Filipino nurses: Australia vs Canada vs the UK — three different registration systems, one qualification

Australia: two bodies, one national register

For the visa side, Registered Nurse (in its various ANZSCO specialisations — Aged Care, Medical, Mental Health, Perioperative and others, code group 254412-254499; see /occupations/254412-registered-nurse-aged-care for the aged-care specialisation specifically) sits on Australia's Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List and the Core Skills Occupation List, making it eligible for the 189, 190, 407, 482, 485, 491 and 494 visas. The migration skills assessment for nursing is conducted by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) — a different body from the one that actually lets you practise.

To work as a nurse in Australia, separately, you need registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), the single national register covering every state and territory. This two-body structure — ANMAC for migration, AHPRA for practice — is easy to conflate, but they answer different questions: ANMAC's assessment supports a visa application; AHPRA registration is what lets you actually work as a nurse once you're here.

Canada: national assessment, provincial licence

Canada's structure adds a layer Australia doesn't have. The National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS) is the first step for an internationally educated nurse seeking to work in Canada — but NNAS does not grant a licence itself. Its own site describes its role as ensuring 'accurate and verified information' reaches the provincial and territorial regulatory bodies that make the actual licensing decision. (Source: nnas.ca, checked 2026-09-07.) That means the real decision-maker is whichever province you're applying to work in — Ontario's College of Nurses, British Columbia's regulatory college, and so on — each running its own additional requirements on top of the NNAS assessment, including Canada's national licensing exam (the NCLEX-RN).

This has a practical consequence Australia's single-register system doesn't create: a Canadian nursing registration is provincial, not automatically portable to a different province the way an AHPRA registration works across every Australian state and territory. Choosing which province to apply to is itself a meaningful early decision in the Canadian pathway that has no real Australian equivalent.

The UK: one national regulator, a two-part competence test

The UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is a single national regulator, structurally closer to Australia's AHPRA than to Canada's provincial patchwork — one register covers the whole of the UK. Internationally trained nurses join it through the Test of Competence, run in two parts: a computer-based test (CBT) covering numeracy and clinical knowledge, and a practical Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) held at a UK test centre, assessed against UK pre-registration clinical standards.

The NMC's English-language requirement is specific and independently verified from the regulator's own guidance: for the academic IELTS, at least 7.0 in reading, listening and speaking, and at least 6.5 in writing; for the Occupational English Test (OET), at least grade B (350-440) in reading, listening and speaking, and at least grade C+ (300-340) in writing — the NMC states this is equivalent to level C1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Test scores must generally be less than 2 years old at the point of a complete application. Two other evidence routes exist without a language test: having trained in a programme taught and examined in English (with at least three-quarters of clinical interactions conducted in English), or having recently practised for at least a year in a majority English-speaking country. (Source: Nursing and Midwifery Council, Guidance on registration language requirements, June 2023.)

The exam layer: none nationally in Australia, a national exam in Canada, a practical OSCE in the UK

Once the paperwork assessment is done, each country has a different final hurdle. Australia's AHPRA registration for an internationally qualified nurse does not sit behind a single national licensing exam the way Canada and the UK both require — the assessment is built around qualification recognition, an English requirement, and (depending on your training background) a bridging program, rather than one standardised test everyone sits.

Canada requires the NCLEX-RN (the National Council Licensure Examination), Canada's national nursing licensing exam, sat after a provincial or territorial regulatory college has approved the applicant to write it based on the NNAS assessment and that province's own additional requirements.

The UK's equivalent hurdle is the OSCE half of the NMC's Test of Competence — a practical, in-person clinical exam held at one of the UK's designated test centres, sat after clearing the CBT (computer-based test) portion and the English-language requirement described above. Of the three, the UK's is the only one that requires physically travelling to sit a practical exam before registration is complete, which is a real logistical and cost factor worth planning around separately from the visa itself.

The visa layer that actually decides which UK route is open

This is where the UK diverges sharply from the other two countries for anyone in a caring role rather than a clinically registered one. Since 2025 changes to the Health and Care Worker visa, the care worker and senior care worker occupation codes (SOC 6135 and 6136) are restricted to people already in the UK extending, updating or switching a visa — they are no longer open to new overseas applications at all. Registered Nurse is a different occupation code entirely, sitting alongside doctors and other health professionals in the codes that remain open to new overseas Health and Care Worker visa applicants. (Source: gov.uk, Health and Care Worker visa — your job, checked 2026-09-07.)

This distinction matters because a lot of the roles advertised to overseas applicants describe general 'aged care' or 'care worker' positions, which now sit in the closed UK codes unless the applicant is already onshore. Australia handles this differently: aged care specifically has its own dedicated employer-sponsorship route, the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement, described at /blog/aged-care-worker-visa-sponsorship-australia-how-it-works, alongside the general Registered Nurse sponsorship route at /blog/registered-nurse-visa-sponsorship-australia-how-it-works. Both remain open to new overseas applicants sponsored by an eligible Australian employer.

Costs and family inclusion, briefly

Australia's points-tested routes (189/190/491) charge AUD 6,135-6,140 for the primary applicant, current as at 1 July 2026, with no salary test on those visas; the employer-sponsored 482 instead requires the Core Skills Income Threshold of AUD 79,423. Canada's Express Entry (including its dedicated healthcare category-based selection round) charges CAD 1,590 combined for a principal applicant from 30 April 2026, plus CAD 270 per dependent child. The UK's Health and Care Worker visa carries a real cost advantage its own general Skilled Worker route doesn't: gov.uk states explicitly that Health and Care Worker visa holders and their partner or children do not pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, saving the £1,035-per-year charge that applies on the general Skilled Worker route. All three countries allow a partner and dependent children to be included in the application, subject to their own additional fees.

The part none of these figures capture is the assessment and exam cost that comes before any visa fee — NNAS's own fee for a Canadian assessment, the NMC's Test of Competence fees plus the cost of travelling to the UK to sit the OSCE in person, and ANMAC's assessment fee for Australia. Because the UK is the only one of the three that requires an in-country practical exam before registration, it is worth budgeting travel and accommodation for that step separately from the visa cost itself, rather than assuming the visa fee is the full cost of entry.

What this comparison can't resolve for you

Which province's licensing requirements suit your Philippine qualification best, whether your specific role would clear the UK's now-narrower Health and Care Worker occupation codes, or how your ANMAC/AHPRA outcome would translate into a competitive Australian points score are all individual questions. For the Australian pathway specifically, /blog/filipino-nurse-to-australia goes into the ANMAC and AHPRA process in more detail, and getting matched with a MARA-registered migration agent is the way to get a considered answer about your own situation rather than a general one.

Is Australia's nursing skills assessment the same body as the one that lets me practise?

No. ANMAC (the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council) conducts the migration skills assessment that supports a visa application. AHPRA (the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) is the separate, single national body that actually registers you to practise. You generally need both, but they're answering different questions.

Why is Canada's nursing registration different in each province?

The National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS) verifies your credentials and shares that information with provincial and territorial regulators, but NNAS itself doesn't issue a licence. Each province's own nursing college makes the final registration decision under its own additional requirements, which is why a Canadian nursing registration doesn't automatically transfer between provinces the way an Australian AHPRA registration covers every state.

What English score do I need for the UK's NMC register?

The NMC requires, for IELTS Academic, at least 7.0 in reading, listening and speaking and at least 6.5 in writing; for OET, at least grade B (350-440) in reading, listening and speaking and at least grade C+ (300-340) in writing. This is stated by the NMC to be equivalent to CEFR level C1. Alternative evidence routes exist for those trained in English or with recent practice in an English-majority country.

Can Filipino nurses still get a UK visa as a care worker?

Not as a new overseas applicant, since 2025 changes. The care worker and senior care worker occupation codes are now restricted to people already in the UK switching or extending a visa. Registered Nurse is a separate occupation code and remains open to new overseas Health and Care Worker visa applications.

Does the UK charge the Immigration Health Surcharge for Health and Care Worker visa holders?

No. Gov.uk states explicitly that Health and Care Worker visa holders and their partner or children do not pay the healthcare surcharge, unlike the UK's general Skilled Worker visa, which charges £1,035 per year of the visa.

What is the Test of Competence for UK nursing registration?

It's a two-part assessment run by the NMC: a computer-based test (CBT) of numeracy and clinical knowledge, and a practical Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) held at a UK test centre, assessed against UK pre-registration clinical standards. Both parts must be passed to join the NMC register as an internationally trained nurse.

Does Australia have a dedicated aged care sponsorship route like the UK's care worker visa used to be?

Yes — the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement is a specific Australian employer-sponsorship route for aged care roles, and it remains open to new overseas applicants sponsored by an eligible employer, unlike the UK's now-restricted care worker occupation codes. See /blog/aged-care-worker-visa-sponsorship-australia-how-it-works.