Mission & History

The mission of CGFNS International is to protect the public by assuring the integrity of health professional credentials in the context of global migration and to foster the equitable treatment of healthcare professionals as they expand their horizons.

CGFNS International focuses on four key objectives:

1. To develop and administer a predictive testing and evaluation program for internationally-educated nurses
2. To provide a credentials evaluation service for internationally-educated and/or internationally-born healthcare professionals
3. To serve as a clearinghouse for information on international nursing education and licensure
4. To conduct and publish studies relevant to internationally-educated nurses

The story behind the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS International) begins in the late 1960s when the United States experienced an increase in nurse migration from other countries. Immigration officials had a difficult time identifying which of the nurses educated abroad and applying for nursing occupational visas would be eligible for licensure as a registered nurse in the United States. On average, only 15 to 20% of nurses educated outside the United States were passing the U.S. registered nurse licensure exam on their first attempt.

This led the Division of Nursing of the then Department of Health, Education and Welfare (DHEW) to contract for two studies regarding RN-licensure of internationally educated nurses in the United States. The findings of these landmark studies on international nurse migration conducted by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and Pace University, were discussed at a 1975 DHEW conference attended by representatives of the American Nurses Association , the National League for Nursing (NLN), U.S. boards of nursing, the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Medical Association (AMA), the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the New York State Education Department, and the International Council of Nurses, among other organizations. The outgrowth of the conference was the establishment of CGFNS as a private, independent, non-profit organization tasked with developing and administering a predictive testing and credentials evaluation program for internationally-educated nurses. The organization has expanded to perform credentials evaluations and verifications for other internationally-educated healthcare professionals.

CGFNS International celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2007. The organization has reviewed and/or certified the credentials of over 500,000 internationally-educated nurses and other healthcare professionals for U.S. licensure and immigration.