Foreign Nurses

·         If you're a licensed healthcare professional and need sponsorship, you may be eligible for a work visa or could consider transfer of visa through Health Source Group. To qualify for a visa, you will be required to show proof of your healthcare credentials, education, experience and employment.

• Generally speaking, most foreign-born healthcare professionals obtain a temporary work visa, called an H1B visa, which currently allows you to work in the US for up to a total of six years and two types of healthcare professionals -- physicians and nurses -- are treated differently when it comes to H-1B processing.
• Healthcare professionals who want to acquire permanent resident status from H-1B status must obtain certification that their education, training and English-language ability are equivalent to US workers in the same occupation.  Nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists can meet this requirement by completing a Visa Screen evaluation through the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools or its subsidiary, the International Commission on Healthcare Professions. Certification programs for medical technologists, medical technicians, physician assistants and speech language pathologists have not yet been established.
• In addition to the H-1B visa, healthcare professionals from Canada and Mexico can enter the US with another form of temporary work visa, the NAFTA visa. This type of visa can be renewed indefinitely.  

For the latest on Exam Center News, click here.

For the latest information on visa and immigration issues, click here.

CGFNS (Commission of Graduates and Foreign Nursing Schools) has announced the dates of its Qualifying Exam for 2002.  The dates and deadlines are as follows:

CGFNS begins certifying four more professions . . . CGFNS began processing Visa Screen applications for foreign-educated speech language pathologists and audiologists, medical technologists, medical technicians and physician assistants on March 16, 2001. On January 16, 2001, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had issued an interim rule authorizing CGFNS to evaluate and certify the credentials of foreign-educated speech language pathologists and audiologists, medical technologists, medical technicians and physician assistants. This latest rule supplements earlier rules in which INS designated CGFNS to issue certificates to nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists. The rule took effect 60 days after its issuance (March 16, 2001).  You can visit CGFNS's website for the latest schedules, fees and other details.

Qualifications Needed:

All Nurses must pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) with a minimum score of 550 to demonstrate their ability to speak, read, and write English. Information about the TOEFL can be found on www.toefl.org.

All nurses must pass the CGFNS (Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) examination. Information about the examinations locations, dates, requirements, etc., can be found on their website www.cgfns.org.

For nurses who qualify and pass the TOEFL and CGFNS exam, we can assist them in arranging their travel to the US, and also assist in obtaining a visa to permit them to work in the US.

All rules, regulations and information are subject to change and therefore Health Source Group takes no responsibility of any material pertaining hereto or on the respective links provided.