Become a nurse in the UK

This guide is for a nurse registered in Nigeria who wants to work as a nurse in the UK and has never done any of this before. It takes you from your NMCN licence to your first UK salary, one step at a time: what you have just done, what you do now, where, what it costs, how long it takes, and what comes next. Read it once from top to bottom. Then come back to the stage you are on. Every fee, time and rule in it comes from the official page that sets it, with the date that page was read. Where a line says "nurses who did it say", it is what nurses report from their own journeys, not a rule.

Part 1. Before you start

The four bodies you will deal with

The NMCN, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, is the council that registered you in Nigeria. It confirms to the UK that your licence is real. The NMC, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, is the UK nursing regulator. It decides whether you can join the UK register of nurses. Your employer is a UK hospital or care provider that the Home Office has licensed to sponsor visas. It gives you the job. The Home Office is the UK government department for immigration. It gives you the visa.

The two exams

The NMC tests a nurse trained outside the UK with its Test of Competence, which has two parts. The first is the CBT, a computer-based test in two sections, Part A (numeracy) and Part B (clinical). You sit it in Nigeria. The second is the OSCE, a practical exam sat only in the UK, made of short practical tasks the NMC calls stations; a first attempt is 10 stations. The NMC lets you sit the two in any order, but you must pass both within two years of each other. Because you may sit them in any order, there are two routes in.

The route this guide takes: OSCE first

Take OSCE first. You pass your English test and the CBT in Nigeria, come to the UK as a visitor to sit the OSCE, get your PIN (your number on the NMC register), go home, get a job as a nurse already on the UK register, then come back on the work visa. The Immigration Rules allow a visit to the UK for the OSCE.

Here is why this is the route to take today.

Offers to nurses still in Nigeria have become hard to get. Nurses already in the UK describe a job offer to a nurse still in Nigeria as rare today. Nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 and 2026 say they turned to it after months of applying from home with no offer; one sent more than five hundred applications from Nigeria over a year and got none. The NMC's own survey says the same: more than half of those putting off the OSCE said they could not get a UK job (Part 4).

On OSCE first, every step is in your own hands. You do not wait for an employer to pick you before you can move. You do your papers, your English, the CBT, the visitor visa and the OSCE yourself, in your own time. When you apply for jobs, you apply as a nurse already on the UK register, with your PIN.

Your PIN ends the race against your deadlines. Your English result and your NMC dates each run for two years (Part 4). On OSCE first you finish your registration inside those two years without waiting for an employer. Once you have passed both the CBT and the OSCE, your Test of Competence stays valid for five years.

What it asks of you. Money before any job: £1,111 (about ₦1.98 million) for the visitor visa, the OSCE and the registration fee after the CBT, plus your flights and your stay (Part 7). Two trips: one for the OSCE, one for the job. And a visitor visa can be refused (Stage 6). Plan for all three from the start.

Job first, if an offer comes

Job first is the other route. You pass the CBT in Nigeria, get a job offer from a UK employer while you are still at home, get the Health and Care Worker visa, travel, and sit the OSCE after you start work. Nurses who did it say most employers book the OSCE for you and train you for it. Until your PIN you are paid at Band 3, below a registered nurse's pay (Stage 11). Job first costs you less, because there is no visitor visa and no second trip.

Nigeria is on the UK's red list for health recruitment, so no employer or agency may come to Nigeria to recruit you. You may still apply yourself to an employer's advertised vacancy (Stage 11).

When you take Job first. Keep applying for nurse posts from the day you pass the CBT. If a licensed employer offers you a nurse post in writing before you travel for the OSCE, check it (Stage 11, Step 1) and take Job first. If an offer comes while you are in the UK as a visitor, you may attend the interview but you may not take the job; you go home and apply for the work visa from Nigeria.

If you choose Job first from the start. Set your cut-off on the day you pass the CBT: the date by which, with no offer, you move to OSCE first. Nurses who got jobs from Nigeria in 2025 say they sent between one hundred and three hundred applications over about four months. Count your cut-off back from the earliest end in your deadlines table (Part 4), leaving time before that end for the visitor visa, the trip, the OSCE and a resit. When the cut-off comes with no offer, do Stage 11's three-point check, then switch to OSCE first and start at Stage 5, the NMC's letter for your OSCE.

Stages 1 to 4 are the same on both routes. From Stage 5 on, each stage has an "On Job first" note where Job first is different.

Study in the UK, then register

A third route, a UK degree on a Student visa, is not covered in this guide and costs far more: a Student visa is £558 (about ₦995,000), and the healthcare surcharge for a student is £776 (about ₦1.38 million) a year.

Check that you can start

The NMC accepts your application only if your qualification has allowed you to register in the country you trained in, and it asks the NMCN to confirm this. If you hold your certificates of registration and a current practising licence from the NMCN, you can start. Start Stage 1 today.

If you hold a School of Nursing diploma and no degree. You find out only when the NMC evaluates you at Stage 3, and the £167 is not refunded if it says no. So do Stage 1 first.

If someone has already sent you a job offer. Check the employer before you trust the offer or pay anyone anything (Stage 11, Step 1). A real employer never asks you to pay for a job.

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

Stage 1. Your Nigerian papers. Put your papers in order and have the NMCN verify you to the NMC. ₦17,500 or ₦21,875. Plan for six months, the minimum in the NMCN guidelines nurses describe; some nurses got approval within two to three weeks once a complete request was accepted. The slow part is the letters from your school and your last employer.

Stage 2. Your English. Pass IELTS Academic or OET at the NMC's scores. ₦299,000 for IELTS Academic on computer at an IDP centre. Results in 1 to 5 days on computer.

Stage 3. Your NMC application. Open your NMC account and send your first application. £167 (about ₦298,000). The NMC aims to decide within 14 days once the NMCN has answered.

Stage 4. The CBT. Book and pass the computer test. £83 (about ₦148,000). The result comes on the day.

Stage 5. The NMC's letter for your OSCE. Find and print the NMC's email or letter that allows you to take the OSCE. The visitor visa needs it.

Stage 6. Your visitor visa. Apply from Nigeria for a Standard Visitor visa. £135 (about ₦241,000). A decision usually within 3 weeks.

Stage 7. Book your OSCE. Book a date at one of the three centres. £794 (about ₦1.4 million).

Stage 8. Your registration application. Get your police certificate, then send your registration application to the NMC before you travel. £182 (about ₦325,000).

Stage 9. Travel and sit the OSCE. Results by email within 5 working days.

Stage 10. Go home and get your PIN. The NMC aims to decide within 30 days of having everything.

Stage 11. Get a job in the UK. Apply for Band 5 nurse posts with your PIN. No official time; nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 say about four to five months. Nobody may charge you for a job.

Stage 12. Your work visa. TB test, police certificate, then the Health and Care Worker visa from Nigeria. £324 (about ₦578,000) for the visa, $94 (about ₦125,000) for the TB test at IOM, and £1,270 (about ₦2.27 million) of your own money in your bank account unless your employer covers your first month. The decision usually takes about 3 weeks.

Stage 13. Travel and start work. Fly, land, start with your employer.

Stage 14. Your first weeks in the UK. A GP, your National Insurance number, your first salary. Free.

The money. On OSCE first the UK fees come to £1,685 (about ₦3.01 million) for you alone. With your NMCN fee, your English test and your TB test, that is about ₦3.5 million in fees, plus £1,270 (about ₦2.27 million) in your bank account unless your employer covers your first month. Your police certificate, your two trips and your stay for the OSCE come on top. On Job first the UK fees are £1,550 (about ₦2.77 million), about ₦3.2 million in all, because there is no visitor visa. Part 7 has every fee.

The time. No official page states how long the whole journey takes. Once the NMC confirms you (Stage 3), you have two years to finish your registration, the CBT and the OSCE included. Nurses who did it say the NMCN and the job search are the two longest waits. Nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 say it took them about six to seven months from the visitor visa to a job offer, once their English and the CBT were done.

On Job first the order after Stage 4 is: the job (Stage 11), the work visa (Stage 12), travel (Stage 13), then your registration application, the OSCE and your PIN in the UK (Stages 8 to 10), and your first weeks (Stage 14). There is no visitor visa.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Your Nigerian papers

Back to the short stages

You can start. Now the NMCN must confirm your registration to the NMC. The NMC will not take your word for your Nigerian licence: it asks the NMCN, and the NMCN acts only when you apply to it for verification and a letter of good standing to the NMC. Start this stage first, because it is the one you control least. Do your English test alongside it (Stage 2 says when to sit it).

Step 1. Put your papers in one folder

Do. Gather your papers and check that your name and date of birth read the same on every one: your birth certificate, your passport and your nursing certificates. Fix any difference before you pay any fee.

What you need.

• Your original nursing qualification certificate. The NMC wants your name, the name of the qualification and the date it was awarded clearly visible on it.
• Your certificates of registration and your current practising licence.
• Your birth certificate or declaration of age.
• A passport that is still valid when you upload it, and a clear scan of its picture page. A first Nigerian passport is applied for and paid for on passport.immigration.gov.ng, opens in a new tab; the standard passport comes as 32 pages for 5 years, 64 pages for 5 years, or 64 pages for 10 years.
• If your name has changed, official evidence that shows both names, such as a marriage or divorce certificate.

Where. Your school's records office, your hospital and your own records. The NMC's page for the whole process is Register as a nurse or midwife if you trained outside the UK, opens in a new tab.

Cost and time. Free, unless you must correct a paper. No official page states a time. Nurses who did it say a name correction is among the slowest papers, so start it this week.

You are done when every paper is in one folder, scanned clearly, and your name reads the same on all of them.

If your names do not match. The NMCN changes a name only for a married woman, and only her surname. You apply on its licence portal, licence.nmcn.gov.ng, opens in a new tab, uploading your certificates of registration, your marriage certificate or a sworn court affidavit of marriage, and a full-page notice in a national newspaper, and you pay ₦10,937 through Remita on the portal. The NMCN accepts no change of first or middle names, no change of name for a man, and only three consistent names in full on its records. For a wrong date of birth or a misspelt name on your NMCN papers, write to your NMCN zone office (the contacts are in Step 2) with scans of the papers that differ, and ask what it accepts.

If your passport needs changing. You apply online to the Nigeria Immigration Service. There are two procedures.

To change your passport data after a marriage:

• your birth certificate from the National Population Commission (NPC), or a declaration of age (a sworn statement of your birth date) from a high court;
• your state of origin certificate;
• an application letter;
• your marriage certificate, a court affidavit and a newspaper notice;
• your passport data page.

Then take your payment and appointment slips in person to the passport office you chose, on your appointment date.

To correct an error, or to replace, add, remove or rearrange names:

• your birth certificate or declaration of age;
• an application letter giving the reason;
• a newspaper notice;
• your state of origin certificate;
• a court affidavit;
• your passport data page.

You upload these and pay a non-refundable administrative charge; the page gives no amount.

Papers not in English, and name change evidence for the NMC. If a paper is not in English, the NMC wants the original, a photocopy stamped and signed by a translation service, a full English translation also stamped and signed, and the translator's contact details. For a change of name, the NMC's examples are a marriage, civil partnership or divorce certificate, or a deed poll, issued by the official body and showing your old and new names. If all you hold is a Nigerian sworn affidavit and a newspaper notice, upload them as your name change evidence and keep the originals; if the NMC needs more, it emails you.

Next. Open your NMCN portal account.

Step 2. Open your NMCN portal account

Your papers are in one folder. Now open your account on the NMCN's portal.

Do. Register on licence.nmcn.gov.ng, opens in a new tab with REGISTER, and sign in. Since 1 September 2021 the NMCN takes verification only online; there is no paper form to collect. On the portal, Verification Services asks you to log in to apply.

What you need. Your registration number as it appears on your certificate, your specialty and your surname, and the phone and email on your Professional Update Form, where the sign-up code is sent; then a username and password you choose.

Before you apply. The NMCN's 2021 circular says you cannot apply for verification until you have completed your Professional Update Form, a form on the Council's portal. If the portal asks for it, complete it first.

Cost. Free.

You are done when you can sign in to licence.nmcn.gov.ng.

If it goes wrong. If the portal sends you no code or will not let you sign up, email support@nmcn.gov.ng, the NMCN's address for portal problems. Call 0702 923 4588 or email info@nmcn.gov.ng, 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Do not use the Contact Us page on the NMCN's website: it still carries placeholder text, not the NMCN's details. The Ibadan office is at Plot 3/4b Commercial Area, Oluyole Industrial Estate, Ring Road, Ibadan, on 08136791857 and ibadanzo@nmcn.gov.ng. The Lagos zone office in Yaba answers on 08064703003 and lagoszo@nmcn.gov.ng, and the head office in Abuja on 08035056323 and abujazo@nmcn.gov.ng. Every office keeps the same hours. The full list is on the NMCN's offices page, opens in a new tab.

Next. Apply for your verification.

Step 3. Apply for your NMCN verification

You can sign in to the portal. Now apply for verification of your certificates and a letter of good standing to the NMC.

Before you start, call two people. Nurses who applied in 2025 and 2026 say the portal asked for the contact details of their nursing school's head of department and, if they had worked, the head of nursing at their last workplace, and that each of them had to send a letter of good standing straight to the NMCN. They say you need each person's phone number, email and address, that some ask a fee to send the letter, and that these letters are the slow part. So call your school's head of department and your last head of nursing this week. Tell them the NMCN will write, and ask what they need from you.

What nurses say the NMCN checks. Nurses who applied in 2025 and 2026 describe guidelines the NMCN brought in on 1 March 2024: two years after your permanent licence before you may apply, no provisional licence, at least six months left on your licence, the two letters above, and a minimum of six months to process. If you are within two years of your permanent licence, or your licence has less than six months left, email info@nmcn.gov.ng before you pay. Give your RN number and the date of your permanent licence, ask whether you may apply now, and keep the reply.

Do. The NMCN's circular sets out three parts: you start with your RN or RM number and your email address, you pay by card or net banking (paying from your bank's online banking), then you fill in the form, upload your documents and submit. Choose the UK destination exactly: the NMC, UK. A nurse who chose the wrong foreign board in 2025 says she had to pay again.

What you need.

• An application letter stating the purpose (verification and a letter of good standing) and the destination (the NMC, UK).
• The verification form, filled in on the portal.
• A copy of your current practising licence.
• Copies of your certificates of registration. Nurses say the NMCN rejects a notification of registration in place of the certificate.
• A copy of your birth certificate or declaration of age.
• A card or net banking to pay online.

Where. licence.nmcn.gov.ng, opens in a new tab. The list of papers is on the NMCN's verification page, opens in a new tab.

Cost. The NMCN prints two fees for this. Its verification page asks for ₦17,500; its approved fee schedule of 2021 lists "Verification Online UK" at ₦21,875. Pay the amount the portal shows, and keep the receipt.

Time. The NMCN's verification page and its portal state no time. Plan for six months, the minimum in the guidelines nurses describe; some nurses got approval within two to three weeks once a complete request was accepted. The slow part is the letters from your school and your last employer. Do your English test and your NMC application while you wait.

You are done when you have submitted the application and the NMCN has emailed you about your payment and your application. The letter then goes from the NMCN to the NMC, not through you. To know when it went, email info@nmcn.gov.ng with your RN number and your receipt and ask the date it sent your letter to the NMC.

If it goes wrong. Follow up by phone and email on the numbers in Step 2, with your receipt. Watch the date your practising licence expires, so it stays current while the NMCN works (your deadlines table, Part 4).

From nurses who did it. Nurses put the NMCN among the two longest waits. The most common problems they report are letters from the school or the last employer that are slow or missing, the wrong destination board, a notification uploaded in place of a certificate, and a name that differs across papers.

Next. Your NMC application (Stage 3), once you have applied here.

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Paying in pounds from Nigeria

From Stage 3 on, most fees are in pounds: the NMC's £167 (Stage 3) and £182 (Stage 8), Pearson's £83 for the CBT (Stage 4), the visitor visa's £135 (Stage 6), the OSCE's £794 (Stage 7) and the work visa's £324 (Stage 12). Before you start Stage 2, ask your bank whether your naira card pays online in pounds and what its foreign spending limit is. If the limit is lower than the next fee, have it raised before you pay. Northampton, one of the OSCE centres, takes Visa, Visa Debit, Visa Electron and Mastercard. If Pearson refuses your card, Pearson's NMC page says a candidate testing in Nigeria who has difficulty paying by card can buy a CBT test voucher instead (Stage 4). If the NMC refuses your card, ask your bank why before you try again. Stages 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 12 point back here.

Stage 2. Your English

Back to the short stages

You have started your NMCN papers. Now, at the same time, pass your English test. The NMC wants proof that you can nurse safely in English, and for a nurse educated in Nigeria that means a test: IELTS Academic or OET, sat at a test centre.

The scores. IELTS Academic: 7 in listening, 7 in reading, 6.5 in writing and 7 in speaking. Or OET: B (350 or above) in listening, reading and speaking, and C+ (300 or above) in writing. The NMC states no overall band, and writing needs 6.5, not 7.

Which tests count. IELTS Academic on paper or on computer at a test centre, and IELTS for UKVI. Not IELTS Online, IELTS Indicator or One Skill Retake. OET on paper, on computer and OET@Home all count.

When to sit it. Your result is valid for two years. It must still be under two years old when the NMC assesses your registration application. On OSCE first you send that application from Nigeria before your OSCE (Stage 8), so the two years must cover your NMCN wait, your NMC application, the CBT and your visitor visa. Sit it once your NMCN request is in, and write its date in your deadlines table (Part 4).

Do. Book IELTS Academic or OET, sit the exam, and reach the scores above.

Where. The NMC lists the tests on Accepted English language tests, opens in a new tab. OET on computer is sat in Nigeria at five venues: Lagos (Victoria Island), Ibadan, Abuja, Asaba and Kano; book it on OET's Book a test page, opens in a new tab. IELTS Academic is sat at British Council and IDP centres, 57 of them in Nigeria on the IELTS test centre finder, opens in a new tab, among them Yaba, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki, Ikeja, Festac and Alausa in Lagos, and Wuse 2 and the Central Area in Abuja. IDP Nigeria's fees and dates are on IDP's Nigeria test dates page, opens in a new tab.

What you need. To book with IDP Nigeria, a clean colour scan or photo of your passport and a credit card (see Paying in pounds from Nigeria, above). OET bookings close 24 days before a paper test and 7 days before a computer test.

Cost. IDP Nigeria charges ₦299,000 for IELTS Academic on computer at a test centre, and ₦315,500 for IELTS for UKVI. IELTS Academic is accepted by the NMC and serves the visa too, so you do not need the more expensive IELTS for UKVI.

Time. IELTS on computer gives results in 1 to 5 days. OET results typically come within 6 days on computer; on paper, OET releases them from 13 days after the test date.

You are done when you hold a result with every score the NMC asks for. Keep your IELTS Test Report Form number or your OET candidate number: the NMC checks your result with it.

If it goes wrong. If you miss in one part, you may sit the same test again and combine two sittings: both within 12 months of each other, both no more than two years before the NMC assesses your application, all four parts sat each time, and no score in either sitting below IELTS 6.5 (6 for writing) or OET C+ (C for writing). A new full sitting has its own date, so it gives you a new two years; it combines with an older sitting only if both fall within 12 months of each other. If you sit OET, give the NMC permission to verify your result in your myOET account before you send your registration application, or it can be delayed.

From nurses who did it. Nurses who passed in one sitting say they trained for the test's technique, not just their English. Writing is the part most nurses say holds them back. The fear nurses repeat most is a result expiring while they wait for a sponsor. Train for the technique, and sit it once.

For the visa. The Health and Care Worker visa asks no separate English test of a nurse who has passed an English assessment the regulator accepts, so the same result serves your work visa.

On Job first. The NMC assesses your registration application after you land, so the two years must cover your job search, your work visa and your first weeks in the UK as well. You also show the result for the visa (Stage 12).

Next. Your NMC application (Stage 3), once your NMCN request is in.

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 3. Your NMC application

Back to the short stages

You have applied for your NMCN verification, and your English test is in progress. Now open your file with the NMC, the UK nursing regulator. You do not hold a European qualification it can recognise, so it checks your training with the NMCN and then tells you to sit the Test of Competence (the CBT and the OSCE).

Do. Register your NMC Online account on the NMC's page and verify it from the email the NMC sends. NMC Online and MyNMC are the same login under two names. Then complete your first application in MyNMC (the NMC calls it the eligibility and qualification application) and pay the evaluation fee.

Where. Begin your application, opens in a new tab, with the NMC's step-by-step guide, opens in a new tab beside it.

What you need.

• Your passport details and a copy of its picture page.
• A copy of your original qualification certificate.
• The name of your regulator (the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria) and a copy of your registration certificate. If your regulator no longer issues registration certificates, the NMC recommends a statement of entry to the register instead.
• Certified translations of any paper not in English.
• A card that pays online in pounds (see Paying in pounds from Nigeria, before Stage 2).

When. Once you have every paper on that list scanned and your NMCN request is in. Your English result is not needed yet. Open the account and submit in one sitting: if there is no activity on an application for three months before you submit it, the NMC closes it and removes the account.

Cost. £167 (about ₦298,000), paid to the NMC when you submit; the fee rose to £167 on 1 October 2026. It is not refunded, even if the NMC finds you cannot apply or you do not gain registration.

Time. The NMC aims to assess your qualification within 14 days once your application is in and it has a response from your regulator (and from your training institution, where it needs one). The 14 days start only when the NMCN's answer reaches the NMC, so tell your school's records office the NMC may write to it.

You are done when the NMC emails you the outcome of its evaluation. Then Pearson, the company that runs the CBT for the NMC, emails you that your account for the test has been made, with a temporary password.

Your first deadline starts here. From the day the NMC confirms you, you have two years to complete your registration, the CBT and the OSCE included. Write the date in your deadlines table (Part 4).

If it goes wrong. If the NMC needs more, it emails you: answer the same week. If it finds you do not meet its criteria, it emails you and closes the application, and the £167 is not refunded.

Keep your records. Keep every receipt, email and test record from here on. Nigerian nurses whose CBT results came from a centre later found to be compromised have had their files questioned and, in some cases, refused years afterwards, as the UK nursing press reported in 2025. So sit only at a centre on Pearson's finder (Stage 4).

Next. The CBT (Stage 4). While you wait, start revising on the NMC's Test of Competence pages, opens in a new tab.

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 4. The CBT

Back to the short stages

The NMC has confirmed you and Pearson has emailed you your account. Now book and pass the CBT, the first half of the Test of Competence: a computer-based test in two parts, Part A (numeracy) and Part B (clinical), sat at a Pearson VUE test centre.

Do. Log in with Pearson's temporary password, choose the exam for your field, book a date at a centre, pay, and sit the exam. Adult nurse RNA, mental health nurse RNMH, learning disabilities nurse RNLD, children's nurse RNC, midwife RM. Select both modules, Part A and Part B, for your first attempt.

Where. Book the test with Pearson VUE, opens in a new tab. Pearson's test centre finder, opens in a new tab lists five NMC CBT centres in Nigeria: Bellaz Education Services in Surulere, Lagos; Emerging Trees and Brookstone International Schools in Abuja; Initiative for Development, Education and Learning in Asaba; and Emerging Trees in Kaduna. There is none in Ibadan, so from Ibadan go to Lagos. Sit only at a centre on that finder, and never pay anyone to "arrange" a result.

What you need. Pearson's email with your account; a card that pays in pounds (see Paying in pounds from Nigeria, before Stage 2), or a test voucher (below); and on the day, your valid passport, the same passport you gave in your MyNMC account.

Cost. £83 (about ₦148,000) for both parts, paid to Pearson when you book. A resit of Part A alone is £50 (about ₦89,000), of Part B alone £70 (about ₦125,000), and of both £83.

Paying from Nigeria. Pearson's NMC page says a candidate testing in Nigeria who has difficulty paying by debit or credit card can buy a test voucher. The voucher shop, opens in a new tab sells the full CBT voucher for £83.00 (Part A only £50.00, Part B only £70.00), takes major credit cards and charges the card when you order. Choose Global, the option for Nigeria; the UK, France and the Philippines each have their own. A voucher works only in the region you choose, lasts twelve months from the day you buy it, and is never refunded. If the voucher shop also refuses your card, ask your bank to allow the payment (Paying in pounds from Nigeria, before Stage 2).

Time. You get an exam report straight after the test. The result shows in your Pearson account within 48 hours, and MyNMC updates within 48 hours too.

You are done when your exam report says pass for Part A and Part B, and MyNMC shows an overall pass for the attempt.

If it goes wrong. If you fail a part, resit only that part, at least 10 days later. You have three attempts in one application, at least 10 days apart, all within one year of the first. After three failed attempts the application closes and there is a six-month wait.

When to book it. Book the CBT when you are ready to go straight on to Stages 5 to 8. From your pass you have two years to pass the OSCE, and two years for the NMC to receive everything for your registration. Write the date of your pass in your deadlines table (Part 4).

On Job first. Start applying for nurse posts the day you pass (Stage 11). Nurses who did it say many UK employers ask for a CBT pass before they interview. Set your cut-off the same day (Part 1).

Next. The NMC's letter for your OSCE (Stage 5).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 5. The NMC's letter for your OSCE

Back to the short stages

You have passed the CBT. Now get the paper the visitor visa needs. To visit the UK for the OSCE, the Immigration Rules ask for written confirmation from the NMC. UKVI, the part of the Home Office that decides visas, calls it "a letter from the ... Nursing and Midwifery Council confirming your test". The NMC's OSCE booklet calls it "the email/letter from the NMC authorising you to take the test". It is also what the OSCE centres ask for before they book you: the NMC's confirmation that you may sit the OSCE, with your 10-digit PRN, the NMC's reference number for you.

Do. Search your email and MyNMC for the NMC's confirmation that you may take the OSCE, with your PRN on it. Print it and keep it with your visa papers. If you hold nothing from the NMC that allows you to take the OSCE, ask the NMC for it before you apply for the visa.

Where. Your email inbox and your MyNMC account. The OSCE's rules are on the NMC's OSCE page, opens in a new tab.

What you need. Access to the email address you gave the NMC, and your MyNMC login.

Cost and time. No NMC page names this letter, prices it, says how long it takes or says how to ask for it. That is why you look for it the day you pass the CBT, not the week before your visa appointment.

You are done when you hold a printed copy of the NMC's email or letter that confirms you may take the OSCE, with your 10-digit PRN on it.

If it goes wrong. If you cannot find it, ask the NMC for the email or letter confirming you may take the OSCE. Give your name and your CBT pass date, and say it is for your visitor visa. Keep its reply with your visa papers.

On Job first. You do not need this letter for a visa. You come on the Health and Care Worker visa, and nurses who did it say most employers book the OSCE for you after you land (Stage 7).

Next. Your visitor visa (Stage 6).

Stage 6. Your visitor visa

Back to the short stages

You hold the NMC's letter. Now apply for the visa that lets you come to sit the OSCE. The Immigration Rules let an overseas graduate of a nursing school visit the UK for up to 6 months to take the OSCE, on a Standard Visitor visa.

Do. Apply online from Nigeria for a Standard Visitor visa, then attend your appointment at a visa application centre. Do not book your flight until you have the decision.

Where. gov.uk's Standard Visitor page, opens in a new tab. The UK visa application centres in Nigeria are in Abuja, Lagos (Ikeja) and Lagos (Victoria Island), open 08:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday. There is also a premium centre in Ibadan on Thursdays, where an extra fee may apply.

What you must show. That you will leave the UK at the end of your visit; that you can support yourself during the trip and pay for your return journey without working, from money held in a bank or other financial institution; and that you will not live in the UK through frequent visits.

What you need. Your valid passport, and what gov.uk's Visitor: guide to supporting documents, opens in a new tab lists:

• the NMC's letter (Stage 5);
• documents about your life at home, such as a letter from your employer on headed paper giving your role, salary and length of employment;
• bank statements that show where the money came from;
• copies of earlier passports showing travel.

Bank statements or letters issued more than a year before you apply, credit card statements, hotel bookings, flight bookings and travel insurance are not evidence. If someone else pays for your trip, show what they provide, how, that they can afford it, and how you know them.

Cost. £135 (about ₦241,000), paid to the Home Office when you apply (see Paying in pounds from Nigeria, before Stage 2).

Time. The earliest you can apply is 3 months before you travel. The decision usually comes within 3 weeks once you have applied, proved your identity and given your documents.

You are done when you get the decision and it grants your visitor visa.

If it goes wrong. A visitor refusal has no appeal and no review. What you do next is make a fresh application, with stronger evidence of your ties to home and your money.

From nurses who did it. Nurses who were refused say the reasons they heard were weak ties to home and money that did not convince. So show both clearly: your job and family at home, and money that has sat in your account with its source plain.

On Job first. There is no visitor visa. You travel once, on the Health and Care Worker visa (Stage 12).

Next. Book your OSCE (Stage 7).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 7. Book your OSCE

Back to the short stages

You hold your visitor visa. Now book the OSCE for a date you can attend. Book after the visa, not before: Northampton and Leeds each say the valid visa for your test day is your responsibility, and if you cannot attend for want of one, their refund terms apply.

Do. Choose one of the three centres and book a date yourself, with your 10-digit PRN and a card. All your resits stay at the centre of your first attempt, so choose one you can reach again.

Where. The three centres are the University of Northampton, Ulster University and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (an NHS trust is a group of NHS hospitals). Each books online once the NMC has confirmed you: Ulster's booking enquiry, opens in a new tab, Northampton's booking, opens in a new tab on its candidate tab, or Leeds's booking tool, opens in a new tab on its Candidate tab.

• Northampton's centre is at its Innovation Centre, Green Street, Northampton, opposite Northampton train station, not at the Waterside Campus. It books only you, not others, and takes Visa, Visa Debit, Visa Electron or Mastercard when you book.
• Ulster's is at Foyle House on the Magee campus of Ulster University in Derry~Londonderry. Ulster states that it takes bookings from individual candidates. Once it confirms you, it sends you a link and a password, and you pay by card when you book.
• Leeds's is at Suite C5, Joseph's Well, Hanover Lane, Leeds. It takes a card when you book, or a purchase order.

Northampton and Leeds do not say in words whether they book a nurse with no UK employer. Before you pay either of them, ask the centre on its booking page, and keep its answer. The rules are on the NMC's OSCE page, opens in a new tab.

What you need.

• Your 10-digit PRN, from the NMC's confirmation (Stage 5).
• Your visitor visa.
• A card that pays in pounds (see Paying in pounds from Nigeria, before Stage 2).
• For Northampton: your name and address, date of birth, email address and mobile number.

Cost. £794 (about ₦1.4 million) for the first sitting, paid to the centre. If you fail seven or fewer stations, the resit is £397 (about ₦708,000); if you fail eight or more, it is £794 again.

Time. Leeds offers dates five days a week and closes bookings 3 days before; Ulster closes its dates 14 days before. For a date within the next two weeks, Northampton and Leeds each ask you to email them (Northampton at ctc@northampton.ac.uk). No centre says how far ahead its dates open.

Keep money for a resit. In January to March 2026, the NMC's figures (last updated 12 June 2026) show first attempts passing at 41% at Northampton, 44% at Leeds and 49% at Ulster, and second attempts at 78%, 76% and 84%. So keep £397 and time for a resit from the day you book.

You are done when the centre confirms your booking and its date.

If it goes wrong. If the centre will not book you, ask it in writing why, and book with Ulster, which states that it takes bookings from individual candidates.

From nurses who did it. The mistake nurses on OSCE first name is booking a centre far from where they will stay. Book the centre nearest to where you will stay, because every resit is there too.

On Job first. Ask your employer on your first day whether it books and trains you for the OSCE, before you book anything yourself. Nurses who did it say most employers do, and NHS trusts describe training courses of several weeks on their own pages. Leeds takes your employer's purchase order.

Next. Your registration application (Stage 8).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 8. Your registration application

Back to the short stages

You have booked your OSCE. Now get your police certificate and send your registration application to the NMC, before you travel. On the day of your first OSCE the NMC checks your original papers face to face, and it can do so only if your registration application is already sent and paid. The NMC also recommends starting this application only when you are close to taking your tests, because some of its evidence is time sensitive. This is that time.

Step 1. Get your police certificate

Do. Apply online on Police Services, the Nigeria Police Force's portal, for the Police Character Certificate. Go to your biometric capture session at your designated police station, the station Police Services gives you for your capture. Once the Force CID, the police department that signs the certificate, has signed it, download and print the certificate. gov.uk calls this check the Certificate of Good Conduct; when a UK form asks for your Nigerian criminal record certificate by that name, send your Police Character Certificate.

Where. Police Services, possap.gov.ng, opens in a new tab. The Police Force describes the service on its Police Character Certificate page, opens in a new tab.

What you need.

• The Police Services application form, filled in online.
• Your valid National Identity Card (a NIN slip is accepted for now).
• Your valid international passport and its data page.
• Two recent passport photographs on a white background, 35 by 45 mm.
• Your birth certificate or statutory declaration of age.
• Evidence that you paid the fee.
• For an application for a job, a letter from your employer or sponsor. For your NMC application you have no employer yet, so this item is for Stage 12.

Cost. A fee, paid on Police Services. Keep the receipt: evidence that you paid is one of your papers.

Time. 5 to 7 working days from when your documents are complete, or 2 to 3 working days by the express service, at extra cost.

Time it. You live in Nigeria when you send your registration application, so the NMC wants your Nigerian certificate dated within 12 months on the day you submit, and no more than 12 months old when it assesses your application. Apply for it now, in the weeks before you submit.

You are done when you have downloaded and printed your certificate.

If it goes wrong. If you have lived 12 months or more in another country in the last ten years, the NMC wants a police certificate from that country too.

Step 2. Send your registration application

Do. Complete your registration application in MyNMC and pay the registration fee, before you travel.

Where. Your MyNMC account. The NMC explains each part on its pages: Registration fee, opens in a new tab, Character, opens in a new tab and Health, opens in a new tab.

What you need.

• A health declaration from a registered medical practitioner who has assessed your health in the last twelve months: your GP, your family doctor or an occupational health practitioner, never a friend or family member. You send this from Nigeria, so name a doctor who has examined you in the last twelve months. The NMC's page does not say in words whether a doctor registered in Nigeria counts: before you submit, ask the NMC, and keep its reply.
• A character declaration. For your character declaration the NMC writes to the NMCN, so give the NMCN as your regulator. The NMC calls whoever gives a declaration your referee, and nobody giving one may be related to you.
• Your Nigerian police certificate from Step 1.
• Your English result: your IELTS certificate and Test Report Form number, or your OET certificate and candidate number, with permission given in your myOET account. It must be no more than two years old when the NMC assesses your application.
• A declaration that you have, or will have, indemnity cover in place for whenever you practise. You need not hold it yourself, but it is your responsibility that it is in place. With no UK employer yet, ask an insurance provider about the cover you declare.

Cost. £182 (about ₦325,000), paid to the NMC before you can submit; the fee rose to £182 on 1 October 2026. It comes back if you withdraw before the NMC completes your registration, if it closes your application because you did not return the evidence it asked for in time, or if it finds you do not meet its requirements. For paying in pounds, see the paragraph before Stage 2.

Your second deadline. From your CBT pass, the NMC must receive everything for this application, your referees' declarations included, within two years, or it closes your application (your deadlines table, Part 4).

You are done when MyNMC shows your registration application submitted and the fee paid.

If it goes wrong. If the NMC needs more, it emails you: answer the same week, because your two years still run.

On Job first. You send this application in your first weeks after you land, before your first OSCE date.

• For the health declaration, register with a GP in your first week (Stage 14), or ask your employer's occupational health team.
• For the police certificate, the NMC's ID check page takes a Nigerian certificate issued within 8 weeks before you left Nigeria. So you get it in Stage 12, once your certificate of sponsorship is assigned, so that it is less than 8 weeks old on the day you leave. If the NMC asks for a newer one, use the diaspora route in Part 4.
• For indemnity, check with your employer.

Next. Travel and sit the OSCE (Stage 9).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 9. Travel and sit the OSCE

Back to the short stages

Your registration application is sent and paid, and your OSCE is booked. Now travel, pass the identity check and sit the OSCE, the practical half of the Test of Competence.

Do. Fly in on your visitor visa before your OSCE date. On the day, show the centre your passport, give the NMC your original papers for the identity check, and sit the exam.

Pack in your hand luggage.

• Your valid passport, which the centre checks.
• Your visitor visa decision and the NMC's letter (Stage 5).
• Your original qualification certificate.
• Your original registration certificate.
• Any name change evidence.
• Any certified translations.
• Your Nigerian police certificate.
• Only if your name differs across your papers: a legal affidavit listing all the names you are known by, which Northampton and Leeds each accept as name evidence on the day.

The NMC checks the originals face to face on the day of your first OSCE. The check is booked for you; you do not arrange it.

Where. The centre you booked (Stage 7).

Cost. Paid when you booked. Your flight and your stay are your own.

Time. Results come by email within 5 working days.

You are done when the result email says you passed, and the NMC emails you what to do next.

If it goes wrong. If you fail, the resit is at the same centre, at least 10 days later: £397 for seven or fewer stations, £794 for eight or more. You have three sittings at most, all at the centre of your first attempt. After a third fail the application closes and there is at least a six-month wait. If the identity check cannot be done on the day, your result still comes through, but your application reaches the last stage only once the check is done, and a new in-person appointment is at your own cost.

A resit on the same visit. Your visit lasts up to 6 months. The visitor rules set no number of sittings in one visit: they neither allow nor bar a resit, and no rule lets a visit run past 6 months to resit the OSCE. Plan your stay so that a resit at least 10 days after your first sitting, and its result, fit inside your visit.

While you are a visitor. You may attend job interviews. You may not take a job.

From nurses who did it. Nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 say they had no employer to train them, so they prepared at a mock OSCE centre before the day. Practise under exam conditions on a mock ward, and revise on the NMC's Test of Competence pages, opens in a new tab.

On Job first. This stage is "Sit the OSCE at work". You sit the OSCE after you start work, and nurses who did it say most employers book it and train you. If your pay before your PIN is below £25,000, you must sit the OSCE within 3 months of your job start date, the date on your certificate of sponsorship (your deadlines table, Part 4).

Next. Go home and get your PIN (Stage 10).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 10. Go home and get your PIN

Back to the short stages

You have passed the OSCE. Now go home, answer anything the NMC asks, and wait for its decision. Your PIN is your number on the NMC register.

Do. When your visit ends, go home to Nigeria. You cannot move from a visit visa to the Health and Care Worker visa inside the UK; you apply for the work visa from Nigeria (Stage 12). Answer every email from the NMC the same week. Start applying for jobs now (Stage 11).

Where. By email and in MyNMC. The NMC's Registration decision, opens in a new tab page explains this step.

Cost. Nothing more for now. After you register, the NMC charges an annual fee of £143 (about ₦255,000). You pay it in MyNMC by credit or debit card, or by direct debit from a UK bank account; it does not take American Express.

Time. Once you have submitted and paid, the NMC contacts your referees. Once it has all your supporting information, it aims to assess your application within 30 days, then emails you the decision and your next steps. It must decide within three months of receiving your completed application.

You are done when the NMC emails you its decision and you hold your PIN. Once you have passed both the CBT and the OSCE, your Test of Competence stays valid for five years.

If it goes wrong. If the NMC needs more, it emails you: answer quickly, because the two-year limit still runs until it decides. If the NMC refuses you over your health, your character or your English, you can appeal within 28 days of the decision; there is no appeal if it refused you for an unpaid fee or an incomplete application. If it does not decide within three months, you also have a right of appeal.

On Job first. This stage is "Get your PIN at work". You wait for your PIN in the UK, at work. If your pay before your PIN is below £25,000, you must be fully registered within 8 months of your job start date, or your employer must stop sponsoring your visa (your deadlines table, Part 4).

Next. Get a job in the UK (Stage 11). Nurses report being placed at Band 5 on registration whatever their years of experience in Nigeria.

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 11. Get a job in the UK

Back to the short stages

You hold your PIN, or you have passed the OSCE and are waiting for it. Now get a job as a registered nurse. Your work visa comes from the job: a UK employer on the Register of licensed sponsors offers you a nurse post and assigns you a certificate of sponsorship, the employer's electronic record for your visa, with a reference number.

Nigeria and the red list. Nigeria is on the red list of the UK's Code of Practice for international recruitment. That stops employers and agencies from coming to recruit you. It does not stop you: in the list's own words, it "doesn't prevent individual health and social care personnel from independently applying to health and social care employers for employment in the UK, of their own accord". So you apply yourself, to the employer's own advert. The Code of Practice adds that a direct application must answer a specific advertised vacancy, hosted by and recruited to the same sponsoring employer, and that the rule follows the country where you live when you apply, not your nationality.

Step 1. Check the employer

Do. Before you apply, and again before you accept, check that the employer is licensed to sponsor your visa. Download the register's spreadsheet file (CSV, 10.4 MB). Open it in Google Sheets or Excel on your phone and use Find for the employer's name or town. Do not rely on "View online": it shows only the first 1,000 rows and can miss the employer. Nurse employers are listed under the Route "Skilled Worker"; the register has no Health and Care route.

Where. The Home Office's Register of licensed sponsors: workers, opens in a new tab. When it was updated on 20 October 2026, the register was dated 20 October 2026.

Cost and time. Free. A few minutes once the file is open.

You are done when you have found the employer's name on the register in the town on the advert or the offer, or found that it is not there. If it is there and someone sent you an offer, confirm the offer with the employer yourself, through the email or phone number on its own website, not the one in the message.

If an agency contacted you first. Apply to the employer directly instead. Look up the agency's address on a map and its name online: you are looking for a real office at that address, and for reports of fees or scams under its name. If anything is not right, deal only with the employer.

Step 2. Apply

Do. Find adverts for nurse posts from licensed employers, and apply to each one yourself, on the NHS Jobs application form. Some employers also ask for a CV.

Where. NHS Jobs, opens in a new tab. A search for international nurse, opens in a new tab opens without signing in. NHS Jobs has no filter for sponsorship, so read each advert: some carry a section saying that applicants who need Skilled Worker sponsorship are welcome, and NHS Employers advises employers to say in their adverts that international applications are welcome. Some employers interview applicants abroad by video, on MS Teams or FaceTime. Nurses who got jobs in 2025 say they also applied on Trac and on NHS Scotland's job site.

Apply for a nurse post. The visa asks for your job's occupation code, the number the UK gives each kind of job. The main list of codes you can apply with holds the nurse codes, 2231 (midwifery nurses) to 2237 (other registered nursing professionals). Ask the employer which code the post has, and read it later on your certificate of sponsorship.

The pay. The visa usually needs pay of at least £25,000 a year, or the going rate for the job if that is higher. For a nurse the going rate is set by NHS band, the NHS pay grade; for Band 5 in England it is £29,970. A nurse on the NMC register applies for Band 5 posts, and the NHS's 2026/27 Band 5 scale runs from £32,073 to £39,043 a year.

What you need. An NHS Jobs account; your supporting evidence; your PIN; and, for each post, the employer's name checked on the register. NHS Jobs asks you, for each essential and desirable criterion in the advert, how you gained and used the qualifications and experience it asks for, in a box of up to 5,000 characters, with no name or contact details in it. What you save is reused for your next application. The NHS Business Services Authority explains it in Help and support for applicants, opens in a new tab.

What the employer checks. Before you start, an NHS employer checks your NMC registration, with your consent and your PIN. For a new appointment from outside the NHS it seeks references covering the three years of work or training just before you applied. Before you take up the job it checks your right to work: you give it a share code from the Home Office's view and prove your immigration status service.

Cost. Nothing. Nobody may charge you for a job.

Time. No official page states how long a job search takes. Nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 say their job search after the OSCE took about four to five months; one sent about three hundred applications and her first interview became her offer.

From nurses who did it. Nurses who got jobs say the supporting statement is the skill most Nigerian nurses lack, and that three to five carefully written applications a day beat copied ones. Write each statement to the advert's criteria, three to five a day, every day.

Step 3. Before you accept

The repayment clause. Some employers ask you to pay back what they spent recruiting you if you leave early. NHS Employers' Repayment Clauses Guidance (published 9 June 2026) recommends at most £3,000 over at most three years: up to all of the itemised expenses, to £3,000, if you leave within your first 12 months; half of them in months 13 to 24; a quarter in months 25 to 36; nothing after 36 months. The clause must be in your offer letter or terms and explained to you before you accept and before you travel. NHS Employers' guidance says that if you were not given it before you accepted, you are not liable for any repayment. It is guidance to employers, so get the clause and its amounts in writing before you sign. Only evidenced expenses the employer paid can be claimed, with no interest, and the employer should offer you a monthly repayment plan. The RCN, the UK nurses' union, reported in August 2026 cases of recruits asked to repay far more than this.

Ask in writing. Ask whether the employer will cover your first month's costs and say so on your certificate of sponsorship (Stage 12).

You are done when the employer gives you an offer in writing, and then assigns your certificate of sponsorship. You apply for the work visa from Nigeria, so the employer may send the certificate of sponsorship once you are home. One nurse who did OSCE first in 2025 says her employer sent it about four days after she got back to Nigeria.

If it goes wrong. If the employer is not on the register, or anyone asks you to pay for the job, the certificate of sponsorship or a place, stop and pay nothing. Under the UK's Code of Practice, health workers recruited from abroad are not charged fees for recruitment. A recruitment agency based in Great Britain breaks the law if it charges you a fee for finding you work. The employer pays the certificate of sponsorship fee of £525 (about ₦937,000) and the immigration skills charge, a charge the employer pays the Home Office for hiring from abroad, and it may not take either back from you. If an offer falls through, your PIN stays yours, so keep applying.

What people have paid for. People selling "sponsorship" or jobs to Nigerians for thousands of pounds have been exposed in the UK press in 2025, and the RCN reported in August 2026 that some of the workers it helped had paid such fees. A real employer never asks you to pay.

On Job first. You do this stage from Nigeria after the CBT, before your PIN, and the job comes before any visa.

• Before your PIN you are paid at Band 3. The visa rules let that pay be below £25,000 for up to 8 months, as long as it is at least the Band 3 rate in their Table 4, £24,071 a year in England. NHS trusts still recruiting from abroad say on their own pages that new arrivals join at Band 3 and move to Band 5, from £32,073, when they register. The visa rules allow pay below £25,000 for up to 8 months if you passed the NMC's English requirement and the CBT before you applied for the visa, and you will sit the OSCE no later than 3 months after your job start date. Your employer must stop sponsoring your visa if you are not fully registered with the NMC within 8 months of your job start date (your deadlines table, Part 4). Before you accept, ask the employer in writing what band and pay you will be on until your PIN, and how it sponsors that.
• Ask about the exam fees. Before you accept, ask in writing whether the employer pays your OSCE fee and resits and your NMC registration fee, and whether the repayment clause includes them.
• The numbers. Nurses who got jobs from Nigeria in 2025 say they sent between one hundred and three hundred applications over about four months; one nurse sent more than five hundred from Nigeria over a year with no offer.

• Your cut-off. The job search is where most nurses get stuck (the NMC's survey, Part 4). When your cut-off (Part 1) comes with no offer, do this three-point check:

  1. Every post you applied for was a nurse post, coded 2231 to 2237.
  2. Each advert said that applicants who need Skilled Worker sponsorship are welcome, or the employer told you it sponsors.
  3. You applied on the employer's own advert, not through someone selling a place.

  If any answer is no, fix it and apply again. If all three are yes, switch to OSCE first and start at Stage 5, the NMC's letter for your OSCE, while your English result and your NMC dates still have time left (your deadlines table, Part 4).

• Next on Job first. Once you hold an offer in writing, start your TB test (Stage 12). Once your certificate of sponsorship is assigned, get your police certificate and apply for the visa.

Next. Your work visa (Stage 12).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 12. Your work visa

Back to the short stages

You hold a job offer in writing and you are in Nigeria. Now get the Health and Care Worker visa, which is part of the Skilled Worker visa. It asks for a TB certificate, because Nigeria is on the UK's list of countries where a test is needed, and a police certificate, because only four occupation codes are excused and none of them is nursing. Start the TB test now. Apply for the police certificate and the visa once your certificate of sponsorship is assigned.

Step 1. Take your TB test

Do. Book a chest X-ray at a clinic on gov.uk's list for Nigeria, say the test is for a UK visa, and collect your TB certificate.

Where. gov.uk's Tuberculosis testing in Nigeria, opens in a new tab lists each clinic with its phone number and email: IOM, the International Organization for Migration, in Abuja (Asokoro), Benin City and Lagos (G.R.A. Ikeja); and in Lagos also Q-Life Family Clinic (Victoria Island), St. Nicholas Hospital (Lagos Island) and The Consultants Practice (Ikoyi). IOM books on its own site, opens in a new tab. There is no clinic in Ibadan, so from Ibadan go to Lagos.

What you need. Proof of identity with your photograph, preferably your passport, and the transfer receipt for the fee.

Cost. At IOM, $94 (about ₦125,000) for anyone aged 11 or older and $49 (about ₦65,000) for a child under 11, paid in naira at the UN exchange rate. At the three private clinics in Lagos, ₦120,000 for anyone aged 11 or older and ₦60,000 for a child under 11. The clinics do not take cash. You pay by bank transfer to the clinic's account, before the examination, with your passport number as the reference; the account details are on gov.uk's page. IOM takes naira at the UN exchange rate; The Consultants Practice has a naira and a dollar account; St. Nicholas Hospital also takes payment on its website; Q-Life gives its payment details when you book.

Time. Appointments usually come within a few days; at busy times you can wait 10 days.

You are done when the clinic hands you your TB certificate on the day of the examination, if you are free of active TB.

If it goes wrong. Do not take it too early: the certificate lasts 6 months from the date of the X-ray and must still be valid when you apply for the visa. Each family member coming with you for 6 months or more needs a certificate of their own.

Step 2. Get your police certificate for the visa

Do. Apply on Police Services for a Police Character Certificate as in Stage 8, Step 1, this time with your UK employer's letter: the Police Force lists an employer's letter for an application for a job.

When. Once your certificate of sponsorship is assigned.

Cost and time. As in Stage 8: a fee paid on Police Services; 5 to 7 working days, or 2 to 3 by express at extra cost.

You are done when you have downloaded and printed your certificate.

If it goes wrong. If you have lived outside Nigeria, the visa may need more than one certificate. If you are under 28, you need one from any country you have stayed in for a total of 12 months or more since you turned 18. If you are 28 or over, from any country you have stayed in over the last 10 years.

On Job first. This is your first police certificate, so follow every line of Stage 8, Step 1, with your employer's letter. The same certificate serves your visa now and your NMC registration application after you land, and the NMC's ID check page takes a Nigerian certificate issued within 8 weeks before you leave Nigeria. So apply once your certificate of sponsorship is assigned, so that it is less than 8 weeks old on the day you leave Nigeria. If your flight is delayed past 8 weeks, see "The police certificate from abroad" in Part 4.

Step 3. Apply for the visa

Your employer has assigned your certificate of sponsorship, and you hold your TB and police certificates. Now apply.

Do. Apply on gov.uk for the Skilled Worker visa. When the form asks whether you are applying for a Health and Care Worker visa, choose yes. Prove your identity with the UK Immigration: ID Check app, or by giving your fingerprints and photo at a visa application centre.

Where. Apply from outside the UK, opens in a new tab on gov.uk. The UK visa application centres in Nigeria are in Abuja, Lagos (Ikeja) and Lagos (Victoria Island), open 08:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday. There is also a premium centre in Ibadan on Thursdays, where an extra fee may apply.

What you need.

• Your certificate of sponsorship reference number, with your job title, salary, occupation code and your employer's name and sponsor licence number, all from your employer.
• Your valid passport.
• Your IELTS or OET result.
• Your TB certificate.
• Your Nigerian police certificate.
• Bank statements showing £1,270 held for at least 28 days in a row, the last of those days no more than 31 days before you apply, unless your employer writes on your certificate of sponsorship that it will cover your costs for your first month.
• For family: proof of your relationship, and their own money. You may bring your husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner, and your children under 18.
• Certified English translations of any document not in English.

Cost. £324 (about ₦578,000) a person for a visa of up to three years, or £628 (about ₦1.1 million) for more than three. Which fee applies depends on how long the visa is for, so ask your employer how long your certificate of sponsorship covers before you pay. Each person coming with you pays the same fee. You pay no healthcare surcharge on this visa: that is the yearly charge for the NHS that most visa holders pay, £1,035 a year on most visas. The money you must hold: £1,270 (about ₦2.27 million) for you, £285 (about ₦508,000) for a partner, £315 (about ₦562,000) for one child, and £200 (about ₦357,000) for each child after that. Only if you want them: a faster decision for £500 (about ₦892,000 priority) or £1,000 (about ₦1.78 million, super priority), and the user-pays application service for £76.50 (about ₦136,000). For paying in pounds, see the paragraph before Stage 2.

When. Within 3 months of getting your certificate of sponsorship, and no more than 3 months before the start date on it.

Time. From outside the UK the decision usually takes about 3 weeks once you have applied, proved your identity and given your documents. If the Home Office needs to check documents or interview you, it takes longer. While it decides, agree a start date with your employer and ask about housing.

You are done when you get an email with the decision. A granted visa is an eVisa, which you see in a free UK Visas and Immigration account. You must travel with a passport you have added to that account: add it on gov.uk's Update your details in your UKVI account, opens in a new tab, with your sign-in details and the phone number or email you sign in with. You cannot change your passport there while you wait for a visa decision.

If it goes wrong. If you are refused, your decision letter says whether you can ask for an administrative review. You must apply within 28 days of the decision. It costs £80 (about ₦143,000), and the result can take 12 months or more.

On Job first. You apply in the same manner, before your PIN. For pay below £25,000 before your PIN, you must have passed the NMC's English requirement and the CBT before you apply (Stage 11, On Job first).

Next. Travel and start work (Stage 13).

Updated on 20 October 2026, the visa centres' days and hours on 8 October 2026.

Stage 13. Travel and start work

Back to the short stages

Your visa is granted. Now fly, land and start with your employer. On OSCE first you arrive already on the register with your PIN.

Pack in your hand luggage.

• Your passport, with its details added to your eVisa account.
• Your certificate of sponsorship details.
• Your NMC decision email with your PIN.

Money. The visa asked you to hold £1,270 (about ₦2.27 million) to support yourself, unless your employer covers your costs for your first month and says so on your certificate of sponsorship. Keep money for your first month.

The day your visa starts. You use the NHS with no healthcare surcharge. Prescriptions, dental treatment and eye tests are still paid.

Time. Your visa can last up to 5 years before you need to extend it.

You are done when you have landed and started with your employer.

If it goes wrong. If your employer's start date moves, agree the new date in writing before your visa's start date.

From nurses who did it. NHS trusts that recruit from abroad say on their own pages that they house new arrivals for the first weeks, after which nurses find their own room. Ask your employer what it offers and for how long. In a study of nurses in their first two years in England, most rented privately and many said their pay did not cover their housing. Nurses with children say their family often follows later, once they can afford it.

On Job first. Your registration application and your OSCE come after you land, so pack your originals too: your original qualification certificate, your original registration certificate, any name change evidence, any certified translations and your Nigerian police certificate. The NMC checks them face to face on the day of your first OSCE. Then do two things at once: your registration application (Stage 8, On Job first) and your first weeks (Stage 14). Register with a GP in your first week, because your health declaration needs a doctor.

Next. Your first weeks in the UK (Stage 14).

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Stage 14. Your first weeks in the UK

Back to the short stages

You are working as a nurse in the UK. Now set up three things in your first weeks and check your first salary.

Do.

• Register with a GP, your local NHS doctor, online: Register with a GP surgery, opens in a new tab. You do not need ID, proof of address or proof of immigration status.
• Get your National Insurance number, the number your pay and tax are recorded under. Look in your UK Visas and Immigration account first: some people with an eVisa already have one. If you do not, apply once you are in the UK, opens in a new tab.
• Check your tax code, the code HMRC, the UK tax office, gives your employer to work out how much Income Tax to take from your pay. It is on your payslip; gov.uk explains it on Tax codes, opens in a new tab.
• Check your band. Your contract states it. Band 5 on the 2026/27 NHS scale, from 1 April 2026, runs from £32,073 at entry to £34,592 after 2 years and £39,043 at the top. Band 6 starts at £39,959.

Cost. Free.

Time. A GP surgery usually registers you within 5 days of getting your details. A National Insurance number can take up to 4 weeks, and you can start work before it comes if you can prove your right to work.

You are done when your first payslip shows your band and your tax code, and you are registered with a GP.

If it goes wrong. If your payslip shows a band lower than your contract, write to payroll the same week. If your tax code ends in W1, M1 or X, you are on an emergency tax code, which is usually temporary: HMRC can take up to 35 days from your start to send the right code to you and your employer. You cannot change jobs or employer unless you update your visa.

On Job first. Register with a GP in your first week: your NMC health declaration needs a doctor (Stage 8). Your payslip shows Band 3 until your PIN (Stage 11).

What comes later. gov.uk's Skilled Worker visa page says: "After 5 years, you may be able to apply to settle permanently in the UK."

Updated on 20 October 2026.

Part 4. What can stop you

These are the problems nurses actually meet, in the order they meet them, and what you do about each.

Your deadlines

Write each date down the day it arrives.

Your deadline for the OSCE and your registration is whichever of your English result, your NMC two years, CBT to OSCE and your registration application ends first. On OSCE first you finish your registration before you look for a job, so these deadlines are behind you once the NMC registers you. On Job first, count your cut-off back from that date (Part 1).

The NMCN's own requirements. Nurses who applied in 2025 and 2026 say the NMCN wanted letters of good standing sent straight from their school and their last employer, two years after their permanent licence, and at least six months left on the licence. Call both offices before you start. If you are within two years of your licence, email info@nmcn.gov.ng before you pay: give your RN number and the date of your permanent licence, ask whether you may apply now, and keep the reply (Stage 1, Step 3).

A name or date of birth that differs across your papers. The NMC checks your originals face to face, and the NMCN accepts only three consistent names. Fix any difference first (Stage 1). The NMCN changes only a married woman's surname; the Nigeria Immigration Service changes passport data. On the OSCE day, Northampton and Leeds each accept a legal affidavit listing all the names you are known by.

A three-month silence on your NMC account. If you do nothing on an NMC application for three months before you submit it, the NMC closes it and removes the account. Open it and submit in one sitting (Stage 3).

An English result older than the NMC takes. Your result must be no more than two years old when the NMC assesses your registration application. On OSCE first that is when you send it from Nigeria (Stage 8); on Job first it comes after you land. Check its date before you apply for your visitor visa. If it will be too old, sit the test again: a new full sitting gives you a new two years (Stage 2).

The CBT's three attempts. Three attempts in one application, at least 10 days apart, all within one year. After the third fail the application closes and there is a six-month wait.

A visitor visa refused. There is no appeal and no review. Make a fresh application with stronger evidence of your ties to home and your money (Stage 6).

The OSCE's three sittings. Three sittings at most, at least 10 days apart, all at the centre of your first attempt; after the third fail the application closes and there is at least a six-month wait. In early 2026 fewer than half of first attempts passed at each of the three centres, so keep money and time for a resit.

The cost. In the NMC's survey of test applicants, reported by the RCN in September 2026, just under a quarter of those putting off the OSCE said they could no longer afford it. Put the whole money table (Part 7) against your savings before you book the CBT, with two trips on OSCE first.

The job search outlasting your deadlines. This is where most nurses get stuck. In the same survey, more than half of those putting off the OSCE said they could not get a UK job. That is why this guide takes OSCE first: you finish your registration first and look for the job with your PIN. On Job first, set your cut-off (Part 1), do Stage 11's three-point check when it comes, and start OSCE first before your dates run short.

The police certificate from abroad. On Job first, the NMC wants your Nigerian police certificate issued within 8 weeks before you left Nigeria; get it as Stage 12, Step 2 says and you will not need this. If the NMC asks for a newer one, or your flight was delayed past 8 weeks, Police Services takes an application from the diaspora: you upload proof that you live abroad, such as a residence document, a utility bill, a bank statement, a lease, a driving licence or a work permit, and pay in dollars or your host country's currency, the exact amount the portal shows. If its face check will not capture your face, it says to use a computer instead of a phone.

Part 5. If you already did some of this

Start at the first stage you have not finished.

Your papers are in one folder and your names match. Start at Stage 1, Step 2: open your NMCN portal account.

You have applied for your NMCN verification. Start your NMC application (Stage 3). Its 14 days start only once the NMCN's answer reaches the NMC.

You already hold an IELTS or OET result. Check it against the NMC's scores and its date (Stage 2). It must be no more than two years old when the NMC assesses your registration application.

The NMC has confirmed you. Start at Stage 4. Your two years run from the day of that confirmation: write it in your deadlines table (Part 4).

You have passed the CBT. Start at Stage 5 today. You must pass the OSCE within two years of the CBT. Keep applying for nurse posts alongside (Stage 11); if a licensed employer offers you one in writing before you travel, take Job first.

You passed the CBT months ago and have no offer. Stop waiting for an offer. Open your deadlines table (Part 4) and read the end dates of your English result and your two years. If they leave time for the visitor visa (a decision usually within 3 weeks), the trip, the OSCE and a resit at least 10 days later, start Stage 5 today. If your English result will expire first, book the test again now (Stage 2), then start Stage 5.

You hold your visitor visa. Start at Stage 7: book your OSCE.

You have passed the OSCE. Start at Stage 10. Once you have passed both the CBT and the OSCE, your Test of Competence stays valid for five years.

You hold your PIN. Start at Stage 11 and apply for Band 5 posts as a registered nurse; then the work visa from Nigeria (Stage 12).

You hold a job offer in writing. Start your TB test (Stage 12), and your police certificate once your certificate of sponsorship is assigned. Then apply for the visa within 3 months.

Your work visa is granted. Start at Stage 13. Add your passport to your eVisa account before you fly.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, your Nigerian papers: not stated on any NMCN page; nurses describe a six-month minimum in the NMCN's guidelines.
• Stage 2, your English: results in 1 to 5 days for IELTS on computer; about 6 days for OET on computer, and from 13 days on paper.
• Stage 3, your NMC application: the NMC aims to assess you within 14 days once the NMCN has answered.
• Stage 4, the CBT: the result on the day; in your accounts within 48 hours.
• Stage 5, the NMC's letter: not stated; look for it the day you pass the CBT.
• Stage 6, your visitor visa: apply no earlier than 3 months before you travel; a decision usually within 3 weeks.
• Stage 7, book your OSCE: Leeds closes bookings 3 days before, Ulster 14 days before.
• Stage 8, your registration application: the police certificate in 5 to 7 working days (2 to 3 by express).
• Stage 9, the OSCE: results within 5 working days; a resit at least 10 days later.
• Stage 10, your PIN: the NMC aims to decide within 30 days of having everything, and must decide within three months.
• Stage 11, the job: not stated; nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 say about four to five months.
• Stage 12, your work visa: TB appointments within a few days, up to 10 at busy times; the police certificate in 5 to 7 working days (2 to 3 by express); the visa decision usually about 3 weeks.
• Stage 13, travel and start work: your visa can last up to 5 years.
• Stage 14, your first weeks: a GP within 5 days; a National Insurance number up to 4 weeks; the right tax code up to 35 days.

The whole journey: not stated on any official page. Two years from the NMC's confirmation is the limit for finishing your registration. Nurses who did OSCE first in 2025 say about six to seven months from the visitor visa to a job offer, once their English and the CBT were done.

Part 7. The money, all of it

Every fee in the order you meet it, for you alone on OSCE first. For paying in pounds, see the paragraph before Stage 2.

The total leaves out the change of name, the police certificates, your two trips and your stay for the OSCE, the money held and the annual fee.

Before any job. After the CBT, OSCE first asks £1,111 (about ₦1.98 million) of you before any job: the visitor visa, the OSCE and the registration fee. With a £397 resit it is £1,508 (about ₦2.69 million). Your flights and your stay for the OSCE visit come on top. Nurses who did it in 2025 say to keep money for two trips, the OSCE visit and the later work-visa journey, and for months of job search between them.

Only if you need them: a CBT resit, £50 (about ₦89,000) for Part A, £70 (about ₦125,000) for Part B, or £83 for both; an OSCE resit, £397 (about ₦708,000) for seven or fewer stations, or £794 for eight or more; a priority visa decision, £500 (about ₦892,000), or super priority, £1,000 (about ₦1.78 million); the user-pays application service, £76.50 (about ₦136,000); an administrative review after a work visa refusal, £80 (about ₦143,000).

For each family member coming with you on the work visa: the same £324 visa fee; money held of £285 (about ₦508,000) for a partner, £315 (about ₦562,000) for one child and £200 (about ₦357,000) for each child after that; and a TB test, $49 (about ₦65,000) at IOM or ₦60,000 at a Lagos private clinic for a child under 11.

On Job first

There is no visitor visa and no second trip. You pay the same fees in a different order: the job and the work visa (Stage 12) before the registration fee and the OSCE, which come after you land. The UK fees come to £1,550 (about ₦2.77 million): the NMC's own fees of £1,226 (about ₦2.19 million) and the £324 visa. With your NMCN fee, your English test and your TB test, that is about ₦3.2 million in fees, plus the £1,270 held unless your employer covers your first month. Ask your employer in writing whether it pays your OSCE fee and resits and your registration fee (Stage 11, On Job first).

Never yours to pay: the certificate of sponsorship fee (£525) and the immigration skills charge belong to your employer, and no recruiter may charge you for a job.