2005 News

CGFNS/ICHP Sets Cut-Off Date of July 8, 2005 for Receipt of VisaScreen^® Documents for VisaScreen^® Applicants Requiring Certificate By July 26, 2005

PHILADELPHIA, PA — JUNE 30, 2005 — The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) and its division, the International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP) announced today that if all federally mandated documents are received by July 8, 2005, VisaScreen^® applicants who are working under Trade NAFTA status, and who were employed and licensed in the United States prior to September 23, 2003, will receive their VisaScreen^® certificates by the July 26, 2005 deadline. The deadline was an extension granted by the Department of Homeland Security to Canadian and Mexican health care professionals in 2004 in order for them to meet the documentation requirements required by the final regulation issued in July 2003 which became effective September 23, 2003.

"All federally mandated documents" include such items as nursing school transcripts and the completed CGFNS Nursing form, license verification form, and English language proficiency test results (unless exempt from the English exam).

Section 343 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act requires Trade NAFTA status health care professionals—registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and medical technologists—to have their credentials certified by an organization recognized by the Department of Homeland Security. The credentials certification includes an educational analysis, licensure validation, English language proficiency assessment (not required if educated in Canada, outside of Quebec), and in the case of nurses, a passing score on an approved exam of nursing knowledge. The VisaScreen^® program is a credentials certification program administered by the International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP), a division of CGFNS. CGFNS is the only federally approved credentialing organization for all four professions listed above.

In an effort to facilitate the process for the affected applicants, CGFNS/ICHP has notified all known applicants, hospital human resource departments, nursing schools and licensing authorities in Canada and the US regarding the deadline.