United Kingdom · NMC
NMC registration for internationally educated nurses
Last reviewed August 2026 against Nursing and Midwifery Council guidance. Requirements change: always confirm against the regulator before you pay a fee.
To practise as a nurse in the United Kingdom you must be on the NMC register. The route has a fixed shape, but it is described across several different pages of the regulator's site and rarely in the order you meet it. This is that order.
The route, in order
- 1
Check that you are eligible before you spend anything
The NMC expects a nursing qualification of at least three years, current or lapsed registration in the country where you trained, and post-qualification practice. Establishing this first matters because the exam and application fees are not refundable if you are not eligible.
Check your eligibility - 2
Meet the English language requirement
You can sit IELTS Academic or OET. Results are valid for two years, and if yours expires before your application completes you will have to sit it again, so the timing of this test matters more than people expect.
- 3
Sit the CBT
The computer-based test is the theory half of the NMC Test of Competence. You sit it in your own country, before you have a job or a visa, and you can retake it if you do not pass first time. This is the stage most people can start soonest.
Practise CBT questions free - 4
Submit your application and documents
You submit your qualification, registration and identity evidence to the NMC, along with a police clearance and a self-declaration of health and character. The NMC does not ask for a tuberculosis certificate: that is a visa requirement, not a registration one, and the two are often confused.
See which documents your route needs - 5
Sit the OSCE after you arrive
The objective structured clinical examination is the practical half of the Test of Competence, and it is sat in the UK. You will normally need a job and a visa before you reach this stage, which is why the CBT comes first.
- 6
Registration decision
Once both parts of the Test of Competence and all evidence are complete, the NMC makes its decision. Timescales are set by the regulator and vary with how complete your evidence is.
English language requirement
The NMC accepts IELTS Academic or OET. For IELTS the requirement is 7.0 in listening, reading and speaking, and 6.5 in writing. For OET it is grade B in listening, reading and speaking and grade C+ in writing. Both are checked per skill, not on an average, which is the single most common reason an otherwise strong application stalls.
Where this comes from
We summarise the regulator, we do not replace it. These are the sources this page was written from.
Where do you stand right now?
Answer a few questions about your training and experience and see which of these requirements you already meet, which you do not, and what to do next.
Check your eligibilityConsidering both countries? Read the NMBI route for Ireland.