Visa screen concerns

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hi.. i'm filling-out my visascreen application form online..

and i'm having problems with the following items:

item 1:

work experience in a country/state?

how many years? (0-99)

what profession?

> i do not have any work experience at all,

these are required fields, and i cant continue with the rest of the application without filling-out these blanks.

item 2:

date/location where you passed the exam?

> these would mean my test center right? for my case, makati, Philippines, not the state that i applied for..

Did passing of this exam lead to a license being issued in the same state/province and country? Yes /No

> that would be no right? cause i took the exam in the philippines and i don't have ss# yet.am i correct?

and somebody please tell what to write in the work experience item..

thank you in advance guys!

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
hi guys, i'm glad i found this post.

i'm also starting to work on my vsc.

based from what i read, i will not use the online forms right? i should just cancel the order? i can't check on the status anyway. or can i do an online application, pay for it (online using a cc) but also submit printed forms from the vsc handbook (those forms that printed the wrong info)?

and similar to posh, i do not have any experience yet so it should look like

i recently worked in the country: philippines

i recently worked in the city / state / province: quezon city (this is where i got most of my rle rotations and this is where my nursing school is located)

i recently worked in the profession: registered nurse

i worked at this job for how many years? 0 years

i also sat the exam in makati city philippines. so i will instead write the following information in the nurses only questions - nclex-rn or sbpte test details:

test date: jan 21, 2009

test country: united states of america (instead of philippines)

test state/province: illinois

did passing of this exam lead to a license being issued in the same state/province and country? yes (i found my name and license number in the license look-up page, i don't have the physical license yet though).

i cannot skip these questions :(

i also found somewhere in suzanne's vsc (https://allnurses.com/international-nursing/visa-screen-certificate-195732.html) guide that i do not need to submit the license verification form and request for academic records since i already went through the ces process; is this accurate? if you did ces with cgfns then they can use your documents from ces for vsc but you do need to request that bon/brn confirm your pass of nclex

also, i'd like to take the opportunity to raise some more questions:

1. my license will expire by may 31st 2010 (says on the website), if i'm here in the philippines and i don't have an ssn, how will i renew it? depends on bon/brn. may require ceu's doing to maintain license. with retrogression they may be more agreeable to renew with no ssn

2. my friend who never had any transactions with cgfns before is now taking the visa screen. unlike me, he hasn't gone through ces. sadly, he took the ielts 2 years ago and will expire on april 28 (i pray that cgfns will still consider his scores). since he lives in a far away province, i helped him. i personally asked idp to forward his score report to cgfns since their office is in makati and much nearer to where i am. problem is, he does not have a cgfns / ichp id number and he has no documents with cgfns yet, not even the applications. i advised him to do the online application but it seems like cgfns will not issue him an id number until he pays for it. i don't want him to jump at that since i myself is not sure if the online method is the best for vsc. if we were to do the vsc through the handbook, would it still be possible for us to check the status of our application on line and can we pay it on line even though the application was done manually? you can pay online and process paperwork manually. your friend needs to be aware that no application started may result in loosing his english results and having to get them resent to ichp. if he hasn't applied to them before they will send id number once they receive payment. if you haven't got it then you don't need to worry about completing it on the form

thanks guys,

both of you, suzzane and silver, guided me through every step of my us application. i would not have gone this far without your help. thanks again.

i'll wait for your responses before we proceed with the application.

god bless you!

- josh

apologies josh, have only just seen this

the link to check the license number for NCLEX passer?

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Each BON/BRN will have a website that links to license verification. Just go to the site where you have applied for license. Only time you won't see a license number is when the state doesn't issue a license without SSN like California so you will not find or see a license number.

Which state have you applied to?

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

There is no way you can verify your license in Ca without a SSN. They will not issue a license without it. All you can do is wait for snail mail

Thank you so much, you're such a great help

Specializes in Orthopaedics / Medical Oncology.

Hi Silver, thanks for replying.

Sadly, I got a cold response from IDFPR saying that they need an SSN so I'm thinking about having my license inactivated and then restored later. Another option is to endorse it to another state. But just the same, my employer arranged that I send them the form for the VSC and will handle the rest.

Anyway Clara, here's a link that I found for the VSC in California. I am not sure if it is agreeable to everyone but you might find some use for it. That guide was intended for the Philippine setting but it may answer some questions.

Good luck!

- Josh

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Josh, you can still get VSC issued as you do not need a license number for that. The BON just needs to confirm to ICHP that you have passed NCLEX. We are seeing more states now waiting until applicant provides them with a SSN I doubt IDFPR will destroy your application as I think it really is only California that does this with a 3 year window.

Hi,

I am used to paying using credit card.

I had a second thought, when I tried checking the application forms I filled up online.

For nurses questions only: I chose YES for question DID YOU PASS THE NCLEX EXAM yet in the completed forms It appeared as NO and there were X's in all of the boxes.That was strange:bluecry1:.

I might as well do paper and pen.

Now, how do I pay using my credit card? There is a credit card payment form.. it means I will fill-up the form but how sure am I that this is safe? If I go online payment, they will make use of my online forms wherein there is an error.

How do I go about this?

Thank you

Specializes in Orthopaedics / Medical Oncology.

@Silver: Thanks and sorry for the link. I thought it was hefty useful. My concern is, if my license expires, I may have to restore it and the April Candidate Bulletin for Visa is 2003 which means retro was moved to 7 years (+2 more years), I don't know if I'll still be able to restore it then or if IDFPR will honor a verification of employment from another country. But, I'll keep my hopes up. c",)

@Clara: I'll quote CGFNS's reply to my query regarding online and offline application and those errors generated:

Dear ,

Thank you for your inquiry. Please be advise our records indicate your online application is still incomplete. If this online application contains errors, it would be best to delete it and start again.

After an application is submitted, the applicant cannot make changes online. Instead, the applicant must send the corrections in a signed letter to the CGFNS International office by postal mail. Then we will update the applicant file.

We hope this information is helpful.

td

If you have any questions about your order or your account, please contact our Customer Service Department at:

3600 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2651 USA

Phone: (215) 349-8767

Email Customer Service by visiting Contact Us at www.cgfns.org.

Sincerely,

CGFNS International

International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP)

****ORGINAL QUESTION****

Dear CGFNS,

I've decided to pursue the online method whilst submitting supporting documents from the Visa Screen handbook to rectify errors from the online method. I wonder though if this will be OK, I would just write the current order number at the top of the document?

Thank you,

-

In the end, I still sent my employer the application packet containing the correct information and a signed letter asking CGFNS to refer to the application packet to rectify the online errors generated through the online application. I just wrote my current order number at the top portion of the application packet.

As for the payment method, I'm not sure. My employer said that their company will issue CGFNS a bank check for that. For my CES though, we payed on-line but the forms then did not contain errors. I'll keep you updated regarding my application.

BTW, I read in the VSC thread that people recommend the use of the Airmail method to prevent errors, maybe you should do the same.

I hope this information is useful. :)

- Josh

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

You may find the state will renew your license even if not in the US when it expires, I am sure they are aware of retrogression. Have you asked the BON about renewal and that you won't be in the US for a while?

Specializes in Orthopaedics / Medical Oncology.

hi silver,

yup, i did ask them; here's how it went:

profession =registered professional nurse

licensee-name =

license-no =

soc-sec-nmb =

phone-nmb =

inquiry=license renewal

dear idfpr,

i have been privileged to be granted a license from your state.

i have a concern though, i am a foreign trained nurse and with the current retrogression of us visas, i may not be able to be within the us before my license validity expires (may 31, 2010). public forums suggest that i will need an ssn for my license to be renewed but i also have been told that ssns would only be issued once i am within us soil.

i wish to ask if there are other ways that i could renew or preserve my license validity without the need for an ssn as well as what are the other requirements for renewal so that i could work on those as early as possible. i could not access information for license renewal since the profession is not yet due for renewal “registered professional nurse (rn) this profession is not in renewal license expires 5/31 of each even year.”.

thank you.

cordially,

-

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if you do not have a social security number by licensure renewal, you will not be able to renew the license.

board liaison, health services section

division of professional regulation

il dept. of financial and professional regulation

:(

that lead me to assume that there are no other ways however, a member in our forums told me that she was able to renew her's whilst being in the philippines back in 2008. i asked my brother to contact idfpr and get a clear response on the issue as well as ask my employer for advise on the issue. they'll do that after the lenten season.

anyway, thanks silver. i really admire and appreciate your time in answering my queries. :)

- josh

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