Nurses and midwives who have trained outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and want to work in the UK as a nurse or midwife must gain professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Applicants are tested for competency through a two-part process to gain registration.
- Part one – computer-based multiple choice examination (CBT) which is accessible around the world for applicants to access in their home countries.
- Part two – practical objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) which will always be held in the UK.
Rules for employers and overseas nurse applicants
- All overseas applicants need to pass a computer-based test (CBT) and comply with all other initial requirements of the NMC overseas nursing process (including achieving language capability requirements) to be eligible to sit the OSCE and complete their registration. NMC guidance is available on how an overseas applicant can meet the required level of English language capability.
- An individual entering the UK to take a nursing role has up to three months from the employment start date noted on the certificate of sponsorship (CoS) to sit the OSCE exam. During this period they can be legally employed as a pre-registration candidate.
- Employers must ensure that before a certificate of sponsorship is applied for:
- the individual has passed part one of the NMC test of competence
- the individual has been issued with an offer of employment, and
- the individual has achieved the required level of language capability.
- Exceptions for Nurses as this job is in the Shortage Occupation list
- The general Tier 2 minimum salary requirement of £20,800 is temporarily removed in these circumstances, though employers are still advised to place nurses in an interim position with a salary at least equivalent to that of a band 3 role.
- Applicants may sit the OSCE up to three times as part of one application (applies to applications started after 06 April 2017).
- Applicants must pass their OSCE within eight months from the start of their visa.
- If an applicant is unsuccessful at their first or second OSCE attempt, they must wait a minimum of 10 working days before they can take the examination again. Previously, applicants had to wait three months before they could take the OSCE for the third time.
- As of July 2018, applicants now only have to re-sit the parts of the exam they previously failed. There is now a reduced re-sit fee of £496 to all applicants who have failed four or fewer stations, regardless of which part of the exam they failed.
- If the applicant is unsuccessful after their permitted attempts, the employer must stop sponsoring them and as a result their leave to remain period will be shortened.
- Upon successful completion of the OSCE and awarding of NMC registration, employers need to commit to ongoing employment of the individual as a registered nurse on a salary of at least £20,800.
- Employers must be able to provide evidence of the above arrangement if requested.