What a nurse trained abroad needs to register in the United States

General nursing programme of at least two academic years (diploma or degree), certified by your home licensing authority as preparing registered nurses

Registration as a nurse in your country of training (every licence you have held is reviewed for the screening certificate)

Credentials report for your state board (New York's CVS, most other states the CES Professional Report)

English for the screening certificate (tests after 12 May 2026): IELTS 6.5 overall with 7 in speaking; OET 360 speaking, 340 reading, 350 writing, 320 listening; or PTE 55 overall with 76 speaking and 62 elsewhere; no test for English-taught nursing education in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland or the US

Pass the NCLEX-RN at a Pearson VUE centre (USD 200 plus USD 150 to sit it outside the US; USD 350 from 1 February 2027)

State licence (New York: USD 143, with the child abuse reporting and infection control coursework)

VisaScreen certificate from TruMerit (education, every licence held, English and the NCLEX-RN; USD 740)

Job offer from a US employer who files your immigrant visa petition (EB-3) or, for Canadian and Mexican citizens, TN status

Two years on a permanent Nigerian licence before the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria will verify your certificates for a foreign regulator (nurses trained in Nigeria)

Overseas Employment Certificate from the Department of Migrant Workers, through a DMW-licensed recruitment agency or an employer the DMW allows to hire directly (Filipino workers)