CGFNS (Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools)
CGNFS is an independent, not-for-profit and immigration-neutral organization committed to protecting the public by ensuring that foreign-educated healthcare professionals are eligible and qualified to meet licensure and other U.S. practice requirements.CGFNS is not a government organization, nor does it recruit international professionals for employment in the U.S.
The CGFNS Certification Program is designed specifically for graduates of nursing schools located outside of the United States of America, such as Pakistan, who are interested in practicing as registered nurses in the U.S.
It is designed to predict an applicants likelihood of passing the NCLEX-RN examination and becoming licensed as a registered nurse in the United States.
During the late 1960s, the United States experienced a marked increase in the number of foreign-educated nurses immigrating to the U.S. to practice nursing. U.S. immigration officials had a difficult time identifying which nurses educated abroad, who were applying for occupational visas, met the requirements for licensure as registered nurses in the United States. The reality was that, on average, only 15-20% of foreign-educated nurses were passing the U.S. registered nurse licensure exam, now the NCLEX-RN examination.*
The CGFNS Certification Program was created to serve as a predictor exam and evaluation process for foreign-educated nurses to more accurately forecast which nurses were likely to meet the requirements for licensure as registered nurses in the United States.