Immigration Connection
Fallen dream
For the past few years the shortage of health care professionals in the U.S. has become an opportunity, a dream fulfilled, for those coming from the other side of the ocean to which thousands of people in this country have responded. Such dream was all but shattered by the recent decision of the American based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS-International) to issue not the VisaScreen Certificate for the Filipino nurses who passed the controversial licensure examination in June 2006. That examination has provoked a national and international outcry upon the allegation that the test questions had been leaked out in prior.
The news occupies the national scene for a while: The President ordered the retake of the test, the NBI investigated, many politicians got involved asking for accountability, testing officials scurried around to keep their heads, the media up roared in a concert of indignation…, justifiably so because of other than the national image that was soiled by such act, the economic stake is very high for those who stake their life and the life of their family on that future working in the U.S.
Up to now, the Philippines have enjoyed a distinct advantage over the citizens of other countries. With the command of English as a language and a college education and professional training up to par with any nursing school in the first world, our nursing graduates present the talents sought after abroad where thousands of them have gone to fill the rank and file of health care professionals, providing cares to millions.
Their journey to become a nurse in the US, is an arduous one. After the intense study and practical training requisites to graduate from nursing school came the National Licensure Test. Last year, some 42,000 students took the test and only 17,000 have passed. To qualify to work as a nurse in the U.S. the licensed nurse will then take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), which objective is to ensure that the foreign trained health care professional is really up to par with the training required in the U.S. Each year, about 9,000 Philippines licensed nurses take that exam. Just last month, the Americans have agreed that NCLEX exam can be administered in the Philippines instead of, like before, the candidate had to travel to Guam to take the test.
Once all the testings are behind, the nurses would still need to find employment in a health care provider in the U.S. Finding the legitimate job offer among many promises of less legitimate job shops could be a stressful endeavor. Then came the immigration process where the employer would act as petitioner with the US Citizen and Immigration Service so the employee nurse could immigrate to the U.S. Among other requirements are met, the nurse also needs a VisaScreen Certificate by which the CGFNS attests to the fact that the nurse in question has shown that the education, training and licensing (s)he received was equivalent to that in the U.S. and that his(er) command of English is adequate to practice nursing in the U.S. The immigration visa, by law, will not be given unless the nurse had obtained the CGFNS VisaScreen Certificate. CGFNS has concluded that the compromised 2006 licensure testing had put in question the competency of many candidates, therefore, it will not issue VisaScreen to those from that class who apply. No VisaScreen certificate, no visa!
This position of CGFNS is outrageous in its attempt to revive a national wound that the Philippines have collectively tried to head by its remedial measures. It failed to take into account the fact that the leakage of the test questions was not generalized (according the NBI preliminary conclusion) and that remedial measures have been brought to bear on the entire issue. It also failed to recognized the entire nursing educational and training system have been proven to be up to any par and that those nurses who would need VisaScreen are the ones that have been recruited by their U.S. employer and who have satisfied the rigorous NCLEX testing that, up to now, no one can say was marred by any leakage!
(Send your comments to Khoa D. Bui Esq at kdbui.esq@sbcglobal.net Visit www.myusimmigration.com)