Seven steps between your degree and your license. None of them hidden.
Certeza takes nurses from Latin America to a license to practise in the United States. The whole path is written down before you start: who does what, how long it takes and what it costs. It begins with the diagnosis, which is reading your degree and telling you the truth.
It takes two minutes and nothing is charged there.
Where it starts and where it ends
It starts when we read your degree and ends the day the board issues your license in your name. In between there are bodies that are not us and that run on their own clocks; our part is making sure none of those clocks catches you off guard.
The seven steps
They are the same seven you will see inside your account the day your case opens, under the same names. Each one says who it depends on: you, us, or a third party.
- DX
Diagnosis
UsWe check your degree and clinical hours against what New York requires, and tell you what is missing before you spend a cent on paperwork.
- DOC
Documents
YouWe gather and translate what the board requires. We work from copies — your originals never leave your hands.
- CES
Credential evaluation
A third partyTrumerit compares your education against a US-trained nurse. This is where a deficiency shows up, if there is one.
- BRD
Board application
UsWe file your complete application with the state board. Most of the rows on this screen are ours.
- ATT
Authorization to Test
A third partyThe board issues your ATT. From that day a window starts running, and that is the clock that matters.
- NCX
NCLEX-RN
YouYou sit the exam. In 48 hours you know if you passed; the performance report arrives weeks later, in your name.
- LIC
License issued
A third partyThe board issues your license. It is single-state: practising elsewhere is done by endorsement, and we tell you that on day one.
How long it takes
Adding up the typical durations of the seven steps gives about 7 months. It is not a promise: it is what a case without surprises takes. A board that asks for one more document, or an exam passed on the second attempt, move that count — and when that happens you see it on your screen the same day.
What it costs
The diagnosis costs $75 and it is creditable: if you decide to go ahead, it comes off the $4,000 of the full program, which is all-inclusive.
All-inclusive means that what the credential evaluation, the board and the exam charge comes out of that price and not on top of it. There is no second list of costs that shows up halfway through.
You pay an amount upfront when the case opens and the rest in six monthly installments with no interest. The exact breakdown reaches you in writing before you sign anything.
What we will not promise you
The state you have in mind
We work only with New York. It is not the only state there is — it is the only one we run, and that is why we know every form, every deadline and every third party by heart. New York also does not require fingerprinting, which in other states is the step that adds weeks of waiting nobody controls. If your goal is another state, you get there by endorsement once you hold the license.
A license for the whole country
The license is issued in one state. Practising in another is done by endorsement, a separate and shorter process. The multistate license requires living in the United States, so it is not an option on day one.
That the answer will be yes
Some degrees do not pass and some clinical hours fall short. When that is the case we say so in the diagnosis, in writing and with the reason, and we do not open the case. We would rather lose a client there than eight months in.
Start by knowing
The diagnosis is the only decision you have to make today. Everything else gets decided later, with the result in your hand.
It takes two minutes and nothing is charged there.