Nurses not from EU countries

Those who wish to work in their profession as a nurse in the UK, will at first have to register with the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Below are the requirements you will need to fulfil to obtain registration.

The NMC will only accept nurses with at least a “first level” qualification such as

State Registered Nurse
Registered Midwife
Registered Nurse

2. You are only allowed to apply for registration after a minimum of educational training, and post registration experience.

You would have expected to have undergone a programme of education and training of at least three (3) years or 4600 hour in an area relevant to nursing. Any other kind of studies will not be considered.
Your training must be both theoretical and practical and accomplished at a post-secondary school level of education.
Your training programme must have been of not less than one third (1/3) theory and not less than one half (1/2) clinical/practical.

3. The training program you did must have familiarised you with the following theoretical and clinical/ practical areas.

Care of the elderly (geriatrics)
Child care and paediatrics
Community (home) Nursing
General and specialist medicine
General and specialist surgery
Maternity care (obstetrics)
Mental health and psychiatry

4. To be considered for registration, you will be expected to have at least 6 months continuous post-registration experience, in the five (5) years before you apply.

5. You would be expected to have a good command of the English language evaluated by undertaking the IELTS test with the British Council in your country of residence. You need a minimum of 6.5 as an overall score to be accepted.

If you obtain a registration from the NMC, a firm offer of employment and satisfy all of the above criteria then you will be able to apply for a visa to enter the UK and work as Nurse. Click here for more information on UK visa and work permit.

Registration time line

We highly recommend that you apply at least 6 months in advance as it often takes the NMC more than 135 days to process an application. However applications from qualified and experienced nurses from certain countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa are highly respected and can make the process quicker.

Where nurses work

Registered Nurses are able to work in the following work environments either in London or in the whole of UK:

Care Homes
GP Practices
Health screening Clinics
Learning Disability Homes
London Clinics
National health service hospitals
Occupational Heath Units
Private Companies
Private Home Care
Private Hospitals

Types of jobs

Recruitment agencies are able to provide you with both short and longer term contracts and permanent UK nursing positions.

Grading of Nurses and associated pay rates in the UK:

Nurses working within NHS (Public) hospitals will be paid according to a fixed nation-wide structure based on their grade and the number of years they have been in that grade. The pay rates are reviewed each year, and any changes will come into effect as of the 1st of April of the same year. Please be aware! that the pay rates are slightly higher in private hospitals.

Nurses are graded in seniority as follow: Levels A, B and C are for health assistants, students and non-registered nurses, and Level D to I is for registered Nurses. Level I representing the highest grade and most senior nurses.

A registered nurse in her first year will be paid from £15,000 pounds per annum and can go up to £30,000 pounds at the most senior level. An extra allowance is added to the salary of nurses working in London to cover the higher cost of living. This allowance ranges from £3,000 to £4,000 pounds more per annum.