SECTION 343 CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT

 

English Passing Scores

And

VisaSreen Organizations

 

 

 

ENGLISH PASSING SCORES

 

Under the standards set forth in section 212(a)(5)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (also known as Section 343), all immigrant health care workers, and beginning July 26, 2004, all nonimmigrant health care workers, must demonstrate competence in oral and written English as shown by an appropriate score on one or more nationally recognized, commercially available, standardized assessments of English language proficiency.  Foreign-educated health care workers seeking to satisfy the VisaScreen requirement must take either the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) offered by Educational Testing Service (ETS) which also includes the Test of Written English (TWE) and the Test of Spoken English (TSE), Test of English in International Communication (TOEIC) administered by the Chauncey Group (applicants taking TOEIC must still take TWE and TSE), or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) administered by Cambridge ESOL Examinations.  As of November 2002, the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) is no longer recognized for the purpose of certifying health care workers. 

 

 

I AM A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER, AM I EXEMPT FROM TAKING THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST?

 

The only group exempt from demonstrating English proficiency, are health care workers educated in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada (except Quebec).  Native English speakers and those who graduated from universities where the mode of instruction is in English are not exempt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS THE ENGLISH PASSING SCORE FOR MY PROFESSION?

 

 

Nurses

Occupational

Therapists

Physical

Therapists

Speech Language

Pathologists

Medical

Technologists

Physician Assistants

Medical

Technicians

TOEFL

540/207

560/220

560/220

540/207

540/207

540/207

530/197

TWE

4.0

4.5

4.5

4.0

4.0

4.0

4.0

TSE

50

50

50

50

50

50

50

TOEIC

725

N/A

N/A

725

725

725

700

TWE

4.0

 

 

4.0

4.0

4.0

4.0

TSE

50

 

 

50

50

50

50

IELTS

6.5

N/A

N/A

6.5

6.5

6.5

6.0

Spoken Band

7.0

 

 

7.0

7.0

7.0

7.0

 

 

WHICH CREDENTIALING ORGANIZATION SHOULD I CONTACT?

 

 

Nurses

Occupational

Therapists

Physical

Therapists

Speech Language

Pathologists

Medical

Technologists

Physician Assistants

Medical

Technicians

CGFNS

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NBCOT

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

FCCPT

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

 

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

 

TOEFL/TWE/TSE:                                                              TOEIC *:

Educational Testing Service                      The Chauncey Group International, Ltd.

Test of English as a Foreign Language             664 Rosedale Road

P.O. Box 6151                                     Princeton, New Jersey 08540-2218

Princeton, New Jersey 08541-6151                   Telephone: 609.734.155

Telephone: 609.771.7100                                      Website: www.toeic-usa.com

Email: toefl@ets.org

Website: www.ets.org                                       

                                                                                    * Applicants taking TOEIC will still need to take TWE

   and TSE offered by ETS.

IELTS Administrator:

Cambridge Examinations and IELTS International

100 East Corson Street, Suite 200

Pasadena, California 91103

Telephone: 626.564.2954

Email: ielts@ceii.org

Website: www.ielts.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CGFNS:                                                                               

Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools  

3600 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19104-2665

Telephone: 215.222.8454
Applicant Inquiries: 215.349.8767
Facsimile: 215.662.0425
E-mail: info@cgfns.org

Website: www.cgfns.org

 

NBCOT:

National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapy, Inc.

800 South Frederick Avenue, Suite 200

Gaithersburg, MD 20877-4150

Telephone: 301.990.7979

Fax: 301.869.8492

Website: www.nbcot.org

 

 

FCCPT:

Foreign Credentialing Commission on Physical Therapy

511 Wythe Street

Alexandria, VA 22314

Telephone: 703.684.8406

Fax: 703.684.8715

Email: help@fccpt.org

Website: www.fccpt.org