US NCLEX transfer of scores to Canada

A lot of US NCLEX passers or USRNs are asking if they would be able to endorse or transfer their scores to Canada for practice. Below are the initial answer/information on that issue.

As you may have known, 10 of 12 Canada nurse regulators have adopted NCLEX as their licensure exam, replacing the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination (CRNE). Application process will commence on November 3, 2014 and the first administration of NCLEX by Pearsonvue for Canada nurses will be on January 5, 2015.

Only Yukon Registered Nurses Association and L’Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec will not be offering the NCLEX-RN exam in 2015.

US NCLEX to Canada

Update: College of Nurses of Ontario will accept NCLEX scores from US. Check details below.

Now, on the issue of endorsement, reciprocity or transfer of US NCLEX to Canada, the ten nursing regulators have yet to decide on what policy to implement. They are still in the transition stage, so the bodies cannot give definite answer yet.

Here are the updates as posted by nurses in allnurses.com forum:

College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia (CRNBC)

"As of January 15, 2015 CRNBC will be recognizing the NCLEX-RN dating back to 1982. You are correct; you will need to go through the regular IEN application process including English, SEC, etc. Once you go through the process and become eligible for registration in B.C., you can request that an official verification of your NCLEX date and result be sent to us directly from the State Board you wrote the exam through, and you will not be required to re-write the exam."

College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA)

"The policy relating to the NCLEX is still at the decision making process at CARNA. The Provincial Council is meeting in September to make this decision. More information will be on the website once this decision has been made."

College of Nurses of Ontario

"Information for applicants who have already passed the NCLEX-RN exam: On September 18, 2014, the Council of the College of Nurses of Ontario passed a motion to accept successful NCLEX-RN exam writes from the beginning of 1982 to the end of 2014. If you are a current RN applicant who applied to the College before that date, and you can show the College you successfully wrote the NCLEX-RN within that timeframe, then you have met the examination requirement."


In its FAQ, NCSBN (the US nursing council) said that "the same NCLEX-RN exam will be used for Canadian and U.S. entry to nursing practice in 2015." But on questions of transfer of scores in Canada without rewriting the exam, NCSBN leaves it to respective board of nursing or Canadian regulatory body to decide.

Please stay on this post for updates on NCLEX score transfer in US and Canada. Share the information to fellow nurses and please Like Infonurses.com in Facebook for more updates.