For anyone curious as to how I have managed to get myself licensed as a registered nurse in the United Kingdom, this is the blog for you. Believe me, this was no easy task and was incredibly time consuming. I first contacted my agency in June 2011 and received notification on February 17, 2012 that I was approved to go to the UK. And my agency said I did this process "quickly".
I will take you through the steps I have gone through to help any nurse thinking about licensure in the UK or anyone even remotely curious in the process.
Step One: Contact an international travel nurse agency. My agency from the start has been Continental Travelnurse based out of London.
Step Two: Take the IELTS (aka the International English Language Test) to prove you can speak english. Yes, I know you have an american birth certificate but according to the Brits that does not prove your literacy. There are multiple test centers around the US so you should have no trouble finding one. You are only required to take the academic version of this exam.Website: http://ielts.org/ . This will cost $185.
Step Three: Got your IELTS score back? If it is atleast a 7 or higher and you hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing obtained from a 4 year university then you are ready to apply for your initial nursing application from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in the UK. This initial application will cost you about $220 (140 pounds) and will come out of your own pocket. The agency will contact the board and get this application sent to you in the mail (or the post as the brits would say).
Step Four: The first application is a breeze and only requires a few documents suchs as certified copies of your passport, birth certificate, and verification of licensure from your nursing board. Answer basic quesitons and post it back to the NMC. BOOM!
You are now halfway there!! Take a breather and we will resume the process in the next post titled, The Process: Part II. For now though I think you have earned yourself a cup of tea and a nap because the second half requires a bit more energy.
When are you going to post part 2 and how was the transition?
ReplyDeleteagreed! I'm born and raised Louisiana and currently at LSU and contemplating nursing school and pretty much the same path as you.. I know you haven't posted in a long time, but I'd love to hear how your transition turned out.
ReplyDeleteAnxiously awaiting as well!
ReplyDeleteHi sorry to butt in but I saw your blog. I just want to share my predicament about how the NMC discriminate people from the Non EU countries. Why do they need to set a high ielts score even if you come from countries with English as second language. I just can't figure out why Britain allows nurses from EU countries to come here without the need of sitting the IELTS and yet they cannot communicate properly both written and spoken. To me that's totally ridiculous!!!
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm a nurse living in Nashville TN trying to move to London in 2014 and I just wanted to thank you for your blog. It's been a huge help to me in getting this process started!
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