Nursing jobs abroad 2026: UK, Ireland or Germany from Kenya, the Philippines, Nigeria or India

The usual order for an internationally trained nurse is ³:

1. Pass the computer based test (CBT), a multiple choice exam you can sit in your home country.
2. Meet the NMC English requirement.
3. Get a job offer; the employer assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship.
4. Sit your first OSCE, the practical exam, in the UK within 12 weeks of the start date on the certificate, and pass it within 8 months of your visa start date. You have at most three attempts.
5. Receive your NMC registration (PIN), which may take about 35 calendar days.

English. IELTS Academic needs 7 in listening, reading and speaking and 6.5 in writing; OET needs grade B in listening, reading and speaking and C+ in writing ². You can combine two sittings of the same test taken within 12 months of each other, and results must be less than 2 years old ².

NMC costs (fees rose on 1 October 2026) ¹:

Item	Cost
Evaluation of your qualification	167 pounds
CBT	83 pounds
OSCE	794 pounds
Registration	182 pounds
Total, first attempts	1,226 pounds

An OSCE resit costs 397 pounds if you failed up to 7 stations and 794 pounds otherwise ¹.

Visa. Nurses use the Health and Care Worker visa. The fee is 324 pounds for up to 3 years and 628 pounds for longer ⁵. You do not pay the immigration health surcharge ⁴. You need English at B2, which nurses meet if they passed an English assessment accepted by their regulator ⁶. You will usually need to be paid at least 25,000 pounds, or the national pay scale rate for the job ⁷. A decision from outside the UK usually takes 3 weeks ⁴.

England's code of practice for international recruitment, updated on 27 March 2025, sorts countries by the WHO health workforce safeguards list ⁸:

Country	Status	What it means
Nigeria	Red	No active recruitment by UK employers or agencies
Kenya	Amber	Recruitment only on the terms of a government to government agreement
Philippines	Green, with an agreement	Recruitment allowed under the agreement
India	Green, with an agreement	Recruitment allowed under the agreement

All entries come from the code ⁸. Ghana is also red ⁸. If you live in a red list country you can still apply directly to an advertised job with a UK employer, without an agency; what counts is the country where you live ⁸. If an agency approaches you in Nigeria or Ghana about a UK nursing job, treat it as a warning sign.

The code expected the WHO list to be updated in 2026 ⁸. Check the current status of your country before you sign anything.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) works in two parts: recognition of your qualification, then registration ⁹. You upload your documents yourself, and only you can pay the fee, never an agent ⁹.

NMBI fee	Amount
Overseas qualification recognition	350 euros 10
Overseas registration	145 euros 10
Annual retention	100 euros 10

English. IELTS Academic 7.0 overall with at least 7.0 in three components and 6.5 in one, or OET with B in three components and C+ in one, less than 2 years old and from a single sitting: NMBI does not accept combined results ¹¹. Training in English exempts you if it was in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA or the UK, or in an EU country where English is co-official; training in Kenya, the Philippines, Nigeria or India does not ¹¹.

Compensation measures. General and psychiatric nurses choose between an aptitude test, run by RCSI with a theory exam followed by an OSCE, and an adaptation period ¹². You get two attempts at the aptitude test and 12 months to sit it ¹². An adaptation period has at least 6 weeks of supervised clinical practice and can be extended to 12 weeks or more; you or your employer must find the placement ¹².

Permit. Registered nurses can get a Critical Skills Employment Permit with a nursing degree or diploma that NMBI accepts, at a minimum of 40,904 euros a year, for a job offer of at least 2 years ¹³. The fee is 1,000 euros, and permit holders can apply for immediate family reunification with Immigration Service Delivery ¹³. Kenyan, Filipino, Nigerian and Indian citizens all need an Irish entry visa once the permit is granted ¹⁴.

General nursing (Pflegefachperson) is a regulated profession in Germany, so you need recognition before you can work as a nurse ¹⁵. You can apply from abroad ¹⁵. The authority confirms receipt within a month and decides within 4 months, which can be extended in some cases ¹⁵.

• German: B2, usually with a specialist language exam ¹⁵.
• Gaps in your training: you choose between a knowledge test and an adaptation course ¹⁵.
• Cost: the authority in Brandenburg quotes 170 to 845 euros for the procedure, plus translations, tests and any adaptation course ¹⁵. Fees differ by state.

Recognition partnership. With a job offer you can move and work while recognition runs. You need training of at least 2 years or a degree, an employer and German at A2 ¹⁵. In law this is section 16d(3) of the Residence Act, which requires sufficient (hinreichende) German, defined as A2 ^{16 20}. The first permit lasts up to 1 year and can be extended to a maximum of 3 years ¹⁶.

After recognition. A skilled worker with vocational training gets a residence permit for qualified work under section 18a ¹⁸. It needs a concrete job offer, the approval of the Federal Employment Agency, and the licence to practise when the profession requires one ¹⁷.

	United Kingdom	Ireland	Germany
Regulator fees	1,226 pounds, first attempts 1	350 + 145 euros 10	170 to 845 euros in Brandenburg 15
Language	IELTS or OET 2	IELTS or OET 11	German B2 15
Practical test	OSCE in the UK 3	Aptitude test or 6+ week adaptation 12	Knowledge test or adaptation course 15
Work permit	Health and Care Worker visa 4	Critical Skills Employment Permit 13	Section 16d or 18a permit 16 18

Scams and fees. In Great Britain it is illegal for an employment agency to charge you for finding you work, and agencies abroad working for UK employers may not charge you either ⁸. Report an agency that asks for money to the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate ⁸.

A UK employer may include a repayment clause, but it must be written, explained before you accept, itemised, free of interest and reduce over time ⁸. It can only cover costs the employer paid for you, such as relocation, visa and registration exams; it cannot include agency fees, the immigration skills charge, the sponsor licence or the Certificate of Sponsorship ⁸. In Ireland, NMBI only accepts fee payments from the nurse ⁹.

Warning signs: a fee for a job offer or a Certificate of Sponsorship, a recruiter who wants your NMBI login, or a UK care worker job offered to someone abroad: care worker roles are listed on the Health and Care Worker visa only for people extending, updating or switching inside the UK ⁷.