
so i’m resorting to---
i heard about reciprocity of license from california or some other state that doesn’t require philippine license; but my question now is, would maryland will going to allow me to work as rn as i will reciprocate once i pass the nclex even though i don’t have a philippine license?
also anybody could suggest of better strategy and information of other state nearby maryland regarding this?=)

no, they are not. if you are a dual-citizen then you can take it in most cases and if the state bon requires it as part of their req't then you have to take it. if you are an american citizen only then prc will not let you take it by phil. law and therefore will be exempted from the rule but you also hold a filipino citizenship.

you have to go to prc's legal dept. to confirm if you qualify to take the boards. but mostly, if one holds a birth cert. saying you are borned in the philippines and have ph passport- you are allowed to take it.

also, before thinking of applying to another state first then endorsing to maryland, you may want to read the endorsement application req'ts of maryland. it does not usually mean that you won't be giving them any more req'ts. most often times, their endorsement req'ts for foreign nurses are also their application req'ts. so, let your grandpa call them again and ask if they will still require the local license if endorsing to them from another state. if they say yes, then there is no point going in circles. just apply directly to them.

an example would be ca brn. when endorsing to ca brn from another state, ca brn still requires the foreign nurse to let their school submit a copy of the transcripts, take another f.print for them (whether or not the original state had them do it already) and either give a licesne verification or proof of pasning nclex to them. so, as you see it it almost the same req'ts as if you were applying to them.

also, some bon also still requires the cvs (for ny) or ces to still be given to them even if one is already a licensed rn in another state.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 18, 2008

Maryland has some of the stricter licensing requirements including language requirements if you trained out of the US, and this applies even if you hold a US passport. More than likely you will need to pass the English exams to get a license there even if you do not need it for immigration purposes.

Licensing and immigration are two very different things and having a US passport does not waive any requirements for you since you trained overseas. And as a dual citizen, that makes you subject to any requirements for those from your country. The only way that you are exempt from the NLE would be if you were entirely a US citizen, and that alone.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 18, 2008

Also be aware that licenses do not have reciprocity in the US, only the NCLEX exam has reciprocity. You must meet the licensing requirements of the new state, and most of the time the requirements are the same for those going thru initial licensure as it is for those applying for endorsement.