Registration

Obtaining your registration ( license) can be a bit frustrating. Continental Travelnurse has years of experience in dealing with this and will shepherd you through the process as quickly and painlessly as possible.

On the up side, there is only one board you need to obtain a licence from for the whole of the UK. Also, you currently do not need to sit an exam in order to do so. On the down side, that one board can be quite swamped with applications and slow in responding. We will take you through the entire procedure step by step, with timely reminders about what forms you should receive, by when and so on.

Your first step is to take the English proficiency test or IELTS. You may do this by logging onto the website to register www.ielts.org.  You MUST take the academic version of the IELTS test and score at least a 7 or more in each section to pass. The test is valid for two years so it’s never too early to get step one out of the way. Let us know the date you've signed up for and we'll begin by contacting the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC/ UK Board of Nursing) and request your first form. You won’t be able to complete the form until you’ve passed the IELTS. And if there are any mistakes on the form simply make the correction and initial the change. Not too long ago a candidate received her form and it said she trained in Armenia rather than America. Whoops! Read it carefully.

After signing, you must post it back to the NMC and pay the application fee. The NMC will then post you the full application package and we’ll help you start the process. The final step in your UK registration journey is to undertake a short course here in the UK. Known as the Overseas Nurses Programme (ONP), this 20-day course is mostly internet based and geared towards acclimating you into the UK medical system. Quite often this time is a great opportunity for our travel nurses to explore places within the UK prior to starting work. The ONP is compulsory and an NMC registration is granted on completion of the course. Continental Travelnurse will also pay half the fee of the ONP programme.

It may seem like a long and involved process, but bear in mind it must only be done once. As a guide, from start to finish the licensing typically takes four to six months. This is the only part of the process that takes any significant amount of time. While your license is being processed, we will send out our application, get to know you better and get a feel for the types of assignment you will enjoy most.