SINGLE STATE LICENSE

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a foreign nurse and was able to get a license in Florida, I am currently living in Texas. Has anyone experienced same situation? If so, what kind of Nursing jobs I can apply to? Remote positions?

Thanks in advance!

Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

KaforeignRN,

As another foreign-born individual, I strongly advice you to follow your state BON rules. You may not imply or do anything illegal, but it will be up to you to prove it if someone (and that can be anyone some lay dude from the street to hospital CEO) thinks otherwise.

'Been there, had that, won that only because I was as compliant as humanly possible.

P.S. you can have license in one state, work there and live in another, have license in multiple single states and live in another. There are tons of nurses who do just that. But what individual state BON says, that goes. If Texas wants you to have US work experience doesn't matter where for X period of time in order to grant you license in Texas, so be it. If there is a hole in that rule, use it. Otherwise, move and work where you're licensed before applying in Texas or look for options like jobs that belongs to Federals.

You may or not believe in all that, but it is just is what it is. If you do not like these rules, you have an option to become politically involved and make your voice heard.

P.P.S. keep your ears wide open. Right now states start to loose licensure requirements due to predicted dire staffing shortages. Maybe Texas BON finally crawls from that mossy stone it's sleeping under.

Wholeheartedly wishing you good luck. I faced Michigan BON which is known to be relatively more reasonable as compared with some other states.

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
49 minutes ago, TriciaJ said:

My point is that you can have a license in a state where you're not a resident. I subsequently received licenses in Washington and California in anticipation of moving to those states, which ultimately didn't pan out.

You were able to do that without issue because Oregon is not a compact state. The fact that OP lives in a compact state but became licensed in another compact state where they do not reside complicates the situation and may become problematic.

3 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
31 minutes ago, Rose_Queen said:

You were able to do that without issue because Oregon is not a compact state. The fact that OP lives in a compact state but became licensed in another compact state where they do not reside complicates the situation and may become problematic.

Oh, interesting. Thanks for the clarification.

1 Votes
Specializes in Oceanfront Living.
2 hours ago, KatieMI said:

If there is a hole in that rule, use it.

I had respect for you until now...how in the world do you know if this anonymous person on the internet is worthy of your advice.

1 Votes
Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
1 hour ago, beachbabe86 said:

I had respect for you until now...how in the world do you know if this anonymous person on the internet is worthy of your advice.

We all here are anonimous users, and each of us is worthy of every other's advice. This is what allnurses.com is for.

2 Votes

Not sure if non-citizens can work in federal facilities, assuming the OP is not yet a citizen, either way, the federal background check is a bear, but still worth looking into. Federal, VA employment are considered great employment by many.

1 Votes
Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
34 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

Not sure if non-citizens can work in federal facilities, assuming the OP is not yet a citizen, either way, the federal background check is a bear, but still worth looking into. Federal, VA employment are considered great employment by many.

The funny thing is that from the Boards point of view one can be U.S. citizen, born or naturalized, but still remain "foreign-educated nurse" with all the sequela.

This is, actually, quite a common story. Children of immigrants, born and raised in the USA, sometimes attend medical, nursing, engineering and other schools in their parental countries for different reasons but most frequently due to costs. Once back here, so many of them are shocked to find themselves as second-class professionals doomed to jump hoops of professional licensing with no end in sight. On the other hand, immigrants even before naturaluzation with "conditional" green cards and even in "transitional" status enjoy all privileges of valued USA workforce if they start and complete their degrees here.

"Thou shall obtain a professional degree unto such country thou dost intend to work" - the rule of successful immigration written by blood and tears for a reason.

1 Votes
Specializes in Public Health.

KAForeignRN, The part which annoys me is gaming the system. Your nursing experience had occurred so long ago, that you didn't qualify for a Texas license. That is a safety issue. You found a "loophole" and you are proud of it. Now you are looking for additional loopholes. This is unfortunate.

Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
19 minutes ago, FlorentineRN said:

KAForeignRN, The part which annoys me is gaming the system. Your nursing experience had occurred so long ago, that you didn't qualify for a Texas license. That is a safety issue. You found a "loophole" and you are proud of it. Now you are looking for additional loopholes. This is unfortunate.

For the clearness' sake, I did not read anywhere that the OP had "experience that occured so long ago". As far as I understand, she lives in Texas, did not have experience required by Texas BON, applied for license in neighbouring Florida, got it as single state but cannot work with it in Texas and now tries to apply for Texas license by endorcement.

It is Texas BON which allows the loophole to persist, providing it is really there.

BTW, Texas requires nurses who went to school using language "other than English" to take TOEFL or other test to prove their knowledge of the language. IMH(umble)O, it doesn't sound fair or even reasonable. By that logic, someone born in the USA and graduate of foreign nursing school has to "prove" knowledge of English (in the state where knowledge of Spanish seems to be more like a job requirement), and someone like myself, immigrated as an adult and speaking with clear accent hasn't to do that.

https://www.nursinglicensure.org/state/nursing-license-texas.html

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Okay I am going to make a comment about foreign nurses.

Many apply to a state before they step foot in the country and usually done to get the ball moving as the process is long. For many they don’t even know which state they are actually going to work in, especially if coming with an agency.This may have been the case of the op. Yes some do come over because they are marrying a US citizen so should have a rough idea where they are going to live and ideally should apply to that state but when you have a lot going through your mind in regards to moving to another country you don’t always think about what you should do but what is the easiest way to do it.

1 Votes

The answer is simple. Apply for a Texas license by endorsement. Your Florida license will get you a Texas license. Furthermore Florida is a compact state, untill your Texas license comes in, you can work in Texas. I know of several nurses from the Philippines that have done that with no problem.

2 hours ago, Silverdragon102 said:

Okay I am going to make a comment about foreign nurses.

Many apply to a state before they step foot in the country and usually done to get the ball moving as the process is long. For many they don’t even know which state they are actually going to work in, especially if coming with an agency.This may have been the case of the op. Yes some do come over because they are marrying a US citizen so should have a rough idea where they are going to live and ideally should apply to that state but when you have a lot going through your mind in regards to moving to another country you don’t always think about what you should do but what is the easiest way to do it.

Good Morning,

Many of you, I am acting in a deceiving way. I don't exactly understand why and I don't have to share my life or my circumstances here. But I will however help you American nurses to see things from a foreign educated nurse perspective. Here is a few questions for you American nurses.

You that have never spoken, written or listened in another language - Any idea how long would you take to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) internet based test (iBT) with a minimum passing score of 83? Do you know what this number means?

Secondly, do you know what it takes to pass the NCLEX-RN as a foreign educated nurse? Have you ever checked? Here some number for you.https://www.NCSBN.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2019_Q4.pdf

International nurses fail the NCLEX several times, do you know how much study it requires from foreign nurses to pass NCLEX? FYI all this time we spend studying make us very knowledgeable. Forgive me to say that many, mamy foreign nurses are TOP notch nurses in their countries. They immigrate for many different reasons.

Besides that, many foreign-educated nurses will accept job offers as CNA, MA ou UAP, these jobs (believe you or not) will give us a great idea and a feel of what being an RN is here in USA. Let's not forget that foreign educated nurses have Bachelors Degrees in Nursing, which is differently that many american nurses that hold Associates Degrees, so we have studied 2 extra years in our home country.

Thirdly, how easy do you guys think it is to not follow the Boards rules? Unless you are crazy or out of your mind you would ever think to mess with them and lose your ability to work here permanently after building a family, found a home here and worked SO HARD to acquire a license.

Thank you to all the nurses that stepped up to me. ❤️

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