CGFNS Origins and Current Activities<br> Establishment of CGFNS<br> The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) is a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America. CGFNS was founded through the efforts of a number of organizations. Among these founders were several U. S. government agencies and prvate, nonprofit associations, including two prominent U, S. nursing organizations, the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the National League for Nursing (NLN).<br> Though it was established in 1977, CGFNS origins predate its founding. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, changes in immigration laws and regulations resulted in a steady increase in the numbers of nurses entering the United States as immigrants with preferred status because they had skills that were in short supply in the United States. Additional numbers were admitted as persons of "distinguished merit and ability" on non-immigrant visas who were eligible for indefinite extension. In order to practice as registered nurses in America, nurses educated outside the United States first had to be licensed in the United States. Then, as now, each U. S. state and territory administered the licensing process through its own board of nursing. While individual state licensure requirements varied, nearly all states required registered nurses to pass a national registered nurse licensure exam in order to earn a license. Many of the internationally educated nurses who came to the United States and took the registered nurse licensure examination did not pass the exam. Without an RN license, they could not work as a registered nurse in the United States. Many of the nurses who failed to become licensed as RNs had entered the United States on temporary work visas that limited the length of their stay.<br> These unlicensed nurses frequently were unable to earn a living and had to leave the United States when their visas expired.<br> Some internationally educated nurses remained in the United States. Many of these nurses found other work. Some worked as nurses aides or nursing assistants. In these positions, their salaries were not as high as those of registered nurses.<br> Institutions that needed registered nurses often could not find enough RNs to fill vacant job positions. Some internationally educated nurses who had not been able to earn RN licenses in the United States found themselves being askect to perform the duties of registered nurses in these institutions, despite the fact that it placed patients at great risk and required these nurses to break the law.<br> The founders of CGFNS believed that it was important for nurses educated outside the United States to know before they left their home country whether or not they could expect to pass the U.S. registered nurse licensure examination. This, in turn, would help curb abuses such as those described above. And so, in 1977, CGFNS was established, in part, to help internationally educated nurses determine their likelihood of passing the licensure exam.
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