Work as a nurse in Ireland: NMBI route and RCSI test (2026)

• A nursing qualification that NMBI can compare with its standards. NMBI says a programme shorter than three years, without an extra course, is unlikely to meet the threshold even for a compensation measure.
• A qualification form completed by your nursing school's Head of Nursing Education, with your official transcript and programme syllabus.
• A Certificate of Current Professional Status (good standing), issued in the last six months, from every jurisdiction where you have registered or practised as a nurse.
• Employment forms completed by your current and previous employers, if you want your post-qualification experience considered.
• IELTS Academic overall 7.0 (7.0 in any three components and 6.5 in one) or OET with B in three components and C+ in one, from a single sitting less than two years old, unless you are exempt.
• Successful completion of any compensation measure NMBI sets: the RCSI aptitude test (general and psychiatric nursing only) or a period of adaptation.
• A valid, certified passport copy and certified translations of any documents not in English.
• For the permit: a job offer of at least two years from an Irish employer for a Critical Skills Employment Permit.

Check your route with the route finder

• NMBINursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland

  Nurses and midwives

  How to register with the NMBI

1. 1

   Check your training and choose your division

   Look at the length and content of your nursing programme: NMBI looks at theory and clinical hours and clinical placements, and programmes under three years rarely qualify. Decide which division you are applying to, usually General Nurses. Read NMBI's Applicant User Guide before you open an application.
2. 2

   Get your English test

   Book IELTS Academic (in a test centre, not online) or OET (not at home). You need overall 7.0 with 6.5 allowed in any one skill, or OET B in three skills and C+ in one, all from one sitting. Results must be less than two years old, so time your test so it is still valid when you register, not just when you apply.
3. 3

   Collect your documents

   Ask your nursing school to complete NMBI's qualification form and send your transcript and syllabus, ask every employer to complete the employment form, and request a Certificate of Current Professional Status from every nursing council you have been registered with. Certificates must be issued in the last six months. Get certified copies and translations ready before you submit.
4. 4

   Apply for recognition and pay the €350 fee

   Create your MyNMBI account, upload your documents yourself and pay the €350 overseas qualification recognition fee. NMBI says agents must not log in or pay for you. If anything is missing you have six months to provide it before the application closes.
5. 5

   Receive your decision letter

   NMBI gives about 3 months for a G3 recognition decision once it has all documents. You are told your qualification is recognised, that you need a compensation measure, or that it is provisionally refused. The decision letter is valid for 12 months.
6. 6

   Choose and complete your compensation measure

   General and psychiatric nurses choose between the RCSI aptitude test and a period of adaptation; children's and intellectual disability nurses complete adaptation. For adaptation you or your employer arrange a placement with an NMBI-approved hospital within 12 months, and you join the Candidate Register for €20. If you fail one measure you cannot switch to the other.
7. 7

   Get a job offer and your employment permit

   Apply to HSE health regions, voluntary hospitals or private employers. Your employer or you apply for a Critical Skills Employment Permit at least 12 weeks before the start date, with a €1,000 fee. If you need a visa, you apply after the permit is granted.
8. 8

   Apply for registration

   After recognition, make your registration application in MyNMBI with your English evidence and the €145 overseas registration fee. NMBI aims to decide within 20 working days of having everything. Once registered you appear on the public register.
9. 9

   Start as a staff nurse and stay registered

   Once registered you move onto the staff nurse scale in the HSE, starting at €38,166 in 2026. Register your immigration permission if you are staying more than 90 days, pay NMBI's €100 annual retention fee and keep up your professional competence.

• RCSI aptitude test, Part 1: theory

  For the General Nurses and Psychiatric Nurses divisions only, when NMBI requires a compensation measure. A supervised test of 150 multiple-choice questions in three hours, with a pass mark of 50%. It must be passed before Part 2. Two attempts are allowed.

  Read the guide

• RCSI aptitude test, Part 2: OSCE

  A practical exam of 14 stations, 10 minutes each, held in person in Dublin. It assesses competence through simulated scenarios using Irish documentation such as INEWS, ISBAR and medication records. Two attempts are allowed and results come within three days of the test date. The fee for both parts, including two attempts at each, is €2,800.

  Read the guide

• Period of adaptation

  Supervised, assessed practice in an NMBI-approved Irish hospital such as Beaumont Hospital, Cork University Hospital or Galway University Hospital, using NMBI's competence assessment tool for nurses. The minimum is six weeks, extendable to 12 weeks or more. HSE employers pay nurses on adaptation placement on a specific grade.

  Read the guide

• English language test

  IELTS Academic overall 7.0 with 7.0 in any three components and 6.5 in one, or OET B in three components and C+ in one. One sitting only, less than two years old, taken in person.

• IELTS Academic: overall 7.0, with at least 7.0 in any three components and 6.5 in any one component (not only writing).
• OET: B (350 to 450) in three components and C+ (300 to 340) in one component.
• Results must be less than two years old and from a single sitting; NMBI does not accept combined results.
• Not accepted: IELTS One Skill Retake, IELTS online and OET at home.
• Exempt if your nursing programme was taught and assessed in English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States or the United Kingdom.
• Exempt if you have 3 years of post-registration practice in the last five years in one of those countries, practising primarily through English, confirmed in writing by your employer or nursing authority.

Estimate your total cost

• Documents and English: the stage that varies most, often several months, because transcripts, employment forms and six-month-old good standing certificates come from different bodies.
• Recognition decision: NMBI gives about 3 months for G3 applicants once it has every document.
• Compensation measure: you have 12 months from your decision letter; adaptation lasts at least six weeks and aptitude test results come within three days.
• Employment permit: apply at least 12 weeks before the proposed start date; processing is in date order.
• Registration decision: about 20 working days. NMBI says applicants who need a compensation measure take on average 13 months from submission to registration.

HSE and voluntary hospital nurses are paid on the HSE consolidated salary scales. These are annual basic rates effective from 1 June 2026. You move up one point each year, and the top points include long service increments. Location allowance (€2,798, for areas such as emergency departments, theatres, ICU and medical and surgical wards) and specialist qualification allowance (€4,204) are added where they apply. Private employers set their own pay.

• Staff nurse, awaiting registration or adaptation placement

  €33,370

  Mental health and psychiatric grades: €34,004.

• Staff nurse (general, children's, intellectual disability)

  €38,166 to €56,592

  13-point scale; €40,158 at point 2 and €44,213 at point 5.

• Mental health staff nurse

  €38,908 to €56,948

• Senior staff nurse (general)

  €59,278

• Clinical nurse manager 1

  €57,780 to €70,087

• Clinical nurse specialist, clinical nurse manager 2

  €62,699 to €79,227

• Advanced nurse practitioner (general)

  €72,843 to €89,894

• The HSE is the largest employer, organised since 2024 into six health regions: HSE Dublin and North East, HSE Dublin and Midlands, HSE Dublin and South East, HSE Mid West, HSE South West and HSE West and North West.
• Voluntary (Section 38) hospitals, which include many of the large Dublin teaching hospitals, are funded by the HSE and pay on the same consolidated scales.
• Private hospitals and nursing homes also recruit internationally; their pay and conditions are set by each employer, so compare the package against the HSE scale.
• Employers often support the adaptation placement, but NMBI does not organise placements: you or your employer must secure one with an approved facility, and some sites may be full.
• HSE recruitment includes competency questions, Garda vetting, qualification recognition and an occupational health check before the offer.
• Read your contract for the length (two years or more for a Critical Skills permit), your grade before and after registration and any relocation support or repayment terms, which vary by employer.

• Registered nurses (SOC 2231) are on the Critical Skills Occupations List, so most international nurses get a Critical Skills Employment Permit; no labour market needs test applies.
• For a nurse, the qualification must be one NMBI accepts for registration. In public sector roles covered by a pay agreement, including HSE and Section 38 hospitals, the salary is the agreement rate rather than the general €40,904 threshold.
• The job offer must be for at least two years, and you are expected to stay with the first employer for at least nine months. The fee is €1,000, with 90% refunded if refused.
• If you are a visa-required national, apply for a long stay employment visa after the permit is granted, up to 3 months before travel. If you stay more than 90 days, register your immigration permission.
• Your spouse or de facto partner can be given Stamp 1G and work without an employment permit.
• After 21 months of employment on the Critical Skills permit you can apply for Stamp 4, which lets you live and work without a permit; after 60 months you can apply for long-term residence.

1. 1

   Your DHA, DOH, MOHAP, SCFHS, QCHP or other Gulf licence does not give you NMBI registration. NMBI assesses the nursing programme you trained on, so Gulf-based nurses who trained in India, the Philippines or elsewhere usually follow the G3 route.

2. 2

   NMBI asks for a Certificate of Current Professional Status, issued in the last six months, from every jurisdiction where you registered or practised. Request one from each Gulf regulator you have held a licence with and from your home nursing council, timed so none is older than six months when you submit.

3. 3

   Gulf experience can count: NMBI's assessor may use post-qualification experience to address gaps in your training, but only if each employer completes NMBI's employment form. Ask your Gulf hospitals' HR departments for these early.

4. 4

   Gulf practice does not exempt you from English testing, because NMBI's practice exemption only covers Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom. Most Gulf-based nurses need IELTS Academic or OET from one sitting.

5. 5

   Plan your notice period around the compensation measure: the RCSI aptitude test and adaptation placements are both in Ireland, and NMBI advises not to resign or move until registration is assured. A decision letter is valid for 12 months.

• Application plan with every step, fee and deadline

• Document checklist tailored to you, and a review of each document before upload

• Timeline built around the regulator's closure windows and document validity periods

• Help completing the application forms accurately and consistently

• Support with profession-specific evidence, such as the HCPC standards of proficiency mapping

• Guidance on certificates of good standing, references and certified translations

• Preparation for identity checks and declarations on health and character

• Tracking your application and help responding to regulator requests

• Next steps after the decision: exams, adaptation, PIN or licence and your first job

Regulators make all registration decisions and set all fees. Our fee is separate from the regulator's fees, exam fees and translation costs.

What our registration and licensing support includesPackages and fees