Nurses to meet on US visa crisis

By Nikko Dizon
Inquirer
Last updated 06:54pm (Mla time) 02/18/2007

MANILA, Philippines--The top official of the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) has called on all Filipino nurses and their organizations to unite in facing the crisis resulting from a United States board decision not to clear June 2006 Filipino nursing license passers for US visas.

"We want to hurdle it as one nursing profession," Dr. Leah Paquiz, PNA president, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview on Sunday.

Paquiz was referring to the decision announced last week by the US-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) to deny VisaScreen Certificates to the passers of the controversial June 2006 board exams.

Asked if the leakage in last year's exam was the biggest crisis to hit the country's profession, Paquiz replied: "Since I became a nurse, yes." That was in 1974.

More than three decades later, Paquiz is leading the PNA in finding solutions to salvage the beleaguered profession that has brought international recognition and pride to the Philippines.

Paquiz said the PNA would meet with "all specialty groups and all nursing leaders" on Monday afternoon to discuss what to do in light of the CGFNS decision.

"We don't want to divide the profession anymore, that's why we will be discussing this first before we issue an official statement," Paquiz said.

She stressed: "We will be making one stand. Masyado nang nasira ang nursing profession natin." (The image of our profession has been damaged.)

The CGFNS decision came as a blow to the June 2006 nursing board passers who wanted to pursue careers in the United States.

A majority of the US states require foreign nurses to obtain CGFNS-issued VisaScreen Certificates, Paquiz said.

"This is really important for our nurses wanting to go to the US," she said.

Paquiz also said that June 2006 passers can re-take Tests 3 and 5-as advised by the CGFNS--"regardless of the Supreme Court resolution" which rejected the petition of the UST Faculty Association that questioned the Appellate Court's decision to allow the oath-taking of last year's board passers.

"It's their [nurses] decision if they want to re-take. And they should be allowed because that's their human right," Paquiz said.

"Remember there were those who re-took (Tests 3 and 5). They all passed. Magaling talaga ang mga bata (The students are really good)," she said.

On Wednesday (Thursday in Manila), the CGFNS announced on its website that the June 2006 passers would not be eligible for VisaScreen Certificates unless they take the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 "on a future licensing examination administered by Philippine regulatory authorities" and obtain a passing score.

The CGFNS urged Philippine authorities to "provide an opportunity for a re-take" for the passers "without surrender of licensure" for them to qualify for the VisaScreen Certificate.

The CGFNS is a Philadelphia-based "non-profit", "immigration-neutral organization."

On its website, the CGFNS explained that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires non-US educated healthcare professionals seeking temporary or permanent occupational visas, as well as those seeking Trade NAFTA (TN) status, to obtain a CGFNS/ICHP VisaScreen Certificate as part of the visa process.

These include registered nurses, licensed practical or vocational nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and physician assistants among others.

The CGFNS explained this requirement was contained in section 343 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

The International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP) is a division of CGFNS International that administers its VisaScreen program.

According to the CGFNS website, the VisaScreen program is a "federally approved screening program for foreign healthcare workers seeking an occupational visa in the United States."

On the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page of the CGFNS website, the following are the questions and answers pertaining to its decision to deny the June 2006 passers are posted:

"Does passage of the NCLEX or the CGFNS Exam make someone who passed only the June 2006 Exam eligible for a VisaScreen certificate?"

"No. The passage of the NCLEX or the CGFNS Examination is only one of four general VisaScreen requirements. Under normal circumstances, passage of either examination will fulfill this particular requirement. However, the license of those Philippine Nurses who passed only the June 2006 Exam has been determined to be "not comparable" to a U.S. nursing license due to the fact that the licensing examination given by the PRC was compromised. Therefore, the VisaScreen certificate cannot be issued, as required by
U.S. immigration law and its implementing regulations to those participating in only this compromised examination."

"Does the CGFNS decision have an effect on the validity of the Philippine nursing licensure?"

"No. The CGFNS decision to deny the VisaScreen to the June 2006 passers of the Philippine Nursing Licensure Examination relates only to U.S. immigration law."

The CGFNS itself investigated the reports of the controversial nursing board exam by sending a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in September last year.

It concluded that the "licensure process for those who received their license as a result of passing the compromised June 2006 licensure examination raises significant questions about the accurate assessment of the competencies of many of those individuals."

The CGFNS added that it would not be able to "certify that the licensure is comparable to a U.S. license."

"In this instance, applicable U.S. immigration law will not permit CGFNS to issue the VisaScreen Certificate required of internationally educated health care workers to those nurses who obtained Philippine licensure on the basis of passing the June 2006 nursing licensure examination."

"The integrity of foreign licensing systems ultimately affects the health and safety of patients in the United States, a primary consideration of CGFNS in its role in evaluating candidates under U.S. immigration law. The decision announced today is made in support of this critical mission of CGFNS," the CGFNS said.

The CGFNS decision came less than a week after American officials approved the Philippines' application to be a testing center for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX).

The NCLEX exam, taken by some 9,000 Filipinos annually, is a key requirement for nurses to be able to work in the US.