The processes of advancing one's career in advanced countries have never been clear and direct than it is now. The United Kingdom had since 2016 announced plans to reduce the workload for NHS staffs as well plug a strategy for oversea nurses to work in the NHS. We have covered a step by step process to become a nurse in the UK in this post.
Since that time of announcement, a lot has changed in the process of application and all has been directed at making it a seamless process for oversea nurses.
This post is general and has outlined the step by step process to work in the United Kingdom as a Nurse.
NB: It has taken Nigeria as a case study for easy understanding.
1. If you do not have an international passport, you need to get one. This would be required for most of the processes. Check with the immigration process of your country to acquire one. For Nigerians, CLICK ME
2. Then, you need to familiarize self with the requirements from regulatory body – NMC UK. CLICK ME to check UK NMC English requirement.
From the link, there are two approved tests- IELTS or OET
IELTS (about 100 thousand naira now)- with band scores:
Listening-7.0
Reading- 7.0
Speaking- 7.0
Writing- 6.5,
and Overall - 7.0
There are two test organizations in Nigeria:
MOD/IDP: CLICK ME
British Council: CLICK ME
Occupation English Test (OET, it is about 150k at the moment) -
Minimum of Reading - B, Listening - B, Speaking- B, Writing - C+.
3. In the past, it is okay to take the English tests first, but these days, the number of applications with local nursing and midwifery regulators take time so its best to start with the NMC-UK process and go through the verification process. Then, you can write your English exams while waiting for your verification to be completed (takes about 4-8 weeks now) or if you are financially buoyant, you could start the two together. (IELTS and verification)
-Open an account with NMC UK by CLICKING ME
• Get the checklist and proceed until you see “begin your application”
• If you are a Registered Nurse, you will be needing to register as ‘Adult Nurse’ and respectively as Child/mental health if you have the specialty.
4. After filling in the required information, Pay £140 for evaluation. At this stage, you need to upload the data page of your international passport, certificate (notification can be used here if your NMC qualification certificate isn’t available) as part of the required information.
You’ll have a personalized NMC portal through which you can monitor your progress all through the whole registration process or even revisit via this link to login: https://online.nmc-uk.org/
5. Then, you are required to apply for local verification with your local regulator.
For people In Nigeria: the process is online, you can visit the guide on OUR SITE (link to post is developing).
6. Wait to be verified by your local nmc. When this process is completed and you get an ‘authorization to test’ email from PearsonVue (the organization that handles the CBT exam) to book CBT. You may want to also check our CBT test materials sourced from experience and samplings only for your guide to familiarity (link to post developing).
• Book the CBT (£83) and write the exam. To book, you local card may not go through that easily, so, you can buy a voucher for this on NMC (mindhub.co.uk). You will get a voucher code within 24-48 hours which you can input when you get to the payment stage of your CBT booking on Pearson site. If you encounter difficulties with your card payment, (some countries have restrictions on international limit, you can read our guide on PAYING FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICES )
7. Fill the final form by NMC UK which includes an upload of name of medical regulator, police clearance, notification/certificate and IELTS(academics)/OET result (without doing this, you can’t progress beyond this stage and you must have the expected english test bands) among others.
8. Pay the final registration fee of £153 to NMC UK. If you don’t have the fee immediately, you can pay when you get to UK, you only need proof of police check, cbt, ielts, offer letter, COS, visa checklist, TB test report for your Visa application
9. In the past, you would have to wait for a decision letter but its no longer the case, you are only left with the need to take your OSCE exam once you are in the UK. To get to UK, you need an employer to sponsor you (issue you an authorization for sponsorship).
10. You can start looking for a job at any stage but preferably, start searching for jobs after you must have passed CBT and IELTS/OET. You can either get an agent (this option is no longer fast but you could try it alongside personal application for jobs. You can apply directly on nhs.jobs, trac.jobs and indeed.co.uk for jobs in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals but for care homes, apply on http://www.carehome.co.uk.
We have covered a guide to using trac jobs to quickly get your job. You can CLICK ME (post developing) to refer to the guide.
The benefits for care home vs NHS vary, choosing one depends on what you want and try researching on both before making a choice. Generally, care homes are believed to pay more but NHS hospitals are better for career advancement and structured organization of working.
After getting an offer you are comfortable with (the “comfortable with” is very important), sign the offer letter and send your documents to the trust. Do not sign more than one offer though you can have more than one (max should be 3 please, don’t go beyond that as we are trying not to cause problems for others). Note that when you apply directly, you might have to fund your visa and ticket yourself while you get a refund on getting to the UK (this isn’t always the case though), agents on the other hand pay for these upfront. Just ensure you read your offer letter well to know what the trust is offering. The choice is all yours to make at the end of the day. You might have to try both actually because getting offers isn’t as easy as before due to the backlogs Covid19 has caused.
11. Wait for a Certificate of Sponsorship by the trust (this replaces bank statements other direct visa applicants have to submit). It shows you have a sponsor that will support your stay in the UK. This COS also contains an employment start date. Ensure you don’t have more than one trust processing this for you as it is quite expensive which makes it unfair for the trusts and it can cause problems for you with the home office.
12. Discuss with the trust and book your visa and subsequently, your ticket. Book appointment for TB here: http://mymedical.iom.int
You need a valid tuberculosis test (about #57,800 with 6 months validity) and police clearance (ranging from #40-50000 depending on location, cheapest price can be gotten at Alagbon police station in Lagos, it has 3 months validity) at this point. The physical exercise at alagbon has been said to be quicker than the online method.
14. The final stage is writing your OSCE (This can only be done in the UK). We have a post on overview of OSCE here. You will get your pin (license) to practice on passing this. Most trusts train nurses for this exam, ensure you check your offer letter well and clarify this.
P.S- You will get to the UK as a pre-registration nurse and will be placed on salary band 3-4 (depending on trust). On passing your OSCE, you’ll automatically become a band 5 nurse.
In our future posts, we will be considering topics and steps on how to make a good application for jobs and prepare for interviews. You can drop comments for further clarifications.]]>
