hsnicol

I totally symapthize with you as I have been there and done that. I had hassles with cgfns that went on for over a year. In the end I was on the phone to someone everyday for almost three months until I was finally given my report, which they ballsed up anyway, and I ended up having to go and do a semester at school doing both psych and maternal/infant health. The next problem that I had was that there was no one who would take me on for one semester of schooling, I even had one university turn me down and then tell me that they would give me a job teaching as soon as I was registered here in the US!!!!!!!! I eventually went to VSU which was over 2 hours drive away from where I lived and they couldn't have been more helpful. Unfortunately once they have decided that you have to do the courses then there doesn't seem as if you can do anything about it. The only thing that I can suggest is to look up on the state board website to find approved schools and then ring and apply from there. As to the cgfns, they are totally the pits and if anyone can tell me who it is that you need to write to in order to lodge a complaint please let me know, because I doubt very much that lodging one with them directly would do any good. When you next ring them and get the "I can't tell you that mam" try asking for the supervisor and see if speaking to someone in authority can help you. Hang in there, it is unfortunately a slow and painful process to get registered here. Good Luck :balloons:

I was searching for information on how I was ever going to finally be able to sit the nclex exam as I was still getting the run around from CGFNS. I am finally sitting the exam this Thursday so I sure hope that I pass, had to go back to school last semester to do Psych and Ob/Infant health. That was fun as it had been so long since I had been in school. The only downside was that I had to travel 2 and 1/2 hours each way to go to school. This website has been a great help for me and although I don't often post anything I enjoy reading about how others find nursing here. (I am originally from Australia and am now living in Florida) So everyone keep their fingers and anything else possible crossed for me on Thursday that I pass the exam :balloons:

So I am guessing that going thru NY would be a waste of time for me? I am not sure how to figure out which are private run nursing schools, any ideas? I have been searching it up on the Net but as I am not sure of the names I do not know which are which. Every school that I have contacted does not have space to take on someone for just those subjects, that is what is so frustrating as I accept that I will have to do these subjects again but I can't find anywhere that will actually let me do them..... So any help in this direction would be greatly appreciated:)

Ok I am still confused about this whole thing, so I am going to write and ask the dumb questions again. I have already been thru cgfns and they issued a report. This was sent to the Georgia board of Nursing who sent me a letter saying that I needed to do maternal/infant health and psych nursing. SO 1. Do I go thru the whole process of cgfns to do the NY thing or would I just be wasting my money as I am guessing that it will say the same thing. 2. Where in North Florida or South Georgia is there a school that will actually take me on to do just those subjects, as so far I have had every single one of them tell me that they do not have any room or that I need letters from different Boards of Nursing for them to even consider me. If it helps, I am an Australian Nurse if that makes any difference and I have lived here in Florida for the last three years. I am here as a spouse of an E2 visa holder, which we have to renew this fall, so obviously I would have liked this all to have been sorted out before now, but it is still ongoing so I am at a stage where I really need to know that I am going in the right direction, especially as I feel that all I do is bang my head against a brick wall with everything that I do........

Oh well I guess that i will just have to cross my fingers and hope that this finally works as I am already married, and my huisband is not American, but I do have a two year old who is:) Thanks for your help, I am sure that I am bound to have more questions for you but I will start the process again this weekend, when I can sit down for two minutes and fill out forms etc:rolleyes:

I only worry due to my bad experiences with cgfns, they requested more documentation from the university that I graduated from in Australia and lost two lots of the same documents, so I am sure that you can understand why I am nervous of the whole idea of using cgfns for anything at all.

I have been looking at it some more and find it funny that they state that if there is a fee from the issuing institution that they will pay it, but I am sure that most people would pay it themselves just to get things moving as quickly as possible as I am sure that if the institution has to wait for payment prior to sending the documents that it will take forever as cgfns is so slow to do anything. I am stressing out that it will all get lost in the shuffle as it has happened to me before more than once, as they are in the process of moving offices. Can't believe that they make so much money and then are so disorganized.......

I have just looked at the cgfns website and can't believe that I have to get all the exact same documents sent again. And for an additional cost. I of course will be doing it as I so much want this to be over and have the ability to potentially work here. Thanks for all your information and help, hopefully this will work.

With number 2 do you get that off of the NY website or is it something that CGFNS provides?

so does that mean that I need to fill out the same application three times or are there three different types of forms? I already have the CGFNS thing, although whether it will do me any good or not I do not know. I have not done the Visa screen, but am here on an E2 Visa as a spouse if that makes any difference?

Sorry if this is going to sound like a stupid question, but I am trying to figure out what you mean by "three easy applications" I went on the website and got Nurse form 1, is that the one that I need or are there others? I am really hoping that this is all going to work this time. Sorry if you are tearing your hair out thinking that I am a total dimwit for not being able to figure this out, I just want to make sure that I do it right and dot all the i's and cross all the t's if you know what I mean:)

I went to a couple of open days at some local hospitals and non of them seemed that interested in the whole sponsership thing, they told me that once I had my licence in my hot little hand they would have ajob for me in a heartbeat. Maybe I just didn't talk to the right people but I gave up on that avenue after that. Who knows?

Sorry to see that someone else has such problems with CGFNS, but it is also nice to know that I was not the only one that got stuck with the incompetance that seems to come out of there. I had to harrass them constantly and have things resent as they kept loosing stuff, they actually admitted to it as well. Told me that it was showing up that it had arrived by courier etc but nobody could locate it so therefore I would have to get the stuff resent etc, which of course cost me money each time as the organizationa back in Australia also want their pound of flesh to copy the paperwork and put it in the mail. Anyway I finally got someone to give me their name and email address so I was ringing and emailing every day until they finally sent the documents out. Although I am sure that they still screwed it up as they had been going back and forth from the university in Australia trying to figure out whether I had done psych, needless to say the uni in Oz sent documentation stating that I had and the amount of hours etc and the cgfns still refused to include it. I think that they had lost that piece of documentation so thought that they would send out the documents without it thinking that I would just go away. I was so thrilled to get that far that I left it alone thinking that I would now be able to go to school and get those subjects that they thought that I needed. Of course now I have spent the last year trying to find a school that will take me. It is never ending........ Anyway keep hassling them as it is unfortunately the only way that they will do anything.

ok so I have just printed out the New York application form. I am not entirely sure whether this will help me, but I thought that I would ask you for some advice as you seem to be incredibly knowledgable. Nice to find someone who has some idea of what is going on . Anyway I am an Australian Nurse living here in the US I have been thru CGFNS and I can get another copy of their assessment to NY. Is that what I should do now and see what happens? I am here on an E2 visa as a spouse as my husband is the holder of the working part of the visa. I did have an employment visa for a year but let it lapse as I had a baby and thought that I would get it back once I got this nursing thing sorted out. We have to reapply for our E2 visa this fall so I would really like to be able to have the nursing thing sorted out so that we could use that to help us remain here in the US. Absolutely love living here and would really hate to have to uproot the children and restart our lives back in Australia. Don't know why but I feel like I belong here more so than I ever did in Australia. Probably was due to living in Hong Kong for the first 15 years of my life and going to the International school there for half the time. But that is a by the by to figuring out how to stay here. So if anyone knows of a great immigration lawyer as well, I would appreciate it. The one that we had when we moved here did not inspire much confidence, and I never could get much info out of him about nursing apart from telling me to go out and get it then he would be able to help me?????? Anyway thanks in advance for any help or hints in this matter.

Hi there, thought that I would ask if anyone has any ideas for me. I am a foreign nurse who trained in Australia, have lived here for three years and am still battling the system. It took me an awful long time to just get the commission of foreign nurses to issue a certificate for my qualifications. Of course after battling them I was told that I needed to do Maternal/infant health and Psych. I live in North Florida and was told that it was easier to apply to the Georgia Board of Nursing which I did and they told me that I could go to school in Florida. So off I went trying to get a spot in one of the local schools only to be told that there are no spots available, which I kind of find hard to believe as I am sure that there are some drop outs each year. Anyway one of the schools even told me that I have to have a letter from the Florida board of Nursing so am currently filling out the paperwork for them. It just seems never ending and so depressing as I do miss working and I am sure that the shortage is real, just on the experience that my step father had recently in hospital (but that is a whole other story) Anyway any ideas or help with figuring out what to do would be so appreciated. Just an aside to this the college that told me that I had to apply thru the Florida Board offered me a job teaching once I was qualified, go figure?????