Applicant Terms and Conditions

National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS)

Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully. By selecting "Accept," submitting or continuing an application, uploading documents, requesting services, or making payment through the NNAS portal, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions and the NNAS Privacy Policy.

1. About NNAS, CES, and TruMerit

The National Nursing Assessment Service ("NNAS") supports internationally educated nurses seeking registration with Canadian nursing regulatory bodies ("Regulatory Bodies").

NNAS has entered into legal agreements with both CES and TruMerit for credential assessment, document handling, verification, authentication, review, assessment, applicant support, and related services. CES and TruMerit are referred to together in these Terms and Conditions as the "Service Providers."

CES is CES Comparative Education Service, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. TruMerit™ is formerly CGFNS International and is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Each Service Provider may perform services for NNAS in connection with your application. Your application may be assigned to CES, to TruMerit, or to both Service Providers. NNAS may change, divide, reassign, or share work between Service Providers based on operational needs, service continuity, quality assurance, regulatory requirements, document source requirements, processing capacity, or other service considerations.

In these Terms and Conditions, "Application" means your NNAS application and all associated documents, records, information, communications, payments, reports, source-verification records, and submissions.

2. Privacy, Consent, Information Handling, and Cross-Border Transfer

NNAS is committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality, and security of the personal information it receives. NNAS collects, uses, discloses, stores, transfers, processes, and retains personal information in accordance with the NNAS Privacy Policy and applicable law. You should review the NNAS Privacy Policy before accepting these Terms and Conditions.

By accepting these Terms and Conditions, you consent to NNAS and the Service Providers collecting, using, disclosing, transferring, storing, accessing, processing, and retaining your personal information and application materials for purposes including account creation and administration; document receipt, digitization, indexing, verification, authentication, review, and assessment; report preparation and delivery; applicant and regulator communications; complaint, concern, appeal, and review handling; fraud prevention; quality assurance; audit; legal compliance; service continuity; and record retention.

You specifically consent to NNAS disclosing, transmitting, transferring, or otherwise making available your personal information, application records, and documents to either or both Service Providers. You understand that your information and documents may be transmitted to, accessed from, stored in, or processed at locations used by NNAS or the Service Providers, including locations in Canada and the United States, and may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

You also consent to NNAS disclosing your reports, supporting documents, and application records to the Regulatory Bodies you select for purposes of assessment, review, and registration consideration. NNAS may also disclose your information to educational institutions, licensing bodies, employers, and other source organizations for verification; service providers supporting portal, payment, security, records, analytics, or communications functions; legal counsel, auditors, insurers, and advisors; and government bodies, courts, regulators, or law enforcement where required or permitted by law.

NNAS restricts the collection and use of personal information to purposes relating to your NNAS application, credential assessment, report preparation, service administration, fraud prevention, quality assurance, legal compliance, and related purposes described in these Terms and Conditions and the NNAS Privacy Policy.

3. Location of Information and Documents

NNAS, CES, and TruMerit may receive, transfer, access, use, store, process, and retain information and documents submitted by you, submitted by third parties on your behalf, created by NNAS, created by either Service Provider, or received from source organizations. This includes personal information and documents you submit to NNAS and information you may be required to submit directly to a Service Provider.

Because NNAS has legal agreements with both CES and TruMerit, your personal information and documents may be transmitted to either Service Provider, or to both, depending on how your application is assigned or processed. By accepting these Terms and Conditions, you agree to NNAS transferring and disclosing your personal information and documents to CES and/or TruMerit for NNAS-related services.

4. Your Documents and Records

Documents and information you or a third party submit to NNAS or a Service Provider may be digitized, indexed, stored, and retained in electronic or paper form. Submitted documents generally will not be returned to you or the third party. New records, notes, reports, analyses, verification records, and other materials created by NNAS or a Service Provider in connection with your application remain the property of NNAS or the applicable creator, subject to applicable law.

Records from your current or prior application may be retained and used for future applications, quality assurance, fraud prevention, audit, legal compliance, regulator communication, and service continuity purposes.

5. Access to Your Personal Information and Application Status

You may track the status of your application through your NNAS account. You may also have access to your NNAS Advisory Report through your online account when it becomes available.

Subject to applicable law, confidentiality obligations, contractual restrictions, and legal limitations, you may request access to personal information in your file by contacting NNAS in writing. NNAS may decline access where disclosure is not permitted by law, would reveal confidential methodology or third-party information, would compromise fraud prevention, security, or the integrity of the assessment process, or would otherwise be inappropriate or restricted.

6. Web Privacy, Portal Use, and Security

NNAS respects online privacy. You may visit and browse the NNAS website without providing personal information. However, you must register with a user ID and password to enter the online NNAS application system or to check the status of your file.

NNAS may use information from website and portal visits for security, analytics, fraud prevention, statistical, and operational purposes, including measuring visitor interest in certain areas and improving the website or portal.

Your user ID, password, NNAS ID number, and other login or account credentials identify your personal information and application in the secure NNAS database. Do not share this information with anyone. NNAS is not responsible for losses or changes to your application arising from your failure to keep login credentials secure.

If you have problems opening your NNAS file, or if you believe anything has been changed without your permission, contact NNAS immediately.

NNAS may suspend, restrict, or terminate portal access or application processing where you breach these Terms and Conditions, fees are unpaid, required documents are missing, fraud or misrepresentation is suspected, or NNAS is required or permitted to do so by law, policy, contract, regulator instruction, or service need. Suspension or termination does not affect NNAS’s right to retain records or recover outstanding amounts.

7. Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for understanding the registration and educational requirements of each Regulatory Body to which you apply. You will only be eligible for registration as a nurse if you meet the education, training, and other requirements established by the applicable Regulatory Body.

You are responsible for submitting complete, accurate, current, truthful, and non-misleading information; ensuring that documents sent on your behalf are genuine, complete, and submitted in good faith; arranging for required documents to be sent in the required format from required sources; responding promptly to requests for additional information or documents; keeping your contact information and login credentials current and secure; and paying all required fees.

Notices sent to your last provided contact information are considered received in the ordinary course.

8. Verification, Authentication, and Assessment

NNAS and the Service Providers may review, authenticate, verify, compare, analyze, and assess your documents and information using internal procedures, professional judgment, institutional contacts, direct-source verification, database checks, and other methods appropriate to credential assessment.

NNAS does not guarantee any particular assessment outcome, registration eligibility result, licensing decision, or processing timeline. Final registration decisions rest with the applicable Regulatory Body.

9. Fees, Payments, Processing, and Refunds

Payment must be made before your order can be processed. All fees are quoted in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Applicable taxes may apply. Fees may change from time to time.

Fees are non-refundable once processing has begun. Cancelled, withdrawn, incomplete, inactive, expired, or fraud-affected applications are not eligible for refunds. NNAS does not offer refunds for cancelled or incomplete applications.

By clicking "Submit," you acknowledge that NNAS begins authentication and administrative processing immediately, regardless of whether all required documents have been received. NNAS considers services rendered once authentication or administrative processing begins, whether or not a credential assessment report is ultimately produced.

Your account may expire if all required documents are not received within the period specified by NNAS policy. Reactivation may require an additional fee and compliance with current requirements. NNAS may charge additional fees for reactivation, reprocessing, transfer, duplicate reports, rush processing, or other administrative services.

10. Important Payment Notice

After each attempt to charge your credit card, you may receive an email confirmation message from the payment provider and be returned to the IEN portal. If the page fails to return to the IEN portal, an email may still be sent. Check your email before attempting payment again to avoid being charged multiple times.

If your payment confirmation email indicates that the transaction was approved but the payment is not reflected in the IEN portal, do not attempt another payment. Instead, contact NNAS support. If you do not receive an approved transaction email, or if the email states that your credit card payment was declined, log back into the IEN portal and try again with a valid credit card.

11. Service Timing and Service Interruptions

NNAS will make reasonable efforts to process applications in a timely manner. Processing times are estimates only and are not guarantees.

Delays may result from missing or deficient documents, source verification requirements, translation issues, application complexity, university or source-organization closures, application volume, service provider capacity, technical issues, service interruptions, or fraud or quality assurance investigations.

12. Inquiries, Complaints, Concerns, Appeals, and Reviews

Depending on the subject matter and provider assignment, inquiries, complaints, concerns, appeals, or review requests may be handled by NNAS, CES, TruMerit, or more than one of them. NNAS and the Service Providers may exchange relevant application information to respond to inquiries, complaints, concerns, appeals, reviews, or service issues.

Submitting a complaint, concern, appeal, or review request does not guarantee a change in outcome.

13. Fraud, Misrepresentation, and Document Integrity

If NNAS or a Service Provider has reason to believe that you, or someone acting on your behalf, has falsified, altered, forged, or tampered with documents; submitted misleading, false, dishonest, or incomplete information; misrepresented an NNAS report; altered or misused a report; or otherwise engaged in fraud or misrepresentation, NNAS may, without prior notice and without refund, place your application on hold; refuse to process or continue your application; cancel your application; suspend or ban future applications; retain fees paid; and notify CES, TruMerit, Regulatory Bodies, and other persons or authorities as permitted or required by law.

You understand that fraud, misrepresentation, or document tampering may adversely affect your eligibility for registration.

14. Intellectual Property

All portal content, text, forms, layouts, workflow content, and NNAS-created reports are protected by law and may not be copied, reproduced, modified, distributed, altered, or misrepresented without NNAS’s permission.

Each Service Provider retains ownership of its own credential assessment databases, methodologies, processes, report formats, tools, systems, and proprietary materials, subject to applicable agreements with NNAS.

15. Limitation of Liability and Indemnity

To the maximum extent permitted by law, NNAS is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of opportunity, income, business, reputation, or data arising from your application, portal use, delays, third-party actions, Service Provider actions, source organization actions, payment processing, or Regulatory Body decisions. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless NNAS, its directors, officers, employees, contractors, agents, and representatives from claims, losses, damages, costs, and expenses arising from your breach of these Terms and Conditions; false, fraudulent, misleading, or incomplete information submitted by you or on your behalf; misuse of the portal or reports; or unlawful conduct connected with your application.

16. Changes to Terms, Services, Providers, and Requirements

NNAS may update these Terms and Conditions, the Privacy Policy, fee schedules, document requirements, portal rules, provider assignments, service delivery models, and application processes from time to time. Updated terms take effect when posted unless a later date is stated. Continued use of the portal after updated terms are posted constitutes acceptance of those terms to the extent permitted by law.

NNAS may add, remove, replace, or change Service Providers or divide work between Service Providers based on service needs, contractual requirements, operational requirements, or regulatory needs.

17. Electronic Acceptance and Governing Law

Checking a box, clicking "Accept" or "Submit," making payment, uploading documents, submitting an application, or otherwise taking electronic action indicating assent constitutes your electronic signature and your agreement to be legally bound by these Terms and Conditions. Electronic records, notices, and signatures have the same legal effect as paper records and handwritten signatures, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada applicable in Ontario. If any provision is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. These Terms and Conditions, together with the NNAS Privacy Policy, fee schedules, portal instructions, service notices, and any documents incorporated by reference, form the entire agreement between you and NNAS regarding your application and portal use.

Applicant Acknowledgement and Declarations

By accepting these terms while creating my application, I confirm that:

• I consent to the collection, use, disclosure, storage, transfer, access, retention, and processing of my personal information as described in these Terms and Conditions and the NNAS Privacy Policy.

• I understand that NNAS has legal agreements with both CES and TruMerit, and that my personal information, application records, and documents may be shared with, transmitted to, accessed by, stored by, reviewed by, processed by, or retained by either Service Provider or by both Service Providers in connection with my application.

• I understand that my application may be assigned to CES, TruMerit, or both, and that NNAS may divide or reassign work between Service Providers based on service needs.

• I understand that my information and documents may be transmitted to, accessed from, stored in, or processed at locations used by NNAS, CES, or TruMerit, including locations in Canada and the United States.

• The information and documents I have submitted or will submit are true, accurate, complete, and not misleading. Any documents submitted on my behalf are, to the best of my knowledge, genuine and submitted in good faith.

• I consent to NNAS disclosing my reports, supporting documents, and application records to the Regulatory Bodies I select, and I understand that those bodies make their own registration decisions.

• I understand that NNAS, CES, TruMerit, Regulatory Bodies, source organizations, and others may rely on the information and documents submitted in connection with my application.

• I understand that falsifying, altering, forging, tampering with, or misrepresenting any document, information, or report may result in application cancellation without refund, refusal of future applications, suspension or ban from re-applying, and notification to CES, TruMerit, Regulatory Bodies, and relevant authorities.

• I understand that by clicking "Submit," NNAS begins authentication and administrative processing immediately; that no refund will be issued if required documents are not provided; and that NNAS considers services rendered once authentication or administrative processing begins.

• I understand that my records may be retained and used in connection with any future application I make to NNAS.

• I understand that NNAS does not guarantee any assessment result, registration outcome, or processing timeline.

• I have read, understood, and agree to these Terms and Conditions, and I accept that clicking "Accept" constitutes a legally binding electronic signature.