Internationally educated nurses: which step took the longest for you?
Discussion starterThe question
Credentials review, the board application, the NCLEX, English testing, VisaScreen, the visa itself. Nobody walks you through all of it in one place, and the waiting is different at every step.
If you trained outside the US and you're licensed here now, or partway through, which step took the longest, and what would you do in a different order if you started again?
Your country and your state both help the next person reading.
The conversation
2 repliesThe order most USRNs describe looks like this: get your education reviewed (the board you apply to tells you which review it accepts), apply to that state's board for permission to test, sit the NCLEX, then complete the visa side, where VisaScreen comes in. English testing can land on either side: VisaScreen requires it, and some boards ask for it before they let you test.
Two things save the most time. Pick your first board for its requirements, not for where you want to live, because you can move your license later by endorsement. And ask your school for the transcript and course documents early. A missing signature from a school office is one of the most common reasons a file sits for months.
If an agency is sponsoring you, ask for the contract in full before you sign, including what you'd owe if you left early and what happens if your start date slips. Plenty of nurses in these threads had fair agencies. The ones who didn't said the warning signs were all in the contract.
What would you tell them?
Answer from what you have seen. It posts without your name.
