Knowledge of English for Nurses

For international nurses coming to the UK

Evidence of your knowledge of English

Who sets the English language requirements for nurses?

English requirements for Nurses are set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

There are four routes approved by the NMC, which allow nurses to evidence their knowledge of English in order to proceed towards Registration as a nursing or midwifery professional.

Recent practise in a country where English is spoken

Click the numbers to reveal the four options which you can use to evidence knowledge of English.

A pre-registration qualification

An IELTS certificate

An OET certificate

Click the icons to reveal the requirements

The OET Certificate is valid for 2 years from date of issue

You can take the test in two sittings but across both sittings you must score at least C+ in reading, listening, and speaking, and at least C in writing.

Acceptable Tests

OET on paper OET on computer OET@HomeA combination of these

Sittings

Near Miss

If you have taken the test twice and missed one required score by half a grade, you can boost your test score with evidence from your employer.

You need at least a grade B (350 to 440) in reading, listening and speaking, and at least a grade C+ (300 to 340) in writing

Validity

Grade

Version

You must take the nursing version of the test

1) Using the OET

No. Doctors and nurses in the UK applying for a Tier 2 (General) Visa are not required to take a separate English language test if they have provided OET results as proof of English proficiency to their healthcare regulator.

If I have an OET Certificate, will I need to take another English test for my Tier 2 (General) Visa?

Click the icons to reveal the requirements

The IELTS Certificate is valid for 2 years from date of issue

You can take the test in two sittings but across both sittings you must score at least 6.5 in reading, listening, and speaking, and at least 6 in writing.

Unacceptable Tests

The NMC does not accept the IELTS Indicator test, IELTS Online, or the IELTS One Skill Retake test

Sittings

Near Miss

If you have taken the test twice and missed one required score by half a grade, you can boost your test score with evidence from your employer.

You need at least a grade 7 in reading, listening and speaking, and at least a grade 6.5 in writing

Validity

Grade

Version

You must take the Academic version of the test or the IELTS Academic UKVI

2) Using the IELTS

Click the icons to find out whether you can use your experience to meet the English language requirements

You were registered with the regulator in the country where you practised

You completed an English language assessment or examination as part of your registration

Your period of registered practice will be within the previous two years when the NMC considers your completed application.

You recently practised for at least one year in a country where English is a majority spoken language

3) Recent non-UK practice

Click the icons to find out how this can provide evidence of your knowledge of English.

If you have completed an NMC-approved pre-registration nurse, midwife or nursing associate programme, the NMC will accept that you have the necessary knowledge of English.

Your programme was in a country where English is not a majority spoken language but you can provide supporting information from a UK employer as evidence of your English language competence.

Your programme was not NMC-approved but was in a country where English is a majority spoken language and you spent at least half of your time interacting with patients, service users, their families and other healthcare professionals, and at least 75% of these interactions were in English.

4) You have a pre-registration qualification

We've been playing hide and seek in the hospital, and they keep finding me in the ICU.

You have completed this module. Well done!Let's celebrate with a pun!