From your first application to your first shift
Nursing and midwifery is the most heavily recruited healthcare field in both the UK and Ireland, and the most tightly regulated. We guide you through registration, placement and your visa in the right order.
Nurses & Midwives
Your regulators
What nurses and midwives need to know
Nurses and midwives are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK and by CORU-aligned arrangements in Ireland. Both routes assess your qualification, your recent clinical practice and your English language proficiency, and both can require competence testing depending on where you trained.
The process has more moving parts than most professions: an application, document verification, English testing, health and character declarations, and (for many overseas-trained nurses in the UK) a two-part Test of Competence. Each stage depends on the one before it, which is why sequencing matters so much.
Not sure this is you?
Professions overlap, and the regulator that covers your role is not always obvious, particularly across two countries. If you're unsure where you fit, describe your qualification and we'll tell you which route applies.
Ask about your professionThe route for nurses and midwives
Each stage depends on the one before it. This is the order that keeps a timeline moving rather than stalling.
- 01
Confirm your route
UK or Ireland, and which regulator applies. Where you trained affects both the requirements and the likely timeline.
- 02
English language evidence
IELTS or OET to the standard your regulator requires, often the stage that determines how quickly everything else can move.
- 03
Registration application
Qualification evidence, clinical practice hours, identity documents and health and character declarations, prepared to specification.
- 04
Competence testing where required
For many overseas-trained nurses in the UK, a computer-based test followed by an OSCE. We help you know what to expect.
- 05
Placement and sponsorship
With registration in place or clearly in progress, we match you to employers and support the Certificate of Sponsorship stage.
- 06
Visa and arrival
Health and Care Worker visa for the UK, or a Critical Skills Employment Permit for Ireland, aligned to your start date.
The things that catch people out
These are the details that most often add months to a timeline, and all of them are manageable if you know about them early.
Recent practice hours matter
Both regulators look at how recently you have practised, not only what you qualified in. A long gap can require additional evidence.
English testing is often the bottleneck
Test availability and score validity periods shape your whole timeline. Starting here is usually the right call.
Midwifery is assessed separately
Midwifery registration is not automatic for registered nurses. The two are distinct parts of the register with distinct requirements.
Your registration usually comes first
Most employers want your registration in place, or demonstrably in progress, before issuing sponsorship.
Services for nurses and midwives
The services most commonly needed on this route, in roughly the order they apply.
Nurses & Midwives: common questions
Many overseas-trained nurses complete the computer-based test before arriving and the OSCE after arriving in the UK, often with employer support. Whether it applies to you depends on your qualification, where you trained and your registration route.
You can, though the two are separate applications to separate regulators with separate fees and evidence requirements. We usually recommend deciding on a primary destination first. That is exactly what our career guidance conversation is for.
Both are accepted by the NMC at defined minimum scores. OET is healthcare-specific and many nurses find its content more familiar; IELTS is more widely available in some countries. The right choice depends on your circumstances rather than on which is inherently easier.
Ready to talk through your route?
Tell us about your qualification and where you'd like to work. We'll map what's genuinely open to you as one of the nurses and midwives we work with.