CGFNS is now TruMerit, and boards still ask for the same report
CGFNS International rebranded to TruMerit and the old address redirects to the new one. Nothing about the evaluation changed with the name. If your board of nursing requires an independent review of your nursing education before it will let you sit the NCLEX, this is usually the report it means.
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Your board cannot read every nursing curriculum in the world, so it outsources the question
A US board of nursing has to decide whether your education is comparable to a US nursing program. It has no way to assess a curriculum from a school it has never heard of, in a system it does not regulate, so it asks an independent evaluation service to do that work and report back.
The Credentials Evaluation Service report, almost always called the CES report, is that answer. It sets out what you studied, how it compares against US requirements, and whether your license in your home country is valid. Boards that require it will not process your application without it.
Two things about it surprise people. It is not an exam and there is nothing to revise for. And it is not really about you at all: most of the timeline is about documents arriving from your school and your nursing regulator, which is why it takes as long as it does and why starting it late is so costly.
- CGFNS and TruMerit are the same organization under a new name
- The CES report is a comparison of your education against US requirements
- Most of the wait is documents arriving from your school and regulator
- It is not an exam and there is nothing to study for
Things worth knowing before you start
Most delays come from the same handful of causes
- Check which report your specific board requires before ordering anything
- Documents usually have to come from the institution directly, not from you
- Names that differ across your documents cause holds, so resolve them first
- A school that has closed or merged takes longer, so start earlier
- Preparation for the exam can and should run at the same time
Four things that delay evaluations, all of them avoidable
Starting after the exam plan
The most expensive mistake and the most common. Evaluation depends on other people and takes months. Preparation depends on you and also takes months. Run them together, not in sequence.
Names that do not match
A marriage, a transliteration, a middle name on one document and not another. Any mismatch between your passport, your diploma and your license record can put the file on hold. Sort this out before you apply.
Ordering the wrong report
Evaluation services offer more than one product, and boards name specific ones. Buying the wrong one means buying again. Confirm the exact requirement with your board first.
Assuming your school will be quick
Institutional response times vary enormously and you have no leverage. Request early, keep a record of every request, and follow up on a schedule rather than waiting.
The sequence, and where the time actually goes
Steps two and three are the long ones, and neither is inside your control.
Confirm what your board requires
Boards differ. Some require the full CES report, some accept an alternative evaluation, a few run their own process. Ordering the wrong product is an expensive way to lose two months, so confirm with your board before you pay for anything.
Open the application and request documents
You complete the application and identify your school and your nursing regulator. Most documents have to be sent by those institutions directly rather than by you, which is the design and also the bottleneck.
Wait for the institutions to respond
This is the longest and least predictable part. Some schools respond in weeks, some in months, and a school that has closed, merged or changed its record system takes longer still. Following up politely and regularly is reasonable and it helps.
Evaluation and report issue
Once the file is complete the evaluation itself is comparatively quick. The report goes to the board you nominated, and you can usually see the status while it runs.
Board reviews, then Authorization to Test
With the report in hand your board completes its eligibility decision and issues an Authorization to Test with its own validity window. Schedule inside that window.
What we do not do, and what nobody should offer to do
- We do not complete your evaluation application for you.
- We do not correspond with CGFNS, TruMerit or any board of nursing on your behalf.
- We do not supply, translate or certify documents for your file.
- We do not give immigration advice, and nothing on this page is immigration advice.
- We prepare you for the NCLEX, which is a separate thing from your application file.
Be careful with any service offering to handle a credential evaluation for a fee. The application is yours to make, the documents have to come from your institutions directly, and no third party can make a school respond faster. Read the full policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. CGFNS International rebranded to TruMerit and the previous web address now redirects to the new one. The services, the report and its standing with boards of nursing did not change. Most boards, schools and candidates still say CGFNS, and you will see both names used interchangeably for some years yet.
A Credentials Evaluation Service report. It reviews your nursing education and licensure against US requirements and reports the comparison to the board of nursing you nominate. Boards that require it will not complete your eligibility decision without it.
No. Requirements are set by each board of nursing and they differ, including on which evaluation products they accept. Check your own board's current requirement before ordering, because this is the single most common place candidates spend money on the wrong thing.
It depends almost entirely on how quickly your school and your nursing regulator send documents, which is why published estimates vary so widely. Plan for months rather than weeks, start as early as you can, and do not let it sit on the critical path of your exam preparation.
Yes, and it is the best decision available to you at this stage. Nothing about reading speed, item format or content work depends on your file. Candidates who wait for the report before opening a book routinely add half a year to their timeline for no benefit.
It is slower but usually not fatal. Records commonly transfer to a successor institution, to the regulator or to a national archive. Expect it to take longer, expect to do more of the tracing yourself, and start much earlier than someone whose school is still operating.
The evaluation itself is a review of your education, not a test of you. Boards commonly have a separate English proficiency requirement, which is its own process with its own rules, and your board will tell you whether and how it applies to you.
Do not let the paperwork set your exam date
Tell us where you trained and which board you are applying to. We will show you what preparation can run in parallel, so the evaluation is not the only thing moving.
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