US RNs who successfully submitted to NNAS

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Hello! I am currently attempting to submit my required education information to the NNAS to have my RN education assessed for comparability to a Canadian RN and I am having a hard time getting some of my US education institutions to comply. Are there any US RNs who successfully got their information sent to the NNAS? I am specifically having trouble with the community colleges I attended in the Los Angeles area. I think that they have never had this request before, don't know what to do and are therefore refusing. My RN to BSN program seems like they have more familiarity with the situation. Any information or advice on this is appreciated! I am already aware that NNAS sucks and I have an immigration lawyer so no one needs to address those pieces of my puzzle...

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Hi there -

I just got my NNAS report back this week - I started the application  a year ago, and my documents have been complete since January. 

I was fortunate in that my school seemed to be experienced with these requests; I didn't get even one question about the paperwork.  I've heard from others that getting the school to not just fill out the form, but also send detailed syllabi (which they should have on file) may help.  The other thing that's unfamiliar to them is breaking down credit hours into actual hours - but, you probably know that.

My problem was employer verifications. Many American hospitals have outsourced employment verification to third parties. These companies are for-profits that require subscription fees to release info; they often have incomplete or incorrect data and no ability to correct anything, plus they will only send out reports in their own format (I.e. they are not going to handwrite the NNAS form or answer those specific questions). 

I had to call one of my former employers and basically beg a secretary to help me, because the third-party verification company only had one year of my work hours on file. Another employer just refused; I got no credit for hours at that job.

After all that, I did finally get "comparable"!  I'm now applying for license in BC and hoping this gets easier.  Good luck to you

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Congratulations on getting comparable!! It sounds like a pretty huge feat. I have a typical US RN education where I got my prerequisites at one institution, ADN at another and BSN somewhere else. My BSN school seems to have done the NNAS paperwork before so they were easy, my heart sank when I saw what I would be asking of my ADN program, but they have agreed to it. The prereq (Anatomy/Physiology) school is being a pain, I am claiming FERPA violation and meeting with a bigwig from there next week via ZOOM. I am trying to get a contact person at each institution so they understand what is needed and don't just half-a$$ the paperwork and fail to send the syllabi. I am lucky that I have worked for the same place for over five years. I haven't asked my manager to fill out the paperwork yet, but I don't expect it will be an issue. Best of luck with the BC licensing! That will be my eventual province as well so let me know how it goes!

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I hope your meeting went well.  Happy to tell you that BCCNM quickly confirmed that I met the language requirement; I paid the $$$ and submitted the application officially, and I got my assessment back in less than a week:  "Your nursing knowledge, skills and abilities have been assessed as substantially equivalent to the entry level competencies expected of a new B.C. nursing graduate."

All they're requiring is a background check - I don't have to do NCAS or take any more classes.

Now, onward to dealing with immigration (I don't have residency or a work visa yet), yikes.

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Congratulations!That is fantastic!! The VP of the college said he will take care of the paperwork for me, so hopefully it will all get submitted in the end. I don't have any real time constraints other than those imposed by the NNAS.

Are you going to try for Express Entry? My husband and I are doing so and taking our CELPIP English tests next week. They require it for all immigrants and if you get a good grade it boosts your Express Entry score. Right now the entry scores they accepting are pretty low, but we expect them to bounce back up once the quarantine is over so we are looking to beat the clock. From other postings here it doesn't sound like too many RN jobs are willing to sponsor you, but hopefully that is misinformation. A couple people have mentioned HealthMatch as a possible resource for jobs willing to sponsor, but it may involve living in an undesirable area for awhile. Check back and let me know what happens!

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On 6/20/2021 at 6:54 PM, kerbery said:

Congratulations!That is fantastic!! The VP of the college said he will take care of the paperwork for me, so hopefully it will all get submitted in the end. I don't have any real time constraints other than those imposed by the NNAS.

Are you going to try for Express Entry? My husband and I are doing so and taking our CELPIP English tests next week. They require it for all immigrants and if you get a good grade it boosts your Express Entry score. Right now the entry scores they accepting are pretty low, but we expect them to bounce back up once the quarantine is over so we are looking to beat the clock. From other postings here it doesn't sound like too many RN jobs are willing to sponsor you, but hopefully that is misinformation. A couple people have mentioned HealthMatch as a possible resource for jobs willing to sponsor, but it may involve living in an undesirable area for awhile. Check back and let me know what happens!

Yes, we'll try for Express Entry although I'm not sure we'll actually ever get invited - we both have master's degrees and I have years of RN experience, but we don't have Canadian work/school experience or relatives, and we lose all the points for age (we're 50).  But CELPIP is the only thing we're missing to apply, so going to schedule that.  Good luck to us all!

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Same here with the age situation(52 and 63), lack of relatives, etc. We are doing the CELPIP next week. Best of luck!!

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Specializes in Clinical nurse in the US.

Hi, I am also hoping to get sponsored for a job but I need to have my license situation sorted out first. I already have an RN license in California. Looking to get licensed in Alberta Canada. I have a BSN from the States as well but my first language is not English. Will I need to take IELTS or CELBAN first to get licensed in Canada? Good luck on express entry!

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Specializes in Neurology.

Hello! 

 My NNAS application is currently under review. When I requested the forms to be filled out from my university, I completed the form myself and provided them with both the form filled out by me (as a sample) and then a blank form. I encouraged them to either verify/ complete the partially-filled form if that would make it easier or they could use that as a reference. 

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
On 7/3/2021 at 2:43 PM, Walter said:

Hi, I am also hoping to get sponsored for a job but I need to have my license situation sorted out first. I already have an RN license in California. Looking to get licensed in Alberta Canada. I have a BSN from the States as well but my first language is not English. Will I need to take IELTS or CELBAN first to get licensed in Canada? Good luck on express entry!

As per the. College of RN for Alberta 

International applicants

Your first step towards becoming an RN in Alberta is to apply for assessment through the National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS). NNAS will determine whether or not you need to provide an English test, and you will need to have your test results submitted directly to them. Please see the NNAS website for details about English requirements for your NNAS application. 

Please note that university programs have their own English policies and that CARNA is not able to waive the English requirement for any university program. 
https://nurses.ab.ca/become-a-nurse/registration-requirements/english-language-proficiency

 

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Hi Amelia!

That was a good idea. I did send a sample with my email inquiries to the colleges, but it just seemed to confuse them even more. My pre-reqs and ADN are through the Los Angeles community college system so, overworked and underfunded, but I finally talked to the person over the registrar and he was going to fill out the forms for me at one college and the dean of nursing agreed to fill them out at the other. I appreciate your response and best of luck! Tell me how you do, as you are ahead of me on this!

Keri

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On 7/3/2021 at 10:43 AM, Walter said:

Hi, I am also hoping to get sponsored for a job but I need to have my license situation sorted out first. I already have an RN license in California. Looking to get licensed in Alberta Canada. I have a BSN from the States as well but my first language is not English. Will I need to take IELTS or CELBAN first to get licensed in Canada? Good luck on express entry!

There is a specific English test to get your RN license in Canada. I am not sure if you would have to take it or not because you were educated in an English language country. NNAS will tell you. It was not required for me. You will have to take an English language test as part of the immigration process to Canada which is either the IELTS or CELPIP. I'm unsure if this would be waived for you if you were sponsored by a job there, but if you were sponsored by a job you probably would do fine on it anyway, plus your entry would be all but guaranteed so you wouldn't have to ace it. Best of luck!

 

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