Reciprocity Question

Your family attorney should go back to family law, they know nothing about immigration or nursing.

First of all, we do not have reciprocity of licenses here in the US, only the NCLEX exam has reciprocity. And that is a national exam, no state has their own NCLEX as a start.

Then add in the fact that you do not possess a SSN# so therefore CA will not issue a license to you, but only a letter that will expire three years from the date of issue and you are looking at more than five years for a chance at a green card. So what does the wonderful attorney think that you should do when your file will be destroyed by CA BRN and you have to start over again?

CA accepts licenses for endorsement, provided that the nurse actually meets the educational requirements for CA. I have never heard of something so silly in all of my time here and from an attorney no less.

Recommend that this attorney actually know what they are speaking of before they give advice that could cost you dearly.

Go ahead and do what you were planning and use VT; before they change their requirements for licensure. And forget this attorney.

Better yet, ask him what he recommends that you when the letter that you receive expires and you need to start the licensing process over again from scratch including writing the NCLEX if you follow what he tells you to do.

(p.s. We do not enlighten here, we give information. That is not a term or expression that we use here in the US.)

You are quite welcome.

And do hope that your family will pick another attorney for what ever their needs are, since this one does not know anything on this topic. And has most definitely proved it.

Best of luck to you.

Regarding reciprocity, there are some states which are members of the Nursing Licensure Compact. Not all states are members. In these states you can easily use your license in another Compact member state without the expensive process of endorsing the license.

Neither Vermont nor California are members of this licensure Compact.

I think this goes back to the most basic Question:

Why were you applying to VT in the first place?

Why do you want to apply to CA?

You need to sit back and think hard about this process of obtaining licensure because it is no joke.

VT is not a large state... yet so many people have applied for licensure there. Why? Because it is easy? Because it is cheaper?

It doesn't make sense because there aren't that many hospitals in VT that need nurses from overseas!

Understand that before you get your SS# and your physical license that you have to get a job in the state you've applied. Both the SS# and physical license are needed for endorsement.

You need to look at each state and think about WHERE you want to be.

What state do you want to live and work in?

What state do you like?

What state has a good income vs. cost of living ratio?

What state do you have support in?

Then apply to the state you want to be in.

Not the state that is easiest.

You don't get married to someone because they are easy do you?

No, you marry someone because they are the right partner in life for you.

Why should you give less time, attention and devotion to the process of your career.

Both can last a lifetime, both deserve as much respect and dedication.

Both deserve time in development.

Both deserve careful selection.

Make the goal, make decisions relating to that goal and then take action to seek that goal.

Straight lines, no curving...that's the way to success.

The Compact part of any license does not exist if the person is not a legal resident in the US when they first apply for licensure. So that takes out every single nurse that is not in the US and in a state that is under the Compact part of this with their license. If one also moved out of the state, then the compact part is gone and the license is only valid for that one specific state. Much has already been written on this topic, please just do a search.

One cannot use their license in another state if they are not a legal resident of the US and in the US first, or that part of it does not exist. And for one to be able to use the Compact part of the license if they are already in the US, they must maintain their legal residence in the state that issued their license. If they move out of state, then the compact part of it is gone and no longer valid. The whole premise behind the Compact license was for those that worked in border towns, they would not need two to three licenses to work a few miles away, or for travel nurses, that keep their legal resident and go to other states in the pact for work. But for most foriegn nurses coming to the US, it just does not apply. They are not going to be maintaining several residences and one usually needs a couple of years of experience for most of the jobs where this license could be beneficial to them.

Not even sure why the Compact License keeps getting brought up for international nurses when it does not affect them at all when they are not already in the US and an actual legal resident in a state.

There are good reasons to use Vermont. They issue a licence without a SSN, they don't need fingerprints, they do their own assessment, so you don't need CGFNS for that.

Compact States are designed for US traveler nurses who actually live in one of the Compact States. As a foreign nurse from outside the US you still have to meet each of the States requirements. You cannot just easy work in each of them.

5cats

VT is slowly changing their requirements and is making them more strict. All of the states are slowly tightening their requirements.

That VT is good now, may not be the case in a few months. The majority of states are getting away from doing their own credentials eval. Suspect that they will too.

Unless you are actually planning to work in VT, then it may not be the best for many. Remember, that even though they do not have any additional requirements, almost every other state does. And that includes fingerprints and getting the CES done and for NY, the CVS. None of these requirements are waived from the other states. And we are starting to see some states place additional requirements. Florida will not permit one to endorse if they are a foreign nurse and were licensed in another state but have not worked there for two years prior.

Things are changing and it is making it harder in most states, take the time to thoroughly think things thru.

VT licenses also expire every two years, the entire state at the same time, so their licenses are going to expire March, 2009. That means that anyone getting issued a license now from there will need to endorse and pay the new fees in just a couple of months.