NURSES WITH FOREIGN DEGREE:

How can you become a Registered Nurse (RN) in USA?

Great news! Your education in your country is not a waste of time, in fact, USA values your education in your native country.  There is a two-step process for obtaining a registered nurse license here in the United States. Please make sure you understand that work permit is united states is a different process which is managed by USCIS https://www.uscis.gov/file-online . In this post, I explained how you can evaluate your foreign nursing degree and meet individual state requirement to become a registered nurse.

Step 1- Finding your state requirement

Find out first if your state, where you want to work as a registered nurse, requires your foreign degree to be evaluated by Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS). Many states do require CGFNS evaluation and passing their test. If that is the case, send your foreign diploma to  Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) for evaluation of your education in your home country (e.g. India, Russia, China, Philippines etc.); As I mentioned, English language proficiency testing. You may need to take English Language proficiency exam and a predictor exam, an indicator of the nurse's ability to pass the U.S. national licensure exam (NCLEX). Here is their website: http://www.cgfns.org/

Things to look for:

When you are planning to apply for NCLEX exam you need look for three things. It varies from State to state. Depending on your situation, you may need to relocate. Here are three things:

Is Social Security number required or not?

Is English language proficiency required?

Is CGFNS evaluation of foreign diploma required or not?

I have researched and found a great website that can be helpful; here is the link: https://brilliantnurse.com/  This website has information in each state’ requirement which can be very resourceful.

Step 2 - Additional State Requirement

Step 2 is to find out your state requirement. Each state has different requirement that you need to fulfill in order to work in that particular state.  

E.g.  in New York State, you are required to complete NYSED approved infection control course work and child abuse reporting coursework, and pass the NCLEX - RN exam https://www.ncsbn.org/nclex.htm . (Source: http://www.op.nysed.gov/ ).

California state has much stricter guidelines for international diploma holders. Even though Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) examination passing is not required for RN license, California nursing board require your official transcripts of bachelor of nursing degree evaluated by CGFNS (www.CGFNS.org). Candidate also need social security number to apply for eligibility. If the state has doubt on English proficiency, they might ask you to take TOEFL to test your English language proficiency. (http://www.ets.org/toefl ). When you receive a letter of eligibility, then you can take the NCLEX - RN exam https://www.ncsbn.org/nclex.htm . (Source: http://www.op.nysed.gov/ ).