International nursing recruitment

International recruitment by NHS organisations has made a key contribution to the delivery of high-quality clinical services, especially in areas where recruitment has proved to be difficult. The NHS has a long history of welcoming staff from abroad to gain experience and education by working in our hospitals and community services.

Recruiting nurses from overseas

NHS trusts who wish to use international recruitment must ensure it fulfils its proper place within the NHS, that good practice and value for money are encouraged, and that it is done on an ethical basis.

International recruitment should never be carried out against the interests of host countries. For more information see the Code of Practice section on our website. The guidelines are clear about how NHS organisations should decide which countries they should and should not recruit staff from.

NHS Jobs

All NHS vacancies should be advertised on the NHS jobs website. This service is free to all NHS organisations. The website has now developed a series of pre-application and filtering key questions to discourage inappropriate applications and help trusts sift candidates.

Candidates are being encouraged to register their interest on this site so they can be notified of any suitable vacancies.

If your trust is not currently registered to use NHS Jobs, please visit their website to find out how to.

National Programmes

NHS employers are normally expected to use established country to country campaigns to meet their international recruitment needs. There are currently no formal nursing programmes available from the Department of Health.

Nursing and Midwifery Council

Guidance on the registration requirements and process for nurses and midwives can be found on the website of the council.

Please note that on 1 September 2005 the NMC introduced an entirely new system for the registration of nurses from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Overseas Nurses Programme

All applicants who apply for registration as a nurse and meet the NMC minimum requirements will now be required to undertake all or part of the Overseas Nurses Programme (ONP). The ONP is a new preparation programme for overseas trained nurses (those trained outside the UK and the EEA). From 1 September 2006 the ONP became compulsory for all overseas applicants and its core elements must be successfully completed before applicants can be registered by the NMC.

Information on requirements for overseas nurses' programme leading to registration in the UK can be found on the website of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.