AlishawRN

Hi BS0325, It took me six months to finally get my nursing registration in Utah and was one of the most untimely and frustrating processes I have ever encountered. I had to get 3 services done by a third party company, CGFNS. The services that were required by Utah and provided by CGFNS were the VisaScreen, which you should do first to get your TN visa if you don't have it yet, the Credential evaluation service or CES, and the CGFNS certification program, which requires an exam that predicts how you will do on the NCLEX (even though I already passed the exam!). What I found hard to believe is that the services all essentially do the exact same thing. They evaluate your education to see if it is similar to a US nursing program, verify your previous nursing license/registration in Canada, and verify your experience. Most states do not require all three services or even require you to use CGFNS so hopefully this is the case in Illinois. If you are required to use CGFNS beware they may take up to three months or more to do just one of the services you need. Anyway, after a lot of frustration, time, and money, I was finally registered as a RN in Utah. Regarding the NCLEX, I ensured them several times that the NCLEX we write in Canada is the EXACT same exam (except the Canadian version has Canadian lab values in addition to American lab values). Eventually they looked into it or just accepted it was the same exam. I had to research all of this on my own as I moved down here independently and wasn't employed through a travel nursing company. It was so hard to find any information on the process, and no one replied to my post here (as you can see). Hang in there and let me know if there is any more info I can give to help you out. Good luck!

Hello, I am a Canadian RN who is seeking work in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am currently living in SLC, as my husband is working here and I came down initially as his dependant. I have discovered that in order to get a license in Utah, I need to purchase 3 items from CGFNS that all seem to do essentially the same thing - evaluate my education and verify my credentials. I have had to order the Visascreen, Credential Evaluations Service, and the Certification Program through CGFNS, costing me nearly $1350 USD. Additionally, despite having already written and passed the NCLEX-RN, I now need to write the CGFNS qualifying exam, which is meant to be a predictor of how I will do on the NCLEX (even though I have already passed it!). In Canada, we now write the EXACT same NCLEX as US nurses. Has anybody else gone through this process? I would really appreciate any advice!