Information for therapists from Philippines

To work as a Therapist in the United States, there are a few basic requirements.
These include:

• Graduation from a 4-year general Therapy program at an accredited school of therapy.
• THEORY and CLINICAL internship. A current Therapist license in your home country.
• Two years of acute-care and sub-acute care experience Must qualify for U.S. Visa.
• No criminal record.

In addition, immigrant healthcare workers must demonstrate competence in oral and written English as shown by an appropriate score on one or more nationally recognized tests. These tests are commercially available, standardized assessments of English language proficiency. Foreign-educated therapist applying to the VisaScreen™ program must satisfy these requirements by choosing one of the following options:

OPTION 1

Take each of the three following tests administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS):

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of 540 or higher AND
• Test of Spoken English (TSE) with a score of 50 or higher AND
• Test of Written English (TWE) with a score of 4.0 or higher.

OPTION 2

Take the following tests administered by the English Language Institute (ELI):

• Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB), Section 1,2,3 with an average of 79 or higher
• Oral Test with a score of 3+ or higher

Note: Therapist who have graduated from a therapy program in Australia, Canada (except Quebec), Ireland, New Zealand and the UK are exempt from this English language requirement.

For more information about taking the TOEFL, TWE and TSE exams, as well as international test sites please contact:

TOEFL/TSE Publications
Test of English as a Foreign Language
PO Box 6151
Princeton, NJ 08541-6151
Telephone 609-771-7100
http://www.toefl.org

For more information on taking the MELAB examination please contact:

English Language Institute
MELAB Testing
0320 North University Building
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1057
Telephone 734-763-3452
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/eli/testing/melab

Please see

• Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT)
• The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT)
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

Additional resources

• Licensure
• Resources
• Visas Made Easy
• Living / Working in USA

nathan@rehabilitycare.com