Discrimination Against Foreign Physical Therapists

We, the undersigned, ask Congress, the President, our State Representatives and our Governor to urge the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) to reverse its recently announced policy change which excludes physical therapists from the Philippines, India, Egypt and Pakistan from taking the regular NPTE U.S. licensure exam.


The FSBPT develops and administers the NPTE Physical Therapy licensing exam for all Physical Therapists, foreign and domestic, who seek licensure in the US. Citing sharing of test questions, without presenting hard data or evidence, the FSBPT announced immediate and broad sweeping discrimination that would exclude all applicants educated in the Philippines, India, Egypt and Pakistan from sitting for the regular NPTE exam. Instead the FSBPT plans to develop a special, presumably more difficult, exam for therapists from these countries that will only be available in the Fall of 2011 and then only be administered one time each calendar year. We the undersigned protest this discriminatory action and support the right of law abiding, honest and hard working physical therapists to take the regular NPTE regardless of their nationality. We encourage the FSBPT to use its resources to find an equitable way to deal with any proven test irregularities and/or increase the pool of test questions to alleviate its own concerns about question sharing.
If this discriminatory practice is permitted, large numbers of honest and hard working therapists will be prevented from obtaining U.S. licensure. It will also exacerbate a critical shortage of physical therapists in the U.S. which will negatively impact hospitals, long term care and rehab facilities, and mostly importantly, patient care across the U.S.

Please sign your name to make a difference.