1. The RN must be in possession of:
a.
A diploma from a nursing school in her country;
b. An RN license in her country; and
c. A full and unrestricted license to practice professional nursing
in the state of intended employment, or a certification that she has
passed the examination given by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign
Nursing Schools (CGFNS), or evidence that she has passed the NCLEX-RN
licensing examination but cannot obtain a license because she lacks
a social security number.
The
following states require that foreign nurses pass the CGFNS examination
before taking the state RN licensing (NCLEX) examination: Alabama, Alaska,
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont,
Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
2. RNs together with physical therapists are listed as shortage, or
“Schedule A”, occupations in regulations (20 C.F.R. §656.22)
issued by the Department of Labor. An employer who wishes to immigrate
an RN is exempt from having to submit an application for alien labor
certification to the Department of Labor or to a State Employment Security
Agency.
The immigration process begins when an employer submits an immigrant
visa petition (Form I-140) to the office of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) having jurisdiction over the nurse’s place of intended
employment. The petition must be accompanied by Labor Department forms
ETA-750A and B and by various documents including those listed above.
The petition should be accompanied by a check for filing fees. Typically,
the INS will approve the visa petition in two to three months.
3. If the RN is a native of one of ten selected countries (including
Canada, China and the Philippines), the INS first sends the approved
visa petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
If there is no backlog for immigrant visas from the RN’s native
country (her “priority date” is “current”),
the NVC forwards a packet to the nurse or her attorney containing biographical
information forms to be completed by her and her family members, and
a list of documents which must be presented at her interview for permanent
residence.
4. The RN, or her attorney, sends the signed and completed forms to
the U.S. consulate where the nurse will have her interview for permanent
residence. At this interview, the nurse must present various documents
including the following:
a.
Application for Immigrant Visa
b. Police Clearance
c. Birth Certificate
d. Marriage Certificate, if any
e. Divorce or Death Certificate of Spouse, if any
f. Valid Passport
g. Medical Examination
h. Photographs
i. Recent job offer letter (or employment contract)
j. Financial information regarding employer
k. Government filing fee
l. VisaScreen Certificate
The
VisaScreen Certificate requirement was imposed by §343, a last-minute
amendment to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). It added “uncertified health-care workers”
to the list of persons who are inadmissible to the U.S. See §212(a)(5)(C),
INA.
A VisaScreen Certificate is issued only after the RN has demonstrated
that (1) her education, license and training in her country are equivalent
to education, licensure and training in the U.S. and that (2) her level
of competence in oral and written English are appropriate to practice
professional nursing in the U.S.
For more than two years after the effective date of IIRIRA, the INS
failed to issue regulations governing the VisaScreen requirement for
RNs. As a result, between September 30, 1996 and December 14, 1998,
the effective date of the regulations, it was impossible for an RN to
immigrate through her employment. However, both the INS and the State
Department continue to waive the application of §343 for RNs who
are employed in the U.S. on temporary visas.
The INS regulations provide that the only organization authorized to
issue VisaScreen certificates to RNs is the Commission on Graduates
of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), the organization which is listed
in §343. The CGFNS is located at 3600 Market Street, Philadelphia,
PA, 19104-2651; telephone: (215) 349-8767; fax: (215) 349-0026; e-mail:
support@cgfns.org
Caveat: It may be very difficult to contact the CGFNS. The CGFNS
web site warns that Due to an unusually large volume of phone calls
(up to 4000 calls per week), CGFNS' phone lines are extremely busy.
Your call is important to us. If you have been unsuccessful in contacting
a CGFNS representative by phone, please call after 6:00 p.m. Eastern
Time and leave a message, and we will respond as soon as we can.
You
may also fax or email CGFNS, however please be advised that it may take
some time before we can respond as we are receiving a marked increase
in faxes and emails as well.
CGFNS
is doing everything it can to try and alleviate the large number of
calls, faxes and emails it is currently receiving. You can now download
application packets for most CGFNS programs from the CGFNS web site.
Also, please check the web site for the latest news on CGFNS exam dates
and sites and other information.
CGFNS thanks everyone for their patience. We know your questions and
inquiries are important and are making every effort to respond as soon
as possible.
The INS interim VisaScreen regulations (8 C.F.R. §212.15) provide
that even if a foreign-born RN is educated, licensed and trained in
the U.S., she still must obtain a VisaScreen certificate. Obtaining
such a certificate requires a significant expenditure of time, effort
and money (over $300) on the part of the nurse.
In addition, unless the nurse was educated in an English-speaking country
(U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom or Canada - all
provinces except Quebec), she must achieve a certain score on tests
in written and spoken English administered by TOEFL (Test Of English
As A Foreign Language) or MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment
Battery) in order to qualify for a VisaScreen certificate. (It is no
longer possible to take the MELAB for VisaScreen purposes, but sometimes
in March 2003, the CGFNS expects to announce that they will start accepting
scores from the following testing services:
(1)
the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) and
(2)
the Test of English in International Communications (TOEIC) in addition
to the TOEFL.
Passing scores for RNs are as follows:
IELTS:
Academic Module or the General Training Module 6.0, Overall Band Score,
7.0 Speaking
TOEFL: Paper-Based 540; TOEFL Computer-Based 207; Test
of Written English (TWE) 4.0; Test of Spoken English (TSE) 50.
TOEIC: 725; plus TWE: 4.0 and TSE: 50 or Information
about taking the TOEFL, IELTS
and TOEIC examinations
may be obtained from their web sites. They are all offered worldwide.
Passing scores for the MELAB were as follows: Final Score 79+; Oral
Interview 3+.
Generally, the process of obtaining permanent residence may take between
12 to 18 months assuming that the immigrant visa quota from the RN’s
country of birth is not backlogged. Currently, none of the employment-based
quotas are backlogged. However, it is probable that backlogs will develop
in the near future for RNs born in India, mainland China, and possibly
from the Philippines.
