For most internationally trained nurses, the strongest options are the United Kingdom (fastest start), Australia (best pay for most people), New Zealand (quickest permanent residence), Canada (permanent residence before you land), Ireland, and the United States (highest pay, longest wait). Which one is right for you depends less on rankings than on three things: where you trained, your English test scores, and how soon you need permanent residence.

Weighing more than your career? The Relocation Wizard matches you with countries on cost, climate, safety and lifestyle in a few minutes.

Key Takeaways

• UK: computer-based test at home, practical exam after you arrive, and no health surcharge on the visa. NMC fees total about £1,226. NHS Band 5 pay in England is £32,073 to £39,043 (2026/27).
• Australia: nurses registered in the UK, Ireland, the US, Singapore, Spain, British Columbia or Ontario can register without exams. Everyone else needs the NCLEX-RN plus an A$4,000 practical exam in Adelaide.
• New Zealand: registered nurses can apply straight to residence, but pay is lower.
• Canada: three Express Entry healthcare draws in 2026 (cutoffs 467 to 475) let nurses arrive as permanent residents. Credential checks are slow.
• US: highest pay (median US$97,550), but the green card queue for nurses is about 2.5 years for most countries and more than 12 years for people born in India.

Quick Comparison (as of October 2026)

Country	Registration	Base pay, staff nurse	Main work route	Permanent residence
United Kingdom	NMC: CBT, OSCE, IELTS or OET	£32,073 to £39,043 (NHS Band 5, England)	Health and Care Worker visa	After 5 years under current rules (reform pending)
Australia	Ahpra/NMBA: streamlined, or NCLEX-RN plus OSCE	About A$82,000 to A$113,000 (state public scales)	Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482)	Employer nomination or skilled visas
Canada	NNAS, provincial college, usually NCLEX-RN	Median C$43.27 an hour	Express Entry, provincial nominee programs	Immediate if invited through Express Entry
Ireland	NMBI, possibly an adaptation period or aptitude test	€38,166 to €56,592 (HSE staff nurse)	Critical Skills Employment Permit	Stamp 4 after the 2-year permit
New Zealand	NCNZ, competence assessment for some	About NZ$77,700 to NZ$109,400 (Health NZ)	Work visa or straight to residence	Green List, straight to residence
United States	State board, NCLEX-RN, VisaScreen	Median US$97,550	EB-3 green card	The green card itself, after the queue

Pay is base salary before penalties, overtime and tax. Sources are linked in each country section.

United Kingdom: The Fastest Way to Start

The UK's process is built around employer sponsorship, so the order of steps matters. Per NHS Employers:

1. Meet the English requirement. The usual route is IELTS Academic 7.0 overall (at least 6.5 in writing and 7.0 in the other parts) or OET grade B with C+ in writing. Training or practising in an English-majority country can also count.
2. Pass the computer-based test (CBT) in your home country.
3. Get a job offer. Employers can only issue a certificate of sponsorship after you pass the CBT.
4. Apply for the Health and Care Worker visa. GOV.UK says a decision usually takes about 3 weeks.
5. Sit the OSCE in the UK within 12 weeks of your start date. You get up to three attempts and must pass within eight months of your visa start date, or your sponsorship ends.
6. Receive your NMC PIN. Processing can take up to 35 calendar days.

Costs (as of October 2026). The NMC lists a £167 evaluation fee, £83 for the CBT, £794 for the OSCE and a £182 registration fee: £1,226 in total before any resits. The visa costs £324 for up to 3 years or £628 for longer, per person. You and your dependants do not pay the immigration health surcharge. You also need £1,270 in savings unless your employer certifies that it will cover your first month. Ask each employer which of these costs it reimburses, because packages vary.

Pay. NHS Band 5 in England is £32,073 at entry, £34,592 after two years and £39,043 at the top from 1 April 2026. Scotland has its own, slightly higher scale.

Settlement. Current rules allow indefinite leave to remain after 5 years. The government has consulted on a 10-year standard, but according to the House of Commons Library its proposals keep 5 years for public sector healthcare roles. Final rules were still unpublished in mid-October 2026.

Who it suits: nurses who want to start working within months and whose training does not qualify for a fast route elsewhere. Who it does not suit: nurses focused on saving. In the site's data, UK rent averages about US$2,760 a month, the highest here after the US.

Australia: The Best Pay for Most Nurses

Australia now has two very different routes.

Streamlined route. Since April 2025, nurses who qualified and registered in the UK, Ireland, the US, British Columbia, Ontario, Singapore or Spain can register with no NMBA exams. They need at least 1,800 hours of practice in one of those places since 2017. Ahpra says registration on this route can take 1 to 6 months, compared with 9 to 12 months before. New Zealand is not on the list, because NZ-registered nurses use separate trans-Tasman mutual recognition rules.

Outcomes-based assessment. Everyone else starts with the free online self-check, then passes the NCLEX-RN, then a practical OSCE in Adelaide. You cannot book the OSCE until you have passed the NCLEX-RN. The NMBA lists the OSCE fee as A$4,000, on top of assessment and registration fees and your travel to Adelaide.

Visa. Registered nurses are on the Core Skills Occupation List, so an employer can sponsor you on a Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa. For nominations lodged from 1 July 2026, the salary must be at least the Core Skills Income Threshold of A$79,499. For permanent residence, the usual routes are employer nomination or a skilled visa, and skilled visas need a skills assessment from ANMAC.

Pay. Public hospital RN scales in New South Wales and Queensland run from roughly A$82,000 for a new graduate to about A$113,000 at the top step (mid-2026). NSW public nurses received a 3% rise from July 2026. Night, weekend and overtime penalties come on top.

Who it suits: nurses already registered in a listed country (UK nurses especially), and anyone who puts pay and outdoor life first. In the site's data, Australia has the highest average net salary outside the US on this list (about US$3,640 a month). Who it does not suit: nurses on the exam route with a tight budget. Exam fees, preparation and a trip to Adelaide add up fast.

New Zealand: The Fastest Route to Residence

Registration. The Nursing Council of New Zealand requires document verification through TruMerit (US$380) and charges a NZ$485 processing fee. Some nurses must also do a competence assessment: a NZ$140 theory exam you can take abroad, a NZ$500 orientation course, and a NZ$3,000 OSCE in Christchurch.

Immigration. Registered nurses moved to the Green List straight-to-residence pathway in December 2022 and remain on it. With NZ registration and a qualifying job offer from an accredited employer, you can apply for residence without first working there for years. Check your nursing scope in Immigration New Zealand's Green List tool before you apply.

Pay. Health New Zealand's 2025 rates were NZ$75,773 for a graduate RN and NZ$106,739 at the top step. With the 2.5% rise from 2 March 2026, that is roughly NZ$77,700 to NZ$109,400. Another 2% rise is due in March 2027.

Who it suits: nurses who want permanent residence quickly and care about lifestyle, and families who want certainty early. In the site's data, average rent is about US$1,460 a month, the lowest of the English-speaking countries here. Who it does not suit: nurses focused on saving money, since Australia pays more for similar work.

Canada: Permanent Residence First

Registration. Most applicants start with the National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS expedited service: C$750). Then you apply to the regulator in your chosen province, and most provinces outside Quebec require the NCLEX-RN. Some provinces now offer faster routes:

• British Columbia: nurses educated in Australia, New Zealand, the UK or the US can skip the competency assessment if they graduated in the last five years or have 1,125 practice hours confirmed by an employer.
• Manitoba: expedited pathways since 1 June 2026 for nurses educated in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

Immigration. Registered nurses (NOC 31301) qualify for Express Entry's healthcare and social services category. You need 12 months of full-time experience in the past 3 years, which can be from abroad. According to IRCC's draw records, the 2026 healthcare draws invited 4,000 people at a score of 467 (20 February), 4,000 at 475 (25 June) and 3,500 at 475 (4 September). The invitation does not need a Canadian licence, but you cannot work as an RN until a provincial college registers you, so start NNAS early.

Pay. Job Bank lists a national median of C$43.27 an hour for registered nurses (about C$84,000 a year at 37.5 hours a week). The median is about C$47.50 in British Columbia and Alberta and C$42.00 in Ontario (2023-2024 data).

Who it suits: families who want permanent residence from day one, and nurses who qualify for an expedited provincial route. Who it does not suit: anyone who needs to earn quickly. Credential assessment and the Express Entry draw schedule are both hard to predict.

Ireland: An English-Speaking EU Base

Registration. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland assesses your qualification and English. If it finds gaps, you must complete a compensation measure: either a supervised adaptation period in an Irish hospital or an aptitude test.

Permit. Nurses whose qualification NMBI accepts can get a Critical Skills Employment Permit. The job offer must be for at least 2 years, and the permit fee is €1,000 (90% refunded if refused). Public sector roles are paid under national pay agreements. Your spouse or partner can join you and work. When the permit ends you apply for Stamp 4, which lets you work without a permit, and you can apply for long-term residence after 60 months.

Pay. The HSE staff nurse scale from 1 June 2026 runs from €38,166 to €56,592.

Who it suits: nurses who want an English-speaking EU country where their partner can work. Who it does not suit: anyone sensitive to housing costs. In the site's data, average rent is about US$2,110 a month, close to Australia's on lower pay.

United States: Highest Pay, Longest Queue

Registration. You need a credentials evaluation, a pass on the NCLEX-RN and a licence from a state board of nursing. You also need a VisaScreen certificate from TruMerit (formerly CGFNS) for immigration.

Visa. Most foreign-educated nurses immigrate on an EB-3 green card. Registered nurses are a Schedule A occupation, so employers can skip the usual labour market test. The H-1B rarely fits staff nurse jobs. Canadian and Mexican nurses can also use TN status.

The queue. In the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-3 final action dates were 15 May 2024 for most countries, 15 August 2023 for the Philippines, 8 January 2022 for China and 1 January 2014 for India. The queue depends on your country of birth, not citizenship.

Pay. The median RN wage was US$97,550 in May 2025, with wide gaps between states.

Who it suits: nurses born in countries with shorter queues who can wait two to three years and want the highest pay. Who it does not suit: nurses born in India, who face a backlog of more than a decade.

If You Speak German: Germany

Germany is the main non-English option. You must be recognised before you can work as a nurse. EU-trained nurses are recognised automatically. Others go through an equivalence check and, if there are gaps, an adaptation course or a knowledge test (Hamburg's official guidance). Expect to need B2 German. In the site's data, Germany has the lowest average rent in this guide (about US$1,300 a month).

Pay Versus Cost of Living

Headline salaries mislead if you ignore rent. These figures from the site's country data average all jobs, not just nursing, but they show the trade-off:

Country	Cost of living index (US = 100)	Average rent (US$/month)	Average net salary, all jobs (US$/month)
United States	100	4,078	4,428
United Kingdom	80	2,764	3,086
Australia	72	2,143	3,639
Ireland	67	2,114	3,064
New Zealand	66	1,459	2,929
Germany	62	1,296	2,981
Canada	61	1,994	2,792

Put the city you are considering into the cost of living calculator, or compare two countries side by side before you commit to an exam route.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Paying an agency to file your registration. Regulators take applications directly, and some (including the BC and Manitoba nursing colleges) warn that such agencies are not endorsed.
• Taking the wrong test. Nursing regulators generally want IELTS Academic, not General Training, and the UK requires the CBT version for your field of nursing. Scores also expire, so time your test to match your application.
• Comparing gross pay. A higher salary in a city with high rent can leave you with less each month. Compare what is left after rent and tax.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which country is easiest for foreign nurses to work in?

For nurses trained outside the major English-speaking systems, the UK is usually the most direct. You sit the CBT at home, get a job offer, receive a visa in about 3 weeks and take the OSCE after arriving. If you are already registered in the UK, Ireland, the US, Singapore, Spain, British Columbia or Ontario, Australia's streamlined route is just as direct and pays more.

Do I need the NCLEX if I am not moving to the US?

Possibly. Canada's provinces outside Quebec and Australia's exam route both use the NCLEX-RN. The UK uses its own CBT and OSCE, and New Zealand has its own theory exam and OSCE.

Which country gets nurses permanent residence fastest?

Canada and New Zealand. An Express Entry invitation leads directly to permanent residence, and New Zealand lets registered nurses with a qualifying job offer apply straight to residence. The UK currently takes 5 years, and the US depends on your country of birth.

Can I bring my family?

Yes, on every route in this guide, but the terms differ. UK dependants pay the visa fee but no health surcharge. In Ireland, a Critical Skills permit holder's spouse or partner can work. Permanent residence in Canada and New Zealand covers your partner and children.

Your Next Step

Your licence decides where you can work. Your budget, family and lifestyle decide where you will be happy. Run the Relocation Wizard with your priorities, then check living costs for your top two countries before you pay for any exam.

Sources

• NMC: costs of joining the register from overseas
• GOV.UK: Health and Care Worker visa
• Ahpra: streamlined pathway for internationally qualified nurses
• IRCC: Express Entry rounds of invitations
• Department of Enterprise (Ireland): Critical Skills Employment Permit
• Nursing Council of New Zealand: registration costs
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics: registered nurses
• US Department of State: Visa Bulletin