Dealing with the Illinois, Texas, and California nursing boards.

First let me tell you that Illinois does not have a nursing board. Due to this fact everything takes wayyy longer there. This summer with only 6 weeks left to obtain a permanent license from Texas I found out that my license had not been verified from Illinois yet. Normally the verification process takes 4-6 weeks from Illinois. I called them, and they told me that it took at least 10-14 days to even get the info entered into their computers after receiving the verification form in the mail. Texas told me that once they received my verification it would take another 10 business days. If it took the maximum time then this could have taken 10 weeks, naturally I panicked, but here's what I did.........

I sent my verification form to Illinois by certified mail requiring a signature when they received it, inwhich the signature was scanned and sent to my email address. This way I had proof it was received, and who had received it incase I needed a contact person. I also sent a prepaid stamped and certified envelope for them to send my verification to Texas, so that I would know when Texas had received the mail from Illinois. Certified mail can always be looked up by a tracking number on the USPS website. It costs a $1 extra if you want the signature emailed to you. This process worked so fast! Forget the 10-14 days of entering it into the computer that they had told me on the phone. I sent it out on Monday, Illinois received it on Wed, and mailed it on Friday for Texas to receive it the following Monday. Within 3 weeks my license was verified to Texas.

Now let me address California......

If you have a conviction on your record of any kind. I don't care if it's a $300 speeding ticket have documentation sent from the court system. California does have a clause on doing an extended background check if you have a traffic ticket over $300. In my case I got caught with possession of alcohol 4 months before my 21st birthday while attending Iowa, the Big Ten party school. Once again make sure all stuff is sent certified!!!! They will send a letter that says it will take 4 weeks to process after receiving all documentation, but I talked to a lady that said it would be right away. Well after 10 days had passed it still hadn't been done. I made 2 phone calls and left a message, then my recruiter called and left a message as well. After 3 phone calls in 2 days they processed my license. Here's the catch. I drove 9 extra hours to show my face to the California Board and see what the hold up was to find out they had processed it 2 days before. I don't know how well it'd work, but maybe if you ever leave a message say something like "I will be driving 350 miles tomorrow to visit you if I don't hear back from you today!" You might save yourself a trip. Sometimes it requires showing your face to get them to move!

I had planned on my California licensure process going quickly and smoothly. I had called in advance and asked if I needed to send documentation regarding my possession of alcohol that happened 11 years ago and no longer applies to me since it's now legal for me to possess alcohol. The lady on the phone told me, "No, a simple explanation should be enough!" I found out 5 weeks later that they would need additional court documentation. So send it all up front. California is notorious for losing your application, so I asked for tips so this wouldn't be a problem. The lady told me that people often send all of their stuff separate, so it gets lost. So my advice is to send your application, check, fingerprints, and any necessary documentation all together and certified. While at the post office send your transcript form to your college. After doing that go home and do the online nursys verification from another state. Get it all done upfront and you will be issued a permanent instead of a temporary license. If you wait until last minute to complete the process I can guarantee you'll be frazzled! There are certain requirements for a temp, the transcript is not! You have 6 months after receiving the temp to get a perm license.

Fingerprints are also another issue. My recruiter sent me 2 California fingerprint cards that they had got extra from the board. You might check with your recruiter to see if they have any, because California may take awhile to send you some. Many people have had their fingerprints sent back for smudges, cards bent, etc. You can either go to a Livescan in California to have this done, which processes in 72 hours and no worries of your fingerprint card being denied. Since I was in Texas that was not a convenient option so I went to the local sheriff's office to have it done. I took 2 cards with me and was explicit in saying these have to be perfect with no smudges. Afterwards I slid them into an envelope, and the sheriff told me to let them dry for an hour before mailing them out. Voila! No return on my fingerprints. I still had a spare set of fingerprints incase they decided to deny the original set. If that would have been the case I wouldn't have had to wait until the next available fingerprinting day at the sheriff's office. I could have been to the post office with my spare set in 5 minutes had that been the case.

I hope this will help someone else with less stress than I've had in these licensure processes!