The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) has decided to suspend the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) testing for all candidates educated in India, Pakistan, Egypt and the Philippines. This suspension is in direct response to a high level of continual security breaches by a large number of graduates in physical therapy schools from the listed countries. These breaches include the ongoing sale and sharing of recalled test questions by graduates of schools in the countries listed as well as test preparation companies serving these graduates. The FSBPT has gathered strong evidence through forensic analyses of test performances and raids of certain test preparation companies in the listed regions and subsequently concluded that these graduates have received an unfair advantage and that the integrity of the exam has been compromised.
The FSBPT plans to resume testing for the listed countries once the development
of a new examination, the NPTE-YRLY, has been completed. The new exam
could take around 18 months to complete, so it is estimated it will not
be ready until at least the fall of 2011. The NPTE-YRLY will be offered
only once a year, and the test sites have not yet been decided.
Due to uncertainty as to when the NPTE-YRLY exam will occur, new registrations
for both the Physical Therapist and Physical Therapist Assistant versions
of the NPTE have been suspended as of July 11, 2010 for all graduates
of physical therapy programs in the listed countries. Consequently, foreign
educated Physical Therapists already in the US are currently barred from
taking the NPTE.
The FSBPT recommends that the candidates continue with the credentialing
process so that when registration does open the jurisdiction will have
all the paperwork ready and the NPTE-YRLY registration can be completed
quickly. This is very important since the NPTE-YRLY is only being administered
once a year.
It is the mission of the FSBPT “to protect the public by providing
service and leadership that promote safe and competent physical therapy
practice.” The Licensing Examination is a “key element”
in assuring that the mission statement is carried out. Therefore, the
NPTE-YRLY has been viewed as the best solution to ensure accurate testing results.
As of date, the USCIS has not commented in regard to the filing of H-1B
visas for non-licensed Physical Therapists educated in India, Pakistan,
Egypt and the Philippines. As a practical matter, most employers will
put a hold on filing H-1B visas for candidates educated in India, Pakistan,
Egypt and the Philippines as these candidates will be unable to sit for
the licensing exam, the NPTE, and therefore will not be able to obtain
licenses upon entering the US, until such time the NPTE-YRLY is offered.
If you would like to file an H-1B visa for a Physical Therapist, please
contact Immigration Attorney, Arjun Verma, Attorney at Law at (408) 436-1010
or send us an email at infor@avlawoffice.com to set up an initial consultation.