Your U.S. state nursing board licensure and practice depend on favorably resolving your CGFNS issues. Get the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need to efficiently and effectively resolve those issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now to retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team. Don't delay in addressing your CGFNS issues.
What Is CGFNS International?
CGFNS stands for Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. CGFNS bills itself as “The world's largest credentials evaluation organization for the nursing and allied health professions since 1977.” Yes, CGFNS has been around for a long time. And yes, it helps primarily nurses but also some other health professionals, although not physicians. Physicians graduating from foreign medical schools rely on ECFMG certification, standing for the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. So, ECFMG and CGFNS are equivalents, one for doctors and one for nurses.
For Whom Does CGFNS Work?
That's a good question. The answer is part of the CGFNS problem. CGFNS itself describes its mission as “to serve the global community through programs and services that verify and promote the knowledge-based practice competencies of healthcare professionals.” Serving the global community is a handy euphemism for trying to be all things to all people. CGFNS wants to help foreign nursing schools. CGFNS wants to help foreign national or state nursing license boards. CGFNS wants to help U.S. state nursing boards. And CGFNS wants to help international nursing students. To a large extent, CGFNS helps all of those constituents until their interests collide and conflict. In those instances, CGFNS has one great big conflict of interest. And that conflict of interest is what keeps its officials from truly going to bat for you in the most effective way possible when you have an especially difficult credentialing issue to resolve.
We don't serve the global community. We don't try to be all things to all people. We serve you. When you retain us to resolve your CGFNS and U.S. state nursing board issues, we have only one client, you, and only one duty to you. And that's what makes us more effective than CGFNS officials can often be, especially in difficult cases. Let us help you resolve your CGFNS and U.S. state nursing board issues. You'll promptly see the difference as soon as we go to work for you.
CGFNS's Role in State Nursing Board Licensure
The name Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools gives a big hint as to CGFNS's main role: CGFNS helps nurses who attended a foreign nursing school qualify for U.S. licensure, meaning licensure with one of the fifty state nursing boards. At least, CGFNS builds and maintains the framework nurses graduating from foreign nursing schools use to navigate their way into U.S. state nursing board licensure. CGFNS doesn't exactly help those nursing students. Indeed, CGFNS is often more like a gatekeeper, insisting that nursing students attending foreign nursing schools meet all CGFNS requirements before they try to gain U.S. state nursing board licensure. In effect, that preliminary gatekeeper role sort of makes CGFNS a gatekeeper for the gatekeeper. If that sounds like jumping through a lot of hoops, then it is. Sometimes, indeed often, CGFNS helps, or at least its application, certification, and communication systems help. But sometimes, too often, CGFNS can hurt, putting up yet another administrative roadblock where plenty of other roadblocks exist.
Is My Foreign Nursing Study Really a Problem?
No. At least, it shouldn't be. U.S. state nursing board licensing of nurses graduating from foreign nursing schools has been around for a long time, just as state medical boards have been licensing physicians graduating from foreign medical schools for a long time. The U.S. needs and benefits from more nurses than it currently has, just like the U.S. needs and benefits from more doctors than it currently has. In that sense, your foreign nursing studies shouldn't be a problem. They could be a benefit.
On the other hand, U.S. state nursing boards are naturally less familiar with foreign nursing programs than they are with their own state nursing programs. If you go to nursing school in Alabama and then get a license in Alabama, the Alabama Board of Nursing is going to trust your nursing education. If, instead, you go to nursing school in Aruba and then try to get a license in Alabama, the Alabama Board of Nursing might have a good question or two about your Aruba nursing education. And that's the bigger role that CGFNS can play, evaluating and certifying the Aruba nursing program against international (largely meaning U.S.) standards.
Does It Matter If I Am a U.S. Citizen?
Probably not, although it could. Your first concern with obtaining U.S. state nursing board licensure as a non-citizen is proving your lawful U.S. residency with a visa or green card. CGFNS should be helping you with that obligation if you haven't already successfully addressed it yourself. We can help you resolve your immigration issues if your CGFNS assistance hasn't worked or has complicated your issues. Get our help with those issues rather than letting them languish, perhaps growing into real and disabling roadblocks.
Another licensing concern you face if you are not a graduate of a domestic nursing school and not a U.S. citizen may be proving your proficiency in the English language. U.S. state nursing boards routinely impose English proficiency requirements, as CGFNS officials know and support. If you have been unable to discern the appropriate proficiency test, qualify for it, get your passing results, and get those results into the accepting hands of your state nursing board, then again, let us help. CGFNS should be doing so, but its efforts don't always work.
Do I Have to Use CGFNS?
Maybe. Many U.S. state nursing boards, about three-quarters of them, require graduates of foreign nursing programs to obtain CGFNS certification to qualify for licensure. The other one-quarter of U.S. state nursing boards do not require CGFNS certification. You can quickly see which U.S. state nursing boards require CGFNS certification and which U.S. state nursing boards do not require CGFNS certification by using the CGFNS U.S. Licensure & Registration Infowebpage. The answer isn't entirely clear because some states require the highest level of CGFNS review, called certification, while other states welcome CGFNS certification but require only a lower CGFNS review, either mid-level evaluation or the lowest level verification. At least, that's one way of looking at it. CGFNS might say instead that each of its services is just different, not higher or lower. States not requiring CGFNS certification include Arizona, California, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Utah. The rest require some level of CGFNS review.
What Services Does CGFNS Offer Nurses?
As just indicated, CGFNS offers three main service levels: certification, evaluation, or verification. Keep in mind that these services describe the organization's review of your credentials to represent your credentials to a U.S. state nursing board. When CGFNS says that it has certified your credentials, that means CGFNS is telling your U.S. state nursing board that your credentials have passed its certification review. If, instead, CGFNS says that it has evaluated your credentials, then CGFNS is telling your U.S. state nursing board that your credentials have passed its evaluation review. If CGFNS says that it has verified your credentials, then CGFNS is telling your U.S. State Nursing Board that your credentials have passed its verification review. It's all a matter of how much your U.S. state nursing board wants to require in the way of a review of a nurse applicant's foreign nursing school credentials.
One caveat: within its certification, evaluation, and verification service categories, CGFNS adjusts each of those reviews for further applicant particulars. If, for instance, your foreign nursing program was in a nursing specialty, then the CGFNS certification review of your U.S. State Nursing Board specialty licensure application would differ from its review of your U.S. State Nursing Board registered nurse application. And that's only one of several of these in-category CGFNS service permutations. It's complicated. However, the services do matter as to what CGFNS is doing, what U.S. state nursing boards expect it to do, and what you must do to survive CGFNS credentialing. CGFNS also offers subsidiary services like English proficiency and immigrant visa credentials.
How CGFNS Helps With Credentialing
So, where can things go right for you with CGFNS credentialing? If, for instance, your degree, transcript, and other information and documentation submissions to CGFNS satisfy CGFNS that you have met its credential evaluation service, the report that CGFNS produces for your U.S. state nursing board will assure your board of at least two big things. One is that you indeed graduated from your foreign nursing program, and any other program you claim to have completed is helpful to your state nursing board licensure. That part is done. You shouldn't have to jump through the same hoops with your U.S. state nursing board, trying to convince it that your foreign nursing degree is authentic or your transcript accurate as to your courses and grades.
The other big thing your CGFNS evaluation report accomplishes is that it compares your foreign nursing school's program against program standards for U.S.-accredited and approved nursing schools, generally meaning U.S. nursing schools with CCNE or ACEN accreditation, the two biggest U.S. nursing school accreditors. So, your U.S. state nursing board can see if your foreign nursing school has courses, clinical programs, faculty, facilities, and other features close enough to accredited U.S. nursing schools. With those two things evaluated and out of the way, (1) your nursing school graduation and (2) your foreign nursing school's accreditation, you're pretty good to go for a U.S. state nursing board application, assuming you meet other subsidiary requirements like examination, English proficiency, and lawful residency.
How CGFNS Can Complicate Credentialing Issues
Unfortunately, as you've seen, things don't always work the way that they should. The issues you may face with CGFNS credentialing can be very similar to the issues you would face applying directly to your U.S. state nursing board. Indeed, that's exactly the point: CGFNS is just acting as a gatekeeper to the U.S. state nursing board, running interference, if you will. CGFNS is, in other words, putting you through the same figurative ringer that a U.S. state nursing board would as to whatever credentials its service level has promised to review. Depending on your CGFNS service level and your U.S. state nursing board requirements for CGFNS review, your CGFNS issues may include:
- problems with your foreign nursing school transcript's authenticity, whether copied rather than original, altered, or lacking seal, signature, certification, or other verification;
- problems with your satisfactory academic progress in your foreign nursing school program, such as lingering academic probation, academic suspension, incomplete required coursework, or missing clinical hours, leaving your graduation not in good standing;
- problems with your foreign nursing school misbehavior and discipline, such as unresolved academic misconduct, behavioral misconduct, or sexual misconduct charges;
- problems with your foreign nursing school's accreditation, such as that it was not accredited when you first matriculated, lost accreditation before you graduated, or was or is on accreditation probation, calling into question its U.S. standard equivalency;
- problems with your high school or other educational credentials outside of your foreign nursing school program;
- problems with your English proficiency test credentials;
- problems with documentation of your U.S. citizenship or lawful residency status on an immigrant visa qualifying you for U.S. nursing licensure and practice; and
- credential fraud issues with your submissions to CGFNS, causing CGFNS officials to believe that you have deliberately misrepresented any of the above information or other information.
Your CGFNS User Agreement
You may well wonder what you can do if CGFNS is not living up to its advertisements and assurances, not holding up its end of the bargain. The answer may depend on your CGFNS user agreement.
When you endeavor to access CGFNS services, either because your U.S. state nursing board requires you to do so or you believe it to be advantageous, CGFNS will likely require that you sign and enter into a user agreement with it, constituting a binding contract. The linked user agreement may differ from the one you signed. But any user agreement you sign is reasonably likely to favor CGFNS, not you, insofar as CGFNS is the agreement's drafter and insofar as you may be a captive party to its services, effectively forcing you to accept its contract terms. The linked user agreement is an example. If that agreement's terms were to apply to you, then you would find that you had waived claims against CGFNS, accepted CGFNS's disclaimer of any warranties to you, and left yourself with only the opportunity to sue CGFNS in Pennsylvania, presumably its home or most favored state, if you have a dispute with it that you cannot amicably resolve.
Such a user agreement pretty much puts you at CGFNS's mercy if Pennsylvania law would enforce its strict terms under the unfair circumstances of its non-negotiability. Check your own CGFNS agreement, or better yet, let us do so.
CGFNS Dispute Resolution Procedures
CGFNS does not appear to offer any internal or administrative dispute resolution procedures, is not on its website, is not on internet searches, and is not according to message boards reflecting the frustrating experiences of CGFNS users. Those boards also reflect good experiences, and message boards tend to reflect the problems, not the good stuff. So, this discussion is no indictment of CGFNS practices or personnel. But without a published dispute resolution procedure, you may not be able to effectively spur CGFNS action on your credentialing or even provide reliable responses to your frequent inquiries. You may be out of luck by your own devices.
Our Role Resolving CGFNS Issues
That's why you should promptly retain us if you have been unable to do so after a concerted effort to gain CGFNS action on your pending credentialing issues. Our attorneys may be able to proceed on several fronts. First, our appearance on your behalf may get the attention and action of CGFNS officials. We have the reputation and relationships within the nursing licensure community to gain the trust, confidence, respect, and action of involved individuals. We also have the law license and legal knowledge and skills to spur action. Let us see what we can accomplish: communicating, advocating, and negotiating with CGFNS officials.
We may also be able to address and resolve your CGFNS issues through adjacent individuals and entities. We may be able to work with CGFNS general counsel or outside retained counsel to negotiate CGFNS relief. We may alternatively be able to deal directly with your nursing school officials, immigration officials, and others to get CGFNS the documents or information it requires, where it failed to do so through its own efforts or your efforts.
We may also be able to work with your U.S. state nursing board officials to obtain alternative special relief from the state board's usual CGFNS requirements, especially if we can demonstrate that we have resolved in your favor all pending issues, independent of CGFNS efforts and that only CGFNS itself remains an obstacle. We may further be able to invoke your U.S. state nursing board's administrative procedures and even obtain civil court review and relief to resolve your U.S. state nursing board licensure issues. Let us exhaust all available channels for relief until we obtain the best outcome for your lingering licensing issues.
Your Stakes in CGFNS Issues
As you consider how to respond to CGFNS issues and whether to retain our highly qualified, strategic, and effective attorneys, keep in mind your stakes in your CGFNS issues. If you are unable to resolve your CGFNS issues, and your U.S. state nursing board requires CGFNS credentialing services, then you will not obtain your U.S. state nursing board licensure. That much you should know. However, consider the following additional direct and collateral consequences of being unable to obtain your U.S. state nursing license.
You won't practice nursing in the U.S. without a U.S. state nursing board license. State nursing practice acts uniformly prohibit unlicensed nursing practice. For example, Michigan Nurse Practice Act Section 333.17211 requires nurses to obtain a license and prohibits nursing practice or the use of nursing titles without a license. Some states, like New York, make unlicensed practice of nursing or other health professions a felony crime, punishable by more than a year in prison. If you practice nursing without a license, that disciplinary violation can prevent you from obtaining a license later. It can also prevent your nursing licensure in other states and jurisdictions. You could find yourself out of not only a license and a nursing job but also out of a nursing career, ruining everything for which you studied, worked, and invested.
Losing your ability to pursue a nursing career could have dire effects on your gainful employment and income and ability to meet your financial obligations, including repaying nursing education loans. Those impacts could mushroom into impacts on your family and household obligations and relationships. You have a lot riding on your CGFNS issues. Don't underestimate it. Let us help you address and resolve those issues.
Premier CGFNS Attorneys Available
If you face CGFNS issues relating to your credential for U.S. state nursing board licensure and practice, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team now for your outcome to those issues. We have helped hundreds of nurses and other healthcare professionals with licensing and credentialing matters nationwide. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our skilled and experienced attorney representation.
