Filipino Nursing Herald

With so much economic turmoil in the US, many wonder if internationally educated nurses could still reach their dream of working in the US. While it isn't impossible, it's extremely difficult to find work and get an appropriate visa to be able to work there at this time. Applying for a US RN license is very costly and the uncertainty of landing a US job makes the gamble doubly risky. My personal advice would be to choose prudence in light of these current circumstances. Rather than throwing money in the wind, focus on building up on experience, nursing knowledge and improve communication skills. Get a graduate degree (a Masters, would suffice) and specialize in either Critical Care or Emergency Nursing--just these two. If you do these, doors will eventually open up to you.

A lot of people continue to read our blog because of our comprehensive overview of the application process for nursing license registration in the state of Illinois. But many wonder if the information is still the accurate. Much of the information is still correct. Some of the experiences may have changed like when you're getting fingerprints from the NBI or getting license verification from PRC. Perhaps phone numbers may have changed or even contact persons. But the requirements have stayed very much the same. Click the following link to see the Requirement for an Internationally Educated Nurse seeking registration in Illinois.

Foreign-educated applicants of nursing licensure in New Mexico now need to get a Credentials Evaluation Service (CES) report as part of the requirements for NCLEX eligibility. The New Mexico Board of Nursing issued an updated application handbook, which takes effect this month. The NM BON has accredited four agencies that issue a CES report: Educational Records Evaluation Service , International Education Research , Joseph Silney and Associates , and the Commission on Graduates of International Education (CGFNS). When applying for a CES report, choose the agency that is also accredited by other states so that in case you need to submit one to another state (for endorsement, for example) you won't have to pay for a new one. Click here to read the new requirements for nurse applicants in New Mexico.

Diana Smith of Integrated Biometric Technoloy (IBT) wrote us to give some updates on their fingerprint scanning services. IBT is one of the fingerprint scanning service providers accredited by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations (IDFPR) which oversees the issuance of nurse licenses in Illinois. If you wish to apply for a nursing license in the state, you can send your fingerprint card to IBT and they will scan and submit your digitized prints to the appropriate agencies. IBT has lowered its service fee to $49.25 , which is a result of the FBI lowering it's own electronic fees late last year. If you recall, the OLD service fee was $54. When sending your accomplished fingerprint cards to IBT, please include a note or a letter asking IBT to forward a receipt directly to Continental Testing Service (CTS). The receipt is proof that an applicant has completed the requirements for submitting fingerprints. Also in the letter, please write down your contact in...

A reader of this blog just informed us that registration with Pearson Vue was needed before the Eligibility was issued. So, if your CES report has been issued or, at least, when all the documents needed for the CES is already complete, you may want to register and pay the testing fee to Pearson Vue (http://www.pearsonvue.com/nclex/) so that your Eligibility and your ATT can be issued. Technically, you can register earlier with Pearson Vue since you have one year to get your Eligibility. We have only learned about this through this reader's feedback because, in our own applications, we had registered with Pearson Vue even before our CES report was issued. Once you get your ATT or Authorization To Test, you have three months (90) days to schedule your exam. The testing fee is $200, and if you're taking the NCLEX outside the US, there's an additional $150-fee.

I just got confirmation that CTS, which handles applications for nurse licensure in Illinois, has increased the application fee from $79 to $82. Both CTS' Web site and the application packet that can be downloaded from the Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation Web site shows the fee increase.

The U.S. Department of State has released the Visa bulletin for Sept. As expected, the Employment-based category 3 is oversubscribed and the priority date is set at Aug. 1, 2002. This means that only applicants with priority dates earlier than that will be allocated a visa at this time. The Oct. Visa bulletin is expected to bring better news because the start of the agency's fiscal year usually offers new visa allocations.

It's always good to know who to contact when you've hit a bump in your application. Here's a short list of people who could help sort out your concerns when applying for a license in Illinois: If you want to request for fingerprint cards or ask a question about applying for a nursing license in Illinois, you may get in touch with: Kittie D. West FPR.PRFGROUP09(at)illinois.gov Board Liaison, Health Services Section Division of Professional Regulation IL Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation When applying for Illinois, you send your application to Continental Testing Services. If you have concerns with your application, you could contact: Sue Zajda szajda(at)continentaltesting.net Continental Testing Services Fingerprinting is mandatory for most US states, including Illinois. There are several companies that can process your fingerprint cards, one of them is Integrated Biometric Technology. To ask for the current prices or other concerns you might have, you may conta...

UPDATE: In Sept. 2011, IDFPR made some changes to the application guidelines that affect internationally-educated nurses. Updated information is provided after each step, where necessary. Here's a quick rundown of the things to do when applying for a nursing license in the state of Illinois if you're a foreign-educated nurse: 1. Apply for a Credentials Evaluation Service (CES) report from the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS). Request for a Course by Course evaluation or the Full Education report. Download the application form from the CGFNS Web site (http://www.cgfns.org). *** You may apply for a CES with either CGFNS or with Education Records Evaluation Services . 2. If your school's medium of instruction is NOT English, apply and take the TOEFL iBT (www.ets.org/toefl). How do you know if you're school's medium of instruction is English? Aside from trying to recall if your teachers taught in English and made you read books in Engli...