LICENSURE BY EXAMINATION ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR NURSES LICENSED IN CANADA
I. General licensure by examination information
Nurse Licensure Requirements (Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter 112, sections 74, 74A, 81B and 81C, and
Board regulations at 244 CMR 8.00)
1. Registered Nurse (RN): graduation from a Board-approved RN education program. Practical Nurse (PN): graduation
from a Board-approved RN or PN education program. Graduates of a nursing education program whose language of
instruction or textbooks, or both, was not English must demonstrate English proficiency.
2. Good moral character as established by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing (Board).
3. Payment of all required fees.
4. Achievement of a pass score on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX).
Important notes: You must hold a valid, current Massachusetts license to practice nursing in Massachusetts. Nursing
practice as a "graduate” nurse is illegal in Massachusetts. “Temporary” licenses are not issued.
Federal law requires non-US educated health care professionals to successfully complete a screening program before
receiving an occupational visa. This screening requires nurses to have earned either an International Commission on
Health Professionals VisaScreen™ Certificate (applicable to RN licensure only) or have passed NCLEX. Canadian RNs,
previously licensed in Massachusetts by reciprocity of their Canadian RN, are not eligible to apply to the Board to write
the
NCLEX-RN.
II. Education and English proficiency requirements for graduates of nursing education programs located outside
the United States and its territories
A. The Board must certify that you are a graduate of an approved basic nursing education program located in
Canada:
Registered Nurse (RN): To meet the Board’s educational requirements for certification, you must be educated and
hold licensure in good standing as a “first-level, general” nurse (International Council of Nurses). To qualify, you
must be a graduate of:
• a senior secondary school education (high school) that is separate from nursing education; and
• a government-approved, general nursing program of at least two years in length that provided theory and clinical
education in each of the following: adult medical surgical nursing, maternal/infant nursing, pediatric nursing, and
psychiatric/mental health nursing.
Practical Nurse (PN): To meet the Board’s educational requirements for certification, you must be educated and hold
licensure in good standing as a “second-level, general” nurse (International Council of Nurses). To qualify, you must
be a graduate of:
• a senior secondary school education (high school) that is separate from nursing education; and
• a government-approved, general nursing program that provided theory and clinical education in each of the
following: adult medical surgical nursing, maternal/infant nursing, and pediatric nursing, as well as theoretical
education in mental health nursing.
B. The Board requires evidence of English proficiency if your language of nursing instruction or textbooks, or both, was
not English. To meet the Board’s English proficiency requirement, you must achieve:
• a minimum score of 550 (paper-based examination) or 213 (computer-based examination) or 79/80 (internetbased
examination) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL); or
• a passing score on the English portion of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS)
Qualifying Examination as evidenced by a CGFNS Qualifying Examination Certificate issued before July 15,
1998.
To obtain TOEFL information and application materials, contact:
Test of English as a Foreign Language • Educational Testing Service (ETS) • PO Box 6151 • Princeton, NJ 08541-6151 •
Telephone 609-771-7100 • Internet
www.toefl.org • Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing TOEFL Code is
9229.